This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at www.sfcc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Good evening, everyone. Welcome. Welcome to Beginner's Mind Temple. Good to be with all of you this evening. Thank you for opening the window so we can get a little bit more air in here. And my Jisha, Ellen, and the Eno, Michael, had offered to do an interpretive dance on the theme of my talk tonight. And I almost took them up on it. But they couldn't quite figure out how to do renunciation in dance form. So we'll see. Anyhow, we are in the midst of a 10-week fall practice period, or ongo.

[01:00]

And the study of our ongo is the six paramitas. And I'm framing them as bodhisattva practices for an uncertain world. And for those of you who are not familiar with the paramitas, I'm wondering how many people are new this evening, have not been here before. Welcome. By the way, my name is Tenzin David Zimmerman, and I'm a resident here, resident priest, and I also serve as one of the abbots. And so our study of the paramitas, the six paramitas, they are essentially, consider them virtues or liberative attitudes, as I like to think about them, for Buddhist practice. And they include... dana, dana paramita, which is generosity. sila, sila paramita, which is, you know, it's often framed as ethical conduct or ethical discipline or morality.

[02:01]

There's also kashanti, which is patience or tolerance. There is virya, can be translated as energy, effort, diligence. There's dhyana, which is concentration or meditation. And then the sixth is meditation, which is wisdom. And these paramitas are often sometimes referred to as perfections because they're considered the hard practices of a bodhisattva, a being who is dedicated to the path of awakening for the benefit of all beings. So when they are perfected, particularly through the paramita of wisdom, they take us beyond our usual self-clinging and dualistic point of view. And these far-reaching attitudes, they take us to the other shore, from the shore of samsara, of suffering, we would say, to the shore of nirvana.

[03:05]

Often you can consider liberation, a realm of peace and ease and joy. And... You know, there's actually several different versions of the Paramitas. In our class on Monday nights, I brought this up before, there is the six Mahayana Paramitas that I just offered to you. And these are drawn from texts such as the Lotus Sutra and the Large Sutra on the Perfection of Wisdom. And there's actually a Mahayana list of 10 paramitas. So somewhere along the way, the Mahayana said, oh, we want 10, not just six. And so they added four more perfections. And the additional four they added were upaya, which means skillful or compassionate means. Panidhana, which means aspiration. Bala, which translates as spiritual strength, and Jhana, which is knowledge in this case.

[04:12]

And these come also draw from the original 10 Theravadan Paramitas. And those are also drawn from various different sources. So the Buddhists teach these directly, but were pulled from his teachings and from other collections of Buddhist texts. including the Jataka tales, the stories of the Buddha's past lives, which depict these particular paramitas. And the Taravadan 10 share five of the Mahayana six. So they're not exactly equivalent lists. And so they share, the Taravadan 10 share generosity, morality, patience, energy, and wisdom. But then they include five additional virtues, renunciation, truthfulness, determination, loving-kindness, and equanimity. And the Mahana Fifth Perfection meditation isn't named here in the Theravannan Ten, but you can consider it as represented in equanimity in some way.

[05:24]

And so... Each week we've been taking up a different of the six Paramitas, the six Mahayana Paramitas. And this week we were focusing, are focusing on Sila, ethical discipline. And because we had already discussed Sila in our Monday night class, and then about, I think it was about a week and a half ago, Pam Weiss was here and she gave a lovely talk. on a Saturday on Sila as well. I thought I would take the opportunity to introduce you to a different paramita, one that isn't in our list of Mahayana six, as a way to kind of broaden our exposure to the paramitas and see maybe what some of the other lists are trying to point to or offer as perfection practices. So with that in mind, As I already were told, I'm going to take up the paramita of renunciation. And in the Theravadan list of 10 paramis, renunciation is the third.

