The Richness of Letting Go
In English, “renunciation” is often euphemized as “letting go,” perhaps because it sounds softer and more appealing. In fact, there is a wide range of Dharma terms related to the idea of letting go, with renunciation just one of many. This points toward the importance of the act of release in the Buddha’s teaching.
Let’s parse out some of these terms. What follows may look like mere linguistic analysis, but there is a purpose: We can let go in unwise ways as well as in wise ways. Understanding the range of the act of release is the first step in learning to do so skillfully. You might consider how the different kinds of letting go are active in your own life right now.
Starting with renunciation: This is almost exclusively how the Pāli term nekkhamma is rendered in English. Overall, this is a good translation in that a better single word would be hard to find. However, the associations with the word renunciation in English only partially overlap with the richness and positive tone of nekkhamma.
Looking to the Sanskrit roots of nekkhamma, it seems that there is a play on words, and the term is meant to be linked to both freedom from sense desire and the escape from greed, hatred, and delusion, as well as the more literal leaving of the household life.
While the first meaning of opposing sense pleasure invites the common association of renunciation with grim austerity, the second meaning of letting go of greed, hatred, and delusion is indeed the thrust of the entire Buddhist path. This contrast may invite curiosity to delve more deeply. Even the connection to “leaving home” can have relevance for householders who choose not to live with conventional aims.
A commentarial text says that the proximate cause for nekkhamma is saṃvega, spiritual urgency. Propelled by the yearning for freedom, a person gives up what is perceived to stand in the way of that. This speaks to the depth and potential of nekkhamma. Unfolding such an aspiration completely is the path of renunciation, which issues into full liberation.
Renunciation is part of a family of Dharma terms associated with letting go. Nekkhamma is itself sometimes translated as “letting go,” but there are several other Pāli words that also mean this, and we can now join nekkhamma with some of its brethren in order to flesh out more of the meaning.
One such term is cāga, which is the word translated as both “giving up” and “renounce” in Verse 290 from the Dhammapada:
If, by giving up a lesser happiness,
One could experience greater happiness,
A wise person would renounce the lesser
To behold the greater.
Here, we get just a hint of how the Buddha connects letting go with spiritual happiness – an idea that is prominent across the Pāli Canon.
Cāga is also used in a sequence in MN 140, in which an advanced practitioner is exhorted “to not neglect wisdom, to preserve truth, to cultivate relinquishment [cāga], and to train for peace.” And it is also used in a series of words that define letting go of craving in the 3rd Noble Truth: “The giving up [cāga] and relinquishing of it; freedom from it, nonreliance on it” (MN 56.11). Clearly, this word can refer to a spiritually significant act of release or letting go.
Interestingly, the more commonly known translation of cāga is “generosity.” It is said to be the mental disposition behind dāna, the act of giving. Cāga is named in an oft-repeated sequence of qualities that laypeople are encouraged to develop and appreciate: Faith, virtue, learning, generosity, and wisdom (e.g., AN 5.47).
Another term that spans the range from giving to spiritual release is vossagga. More often, it refers to deeper forms of letting go. For instance, certain aspects of mature Dharma practice are meant to be cultivated “based upon seclusion, dispassion, and cessation, maturing in release [vossaggapariṇāmi]” (e.g. SN 46.1). However, another definition of vossagga is “gift,” which seems to have come into usage later. A term similar to vossagga is paṭinissagga, which is the word for letting go in the 16th and final step of mindfulness of breathing (MN 118), as well as in a stock phrase on letting go of what the mind has grasped out of ignorance (e.g., AN 3.32).
A number of terms spring from the Pāli root hā (“decrease”), the most well-known of which is the verb pajahati, usually translated as “abandon.” We are to abandon “what is unskillful” along with numerous specific instances of unwholesome qualities. In SN 35.101, practitioners are instructed to abandon “what is not yours,” referring to the six sense bases and their associated objects and mental qualities. This amounts to all of experience, showing that “letting go” here does not mean eliminating in the sense of destroying or separating from. It is a more subtle teaching on disidentification.
The Sabbāsava Sutta (“All the Taints,” MN 2) unfolds the range of meaning of the term pajahati by discussing how certain taints of mind are to be abandoned through seven other activities. Without going into detail, these are seeing, restraining, using, enduring, avoiding, removing, and developing. Each of these actions can support letting go when applied appropriately.
At this point, we are getting a clear sense of the richness of the realm of letting go in Buddhist teachings. The most foundational teaching of the Buddha, often first in lists, is dāna – literal giving. By dropping a spoonful of rice into a monastic’s almsbowl, a small act of letting go, we take a step on the path to liberation, a different form of letting go – and yet linked continuously back to that first act. Cāga, the movement of mind that enables dāna, is also the aspect of mind that releases craving. And in between, there are numerous other forms, including nekkhamma. Each harmonizes with the others, setting up a resonance that is ultimately powerful enough to transform the heart.
The Buddha was nuanced in his teaching about letting go. Aware that letting go can be tinged or mixed with unwholesome mindstates when people are not yet free, the Buddha would adjust people’s approach to renunciation or its ilk so that it was truer to the spiritual path. It is good for practitioners to remember that nekkhamma is prone to being influenced by aversion, delusion, and even greed at times. “True” nekkhamma is aligned with wisdom and ethics.
Learning to let go skillfully is part of the wisdom of the path. Perhaps by considering the full range of what “letting go” can mean, you may find new and clearer ways to do so.
