The Joy of Renunciation

The Buddha once said that acts of merit are, in and of themselves, happiness. That covers generosity, virtue, and the development of goodwill.

Under the heading of virtue, you’ve got not only the five precepts, but also the eight, the ten, the 227 precepts that the monks observe.

When you compare the five to the eight, you see that the eight basically add the principle of sense restraint to the five. The precept against no eating after noon or before dawn puts restraint on your tongue. The precept against shows, perfumes, decoration, music, puts restraint on your eyes, ears, and nose. And, of course, the precept against comfortable beds puts restraint on your body. The changing of the third precept from no illicit sex to no sex, period, puts restraint on all your senses.

So, the question sometimes arises, “Where is the pleasure in restraint?” The short answer is that you have to look for it. To look for it, you have to want to look for it. It’s there. You can find it, but it depends on how you approach the whole issue of observing these precepts.

You have to remember the Buddha’s statement about the different aggregates: that what we experience in terms of form, feeling, perceptions, thought constructs, consciousness is based on what we’ve fashioned out of the potential for these things. We have certain intentions that make us fashion these aggregates.

That applies to feelings of pleasure and pain. The pleasure you’re going to find in the precepts is something you have to fabricate. You do that because you’re wise enough to see that you’re going to be making a trade. You’re trading something inferior for something superior. And you feel good about yourself because you can do that. That’s your motivation. It’s a skill.

For example, the fabrication of directed thought and evaluation, how you talk to yourself: I remember when I was first ordained, I wasn’t happy to be taking on all those precepts. Particularly the ones that put some restraints on sensual pleasures—no eating in the afternoon, that kind of thing.

But then one day I realized that it was because I was observing these precepts that people were putting food in my bowl. It was because I was observing these precepts that I had time to meditate. The precepts actually opened the way to freedom. So, instead of perceiving them as restraints, as prisons, I could see that they were actually opening the door to freedom. That changed my whole perspective, my whole attitude toward them.

Once you change your attitude, then it’s easy to find pleasure in the different precepts.

Then there are the ways you can perceive it not only as freedom from prison. The Canon talks about comparing the life gone forth with the home life. You have to realize that these eight precepts are the precepts of a life gone forth. Even if you live at home and have a family, when you’re observing the eight precepts, your mind has gone forth. And a mind that’s gone forth, as the Buddha said, is like a polished shell as compared to a mind that’s a dusty road. It’s wide open, as opposed to narrow and confined.

Another comparison is between a swan and a peacock. The peacock is beautiful, but in terms of flying, it’s no match for the swan. The swan is much more aerodynamic. It can fly much farther, much faster.

The peacock is weighed down by all its sensual pleasures, which are symbolized by its feathers. If you’ve ever seen a peacock fly, it’s pretty awkward. That’s lay life.

If you have aerodynamic precepts, an aerodynamic mind, you can go flying gracefully. You can go farther; you can go faster. And you’re putting aside all these things that would weigh you down. That’s the life gone forth.

Other images from the Canon are freedom from the slavery of having to follow the dictates of your eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body—in other words, your mind’s desire to find pleasures in these things. If you haven’t gone forth, you’re a slave to them. You keep going to shows or wanting to have entertainment, Especially nowadays, with the internet and AI, you can entertain yourself just any way, anywhere, anytime you want.

You’re like the devas up in the fifth and sixth levels of the sensual heavens, those who enjoy creating pleasures and those who are in charge of the creations of others. When you tell AI to do something, you’re on the Paranimitta level: in charge of the creations of others. Those devas are famed for being really lazy all the time.

Imagine what kind of habits they pick up. Whenever there’s a little itch, they scratch it—or get someone else to scratch it. And of course, when you keep on scratching, it doesn’t solve the problem. The rash gets worse and worse. You get used to getting tickled here and there.

What kind of mindset is that? What kind of habits are those? Remember, those devas who are used to being entertained all the time tend to fall pretty far when they don’t have their pleasures.

When you’re looking at the entertainment providing but someone else, what kind of values are you picking up? The values of people who want to make money out of you. When Hollywood tries to have a little moral, are their morals really in line with the Dhamma, or are they going someplace else?

So you have to ask yourself what you’re taking on as you indulge in these pleasures. You realize you can make a trade up by putting those pleasures aside.

One, you give more space to the mind to actually get into concentration.

And two, you give yourself more motivation to get into concentration. If you can’t find immediate pleasures through the senses in these ways, you turn your desire for pleasure, your desire for happiness, into the concentration itself.

So you develop the space. You develop the right attitudes. You develop the motivation for getting the mind higher and higher in its concentration. You’re making a trade, and it’s an advantageous trade.

Ultimately, you’re trading an inflamed mind for the freedom of an extinguished fire, which in those days meant total release.

So, finding joy in restraint all depends on how you talk to yourself, the images you hold in mind—and even the way you breathe.

When you’re thinking about the pleasures you’re missing, notice how you breathe, how it’s actually aggravating. The mind has this habit of using the breath to aggravate a particular defilement. Learn how to use the breath instead for the sake of the Dhamma. Breathe calmly around thoughts of renunciation, the freedom that comes with renunciation, the joy of restraint. Have positive breath associations, positive perceptions, positive ways of talking to yourself.

This way, you can find the pleasure that’s there to be found in the practice of renunciation and these precepts of sense restraint.

It’s all a matter of going back to that question, “What, when I do it, will lead to my long-term welfare and happiness?” Learn to think in terms of the long-term. Then use whatever skills you have—the mind’s skills for fabricating things, which are already good at fabricating defilements: Convert those skills to fabricating motivation to practice the Dhamma, to finding joy in the Dhamma, joy in investing in the long-term.

As the Buddha said, delight in the Dhamma, delight in abandoning, delight in developing: These are among the forms of delight that lead to the total end of the defilements, total freedom from the mind. But it’s a delight that has to be cultivated. It requires some wisdom to see the value of wanting to cultivate it. But that’s why we turn to the Dhamma to begin with, to develop the wisdom that will set us free.