The Difference Between Genuine Renunciation and False Renunciation of the Worldly Realm

Disenchantment with worldly dharmas can be divided into disenchantment at the level of surface consciousness and disenchantment at the deeper level of the manas. Surface-level disenchantment is merely the mind consciousness finding the world boring and meaningless, but it is only talk—saying is one thing, doing is another; it never gets serious. However greedy one was, one remains just as greedy, and nothing changes. This is false disenchantment. But when a genuine mind of disenchantment arises, it manifests directly in one's actions: one no longer devises many ways to gain worldly benefits, but instead tries to avoid worldly people and affairs as much as possible—better to have fewer matters than more—and no longer clings to the world. This is the disenchantment arising from the manas at a deep level, a mind connected with liberation. Reaching this level is not easy; it is the wholesome root cultivated over many lifetimes. A shallow learner absolutely cannot have such mental conduct.

How can one attain disenchantment at the deep level of the manas? First, one needs to cultivate meditative concentration (samādhi), and within that concentration engage in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) on the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) as suffering, empty, impermanent, and non-self. After initially realizing impermanence, suffering, emptiness, and non-self, one still cannot give rise to a mind of disenchantment with the world; one must continue to deepen the contemplative practice until the first dhyāna arises, cutting off the afflictions of craving and attachment—only then does disenchantment with the world arise, with no desire to continue drifting through birth and death in the world, wasting one's time. One then has the mind of liberation and the mind of renunciation. Therefore, the mind of renunciation and the mind of disenchantment cannot be separated from deep-level meditative concentration and wisdom. If one does not cultivate meditative concentration, there is only verbal disenchantment, while in reality one is extremely attached, not disenchanted in the least—saying one thing while meaning another, with mouth and heart inconsistent.