RENOUNCE THE WORLD: STAY HOME
Lesson of the Covid-19 Pandemic
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A few days ago, when I was reading about the urban
lockdown in Malaysia (just over a kilometre or so north of Singapore), I broke
into a smile. People are ordered not go about, especially in crowds, and not to
socialize. That is what the Buddha has been teaching us for the last 2500
years! RENOUNCE THE WORLD!
The idea of the lockdown order is to “starve” the
Covid-19 virus whose incubation period is a fortnight. Hence, people are
ordered to stay home at least for that period. Suddenly, the streets are as
empty: it is as if humans are giving the world a badly needed break.
RENOUNCE THE WORLD! STAY HOME!
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Some mass media are reporting that as a result of the
pandemic lockdown, with people staying home away from their usual busyness, it
may actually bring a BABY BOOM after the pandemic! Hence, it would be wise to
be busy with something really helpful. In this connection, let me suggest:
RENOUNCE THE WORLD. STAY HOME. STUDY THE SUTTAS.
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It’s interesting how widespread adversity can throw
new light upon what we have often take for granted: that when we renounce the
world, we leave home. Anyway, considering that sad reality that many, if not
most, people renounce home nowadays for a better life as monastics when they
don’t have to work, nor pay tax, and people will feed, support and spoil them
for free.
Renunciation, as taught by the Buddha, has been turned
on its head. If we follow THE (SADDHA) JĀṆUSSOṆI SUTTA (A 10.177), then, such
people who seem to do good but do not keep the precepts, will be reborn as
well-cared PETS, that is, as animals in the homes of their supporters (if they
are lucky)!
See (Saddha) Jāṇus¬so¬ṇi S (A 10.177,10-35), SD 12.6a.
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THE MIND AS HOME
For our Dhamma reflection, we can understand “home” as
a “dwelling” (vihara): a place for TRUE RENUNCIATION.
A home is where is there is LOVE. When love is fully
and properly expressed even to those who do not deserve it, it is called
COMPASSION. When we show loving appreciation of the goodness and happiness of
others, it is appreciative JOY. Despite all the love we can and do show, the
world still stands and turns in suffering.
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GREED, HATE, DELUSION, FEAR
There can never be enough of love to be shown to the
world because people and situations change. Hence, our love keeps us at PEACE
and equanimity despite the world
Thus, to “renounce the world” means to give up GREED,
HATE, DELUSION and FEAR, all that is negative in our heart. This is GOOD for us
in the sense that love, compassion, joy and peace, prepare and allow us to
truly and really learn from what is going on around us, from the world.
We cannot cling to the world, we cannot stop it: it
just keeps spinning with greed, hate, delusion, fear. It’s the nature of the
world. When we let it go, we are letting go of greed, hare, delusion and fear.
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THE WORLD AS BREATH
In fact, the world is really our BREATH: when we stop
breathing, there is no more world for us. Now, when we breathe in, we must also
breathe out. We can try to hold our breath, but it’s just a matter of minutes
that we need to breathe again. To breathe means in and out, to let come, let
go.
To live, then, is to love: to be home anywhere, to
treat others so that they are at home with us. We must thus show them LOVE. The
best way of love others is to reach out to them with COMPASSION, that is, to
learn what we can from them and act on this.
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LIVE LOVE LEARN
We are grateful for this living lesson: we shown them
JOY. With this learning, we are able to simply accept the world by letting it
go.
In short: to live is to love; to love is to learn; to
learn is to let go. Then, we keep growing in wisdom and freedom. This is the
meaning of renouncing the world: so that we are really at
home with ourself, with everyone we meet and know,
with everything around us.
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©piya
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