[06:34]

So rather than patience, which is the third in Mahayana, renunciation comes. And it comes right after generosity and morality. So for this reason, I thought this is kind of a good time to introduce it, but since renunciation... I think of it as naturally aligning with the first two paramita practices of giving an ethical discipline. I can imagine that you've encountered Buddhism before. Renunciation often comes up frequently in discussions of Buddhism and Zen, but its true meaning and significance are not always properly understood. So what exactly does renunciation mean? And you'll hear that word. What do you think? Why is it particularly important to Buddhism, since we hear it a lot, including Zen? And how might we approach it or understand it as both a liberative attitude and also a beneficial practice? When you hear the word renunciation, what comes to mind?

[07:39]

What do you think? Regret? images, what thoughts, what ideas of enunciation? Shaving your head, renouncing the hair. Anything else? What's that? Letting go, yes. Restrain, great. So there might be different things. I'll be speaking about letting go and restraint as part of the talk this evening. But there's also a lot of misperceptions about renunciation, which I kind of, when I first came to Buddhism, I also in some ways had. And kind of it leads people to kind of struggle with the idea and the practice of renunciation. And for some people, there's this assumption that renunciation means becoming homeless. abandoning one's family, living in extreme poverty, or becoming a celibate monk and nun. So any of you have that idea about renunciation?

[08:42]

Yeah? So it's not uncommon. Some people think that renunciation means you hate the world. I'm going to renounce the world. I'm going to leave the world. Or that practicing renunciation makes you depressed and joyless in some way, right? Many people, particularly Americans, equate renunciation with the notion of someone taking away their freedom. How dare you take away their freedom? You want me to renounce something? You want me to renounce my attachment to gasoline? You're going to take away my freedom. How dare you? But from a Dharma perspective, all these mistaken notions miss the genuine purpose significance and power of true renunciation. So in English, to renounce means to give away or relinquish, to reject and to disown. And for those who have a Christian background, such as myself, this can sound a lot like penance, like some kind of self-punishment or deprivation to atone for your sins in some way.

[09:57]

And, of course, that kind of understanding makes the idea of renunciation less appealing. However, Buddhist renunciation is entirely different. It's pointing to a practice that can actually bring us joy, ease, and liberation. So there's a different orientation. The term in Pali sutras that is usually translated as renunciation is nakama. Nakama. And nakama relates to the Pali verb nikamati, which means to go forth or to leave behind. So you can think of as home leaving in some way. So over time, this word came to signify the act of renouncing and freeing oneself from attachment to sensuality. While some... There's some traditional explanations that connect the word to another framing, which is ni kama, which means away from sensual desire.

[11:06]

That's kind of more of a gloss on the term, and it's not a strippy linguistic variation. What matters, though, is the meaning that of joyful turning away from the endless pursuit of sensory gratification. So nakama renunciation most often describes the act of a monk or a nun going forth into a homeless life to be liberated from sensual pleasures. However, as we're going to see, renunciation is also a practice that laypeople can take up. I would imagine most spiritual traditions have some classic form, some of the classic forms of enunciation, some way of limiting or restricting the things that we kind of tend to hold on or engage in on a habitual level, such as engaging in food, sleep, comfort, sex, entertainment, possessions, choice, and control.

[12:14]

So you can think of many different traditions where that is a practice, giving up one of these. And the basic idea is to free ourselves from those desires and worldly pleasures that undermine our contentment. Now we might ask ourselves, what exactly is the problem with worldly pleasures? Do you have any problems with worldly pleasures? What is the problem? Especially if enjoying them doesn't do anyone else harm. Of course, if we enjoy them and it does harm to someone else, then we can question, why am I engaging in this? But if it doesn't harm anyone else, what's the drawback? We can think of one drawback to engaging worldly pleasures that we engage in, but then we naturally want them to last. We want them to go on forever, right? Even though, you know, they're not going to. We know that. All transient things come to an end. that Netflix series that you really love, it's gonna come to an end at some point, right?

