When the Mind Renounces, the Body Renounces More Fully

When the Dharma is about to perish, the Śūraṅgama Sūtra and the Samādhirāja Sūtra will vanish first, followed by the disappearance of the twelve divisions of the scriptures. All will cease to exist, with no trace of the written words remaining. The monastic robes will naturally turn white.

"Monastics" refer to renunciants who wear black robes, while those in white robes are lay practitioners. The whitening of the robes symbolizes either monastics returning to lay life or the complete cessation of monastic ordination. The outcome is the utter extinction of the Dharma. This signifies that from beginning to end, the Dharma is upheld and propagated solely by monastics. Without monastics, there will be none to transmit the teachings, and the Dharma will inevitably perish.

As disciples of the Buddha, we bear the responsibility to safeguard the treasury of the Dharma left by the Buddha. The supreme form of safeguarding is to renounce worldly life and cultivate the path, propagating the Dharma through the monastic form to ensure its flourishing. Since some have already renounced the world in mind, there remains no reason for the body not to follow suit. For the body lacks autonomy, being entirely governed by the mind and subservient to its commands. Once the mind renounces the world, the body encounters no hindrance in doing the same. With but a single decision or command from the mind, the body will inevitably comply without condition.

Therefore, those whose minds have renounced the world should harbor no attachments to worldly affairs—free from craving for the five sensual pleasures, worldly wealth, beauty, fame, food, and sleep, as well as sensory delights of form, sound, scent, taste, and touch. As for worldly responsibilities, they pale in significance compared to the duties toward the Three Jewels of Buddhism. In the past, numerous kings, emperors, ministers, and officials—bearing the weight of their nations' prosperity or decline, entrusted with the welfare of entire populations, and encumbered by numerous wives, concubines, children, and dependents—nevertheless renounced the world without hesitation to cultivate the path. During the Buddha’s time, as wives and children held no status or autonomy, being entirely dependent on husbands and fathers, men seeking to follow the Buddha into homelessness had no choice but to entrust their families to others, ensuring they would not be left uncared for or destitute. These men renounced the world for two reasons: first, to seek purity; second, for the sake of the entire Buddhist tradition. It is precisely because so many individuals of great merit and virtue renounced the world to uphold the Dharma that Buddhism flourished and has been transmitted through generations to this day.

As disciples of the Buddha in this Dharma-ending age, having already renounced the world in mind, what reason could prevent us from renouncing in body? If only the sixth consciousness (mental faculty) renounces, it cannot ensure or compel the body to follow. Only when the seventh consciousness (root mind) renounces can it guarantee and determine that the body will also renounce. If one attains fruition through the sixth consciousness or realizes the mind's true nature, yet the seventh consciousness remains unawakened and unperfected, one will remain attached to worldly benefits and unwilling to relinquish the secular world for full bodily renunciation.