In English, “renunciation” is often euphemized as “letting go,” perhaps because it sounds softer and more appealing. In fact, there is a wide range of Dharma terms related to the idea of letting go, with renunciation just one of many. This points toward the importance of the act of release in the Buddha’s teaching.
Let’s parse out some of these terms. What follows may look like mere linguistic analysis, but there is a purpose: We can let go in unwise ways as well as in wise ways. Understanding the range of the act of release is the first step in learning to do so skillfully. You might consider how the different kinds of letting go are active in your own life right now.
Starting with renunciation: This is almost exclusively how the Pāli term nekkhamma is rendered in English. Overall, this is a good translation in that a better single word would be hard to find. However, the associations with the word renunciation in English only partially overlap with the richness and positive tone of nekkhamma.
Looking to the Sanskrit roots of nekkhamma, it seems that there is a play on words, and the term is meant to be linked to both freedom from sense desire and the escape from greed, hatred, and delusion, as well as the more literal leaving of the household life.
While the first meaning of opposing sense pleasure invites the common association of renunciation with grim austerity, the second meaning of letting go of greed, hatred, and delusion is indeed the thrust of the entire Buddhist path. This contrast may invite curiosity to delve more deeply. Even the connection to “leaving home” can have relevance for householders who choose not to live with conventional aims.
A commentarial text says that the proximate cause for nekkhamma is saṃvega, spiritual urgency. Propelled by the yearning for freedom, a person gives up what is perceived to stand in the way of that. This speaks to the depth and potential of nekkhamma. Unfolding such an aspiration completely is the path of renunciation, which issues into full liberation.
Renunciation is part of a family of Dharma terms associated with letting go. Nekkhamma is itself sometimes translated as “letting go,” but there are several other Pāli words that also mean this, and we can now join nekkhamma with some of its brethren in order to flesh out more of the meaning.
One such term is cāga, which is the word translated as both “giving up” and “renounce” in Verse 290 from the Dhammapada:
If, by giving up a lesser happiness,
One could experience greater happiness,
A wise person would renounce the lesser
To behold the greater.
Here, we get just a hint of how the Buddha connects letting go with spiritual happiness – an idea that is prominent across the Pāli Canon.
Cāga is also used in a sequence in MN 140, in which an advanced practitioner is exhorted “to not neglect wisdom, to preserve truth, to cultivate relinquishment [cāga], and to train for peace.” And it is also used in a series of words that define letting go of craving in the 3rd Noble Truth: “The giving up [cāga] and relinquishing of it; freedom from it, nonreliance on it” (MN 56.11). Clearly, this word can refer to a spiritually significant act of release or letting go.
Interestingly, the more commonly known translation of cāga is “generosity.” It is said to be the mental disposition behind dāna, the act of giving. Cāga is named in an oft-repeated sequence of qualities that laypeople are encouraged to develop and appreciate: Faith, virtue, learning, generosity, and wisdom (e.g., AN 5.47).
Another term that spans the range from giving to spiritual release is vossagga. More often, it refers to deeper forms of letting go. For instance, certain aspects of mature Dharma practice are meant to be cultivated “based upon seclusion, dispassion, and cessation, maturing in release [vossaggapariṇāmi]” (e.g. SN 46.1). However, another definition of vossagga is “gift,” which seems to have come into usage later. A term similar to vossagga is paṭinissagga, which is the word for letting go in the 16th and final step of mindfulness of breathing (MN 118), as well as in a stock phrase on letting go of what the mind has grasped out of ignorance (e.g., AN 3.32).
A number of terms spring from the Pāli root hā (“decrease”), the most well-known of which is the verb pajahati, usually translated as “abandon.” We are to abandon “what is unskillful” along with numerous specific instances of unwholesome qualities. In SN 35.101, practitioners are instructed to abandon “what is not yours,” referring to the six sense bases and their associated objects and mental qualities. This amounts to all of experience, showing that “letting go” here does not mean eliminating in the sense of destroying or separating from. It is a more subtle teaching on disidentification.
The Sabbāsava Sutta (“All the Taints,” MN 2) unfolds the range of meaning of the term pajahati by discussing how certain taints of mind are to be abandoned through seven other activities. Without going into detail, these are seeing, restraining, using, enduring, avoiding, removing, and developing. Each of these actions can support letting go when applied appropriately.
At this point, we are getting a clear sense of the richness of the realm of letting go in Buddhist teachings. The most foundational teaching of the Buddha, often first in lists, is dāna – literal giving. By dropping a spoonful of rice into a monastic’s almsbowl, a small act of letting go, we take a step on the path to liberation, a different form of letting go – and yet linked continuously back to that first act. Cāga, the movement of mind that enables dāna, is also the aspect of mind that releases craving. And in between, there are numerous other forms, including nekkhamma. Each harmonizes with the others, setting up a resonance that is ultimately powerful enough to transform the heart.
The Buddha was nuanced in his teaching about letting go. Aware that letting go can be tinged or mixed with unwholesome mindstates when people are not yet free, the Buddha would adjust people’s approach to renunciation or its ilk so that it was truer to the spiritual path. It is good for practitioners to remember that nekkhamma is prone to being influenced by aversion, delusion, and even greed at times. “True” nekkhamma is aligned with wisdom and ethics.
Learning to let go skillfully is part of the wisdom of the path. Perhaps by considering the full range of what “letting go” can mean, you may find new and clearer ways to do so.