[13:19]

And another drawback is that because they're affirmable, we constantly seek more of the pleasures we have, right? Or we seek new ones. So the Netflix series you liked ended, you quit, go back to, and you start clicking and looking for the next series, right? You need that endorphin hit. What's the next thing I can look at? I want more pleasure. What's the next thing? This is the whole Facebook and all those algorithms are constantly, they know your addiction level. They know how to track you and have you keep seeking for something that's pleasurable or the possibility of pleasure, right? And there's also a lot of significant, I could say, stress and burden involved in trying to obtain your pleasures. And then even more so, in some cases, trying to maintain them. So once you get it, you wanted that really fancy car, you got it finally, and it takes a lot of effort to maintain it and keep it up and so on. Furthermore, chasing pleasures can actually distract us from our Dharma practice.

[14:27]

making it less of a priority in our lives. So for those who are committed to a path of practice, we might ask ourselves, have you ever given into the pleasant distraction, I'll just use Netflix again since it's an easy thing, a Netflix movie instead of sitting zazen before bed? Oh, I'm going to really sit, I'm going to really sit, but... Oh, that's not moving on. Okay. So just a note is that it takes us away from attending to our practice in some way. And finally, attachment to personal pleasure can make us self-centered. It's all about me. It's about what I enjoy. It's about my pleasure. And when we constantly are seeking our own comfort and pleasure, we give little time and attention to others. What do they need? What do they need to be happy? How can I help them? It's understood in Buddhism that giving oneself over to central pleasure is a great hindrance to enlightenment.

[15:30]

Central desire, in fact, is the first of the five hindrances. And they're considered hindrances to our progress in meditation and in our daily life and into our liberation. But we can, we're told, overcome these hindrances through mindfulness. Because when we practice mindfulness, we are able to see how things really are. And we fully appreciate that trying to grasp on to central pleasure, it's only a temporary distraction. And it's temporary distraction from whatever this kind of deeper quality of suffering or disease or dukkha you might be experiencing. We often kind of only adjust the surface layer of our dissatisfaction and disease, and we actually don't get to the root of it. And when we distract ourselves, and then when that distraction wears off,

[16:38]

We want something else. We grasp onto something else. And this cycle of grabbing onto the next thing binds us to dukkha, to suffering, to this concept process of disease. And the Buddha taught in the Four Noble Truths that thirst or desire, the original word is tanha, puts us in this endless cycle of grasping and keeps us dissatisfied. Always reaching, never satisfied. It's kind of like having this kind of stick, you know, the carrot in front of you, metaphor. You're constantly going after it, and you're never able to reach it. Now, it's important to understand that it's the attachment to central pleasure and desire that's the hindrance, not the pleasure itself. So... Sure, you can go out and occasionally enjoy your Ben and Jerry's Terry Garcia frozen yogurt.

[17:39]

But don't get attached to it. Don't end up having it every day or for every meal, right? And furthermore, merely giving something up that you enjoy isn't necessarily renunciation. You can get something up, such as ice cream, and still crave it. which suggests you're still attached to the pleasure that it was giving to you. So you haven't given up the pleasure part of it. You haven't renounced that. But at the same time, it's important to understand that enjoying something isn't bad. Some religions may say, oh, you shouldn't enjoy anything because that's going to lead you to doing bad things or to evil somehow. And Buddhism says, no, enjoy it. You can enjoy the frozen yogurts, but can you eat it and enjoy it without attachment in some way? And what is it to only eat as much as you need without being greedy?

[18:46]

How many times have you said, I'm just going to have one cup, just one cup, and then suddenly the whole pint is gone, right? And so I often think of this meaning of the word oryoki. Oryoki is a form of serving, eating ritually in our meditation hall with three interlocking bowls where you're served. And oryoki means just enough. So you take just enough to sustain yourself and your health so you can continue to practice. So what is oryoki for you in terms of Everything that you enjoy, you know, rather than overindulging, what is it just to have just enough to appreciate it, but not lean into the part where a greed mind takes over? Another kind of less intimidating name for enunciation is simply letting go.

[19:47]

Letting go might take the traditional forms that I mentioned earlier. It might also take some of the opposite forms in some way. But essentially renunciation can be understood as a letting go of whatever binds us to ignorance and to suffering. So this might sound simple, but it's easier said than done. And because the things that bind us are usually the very things that we mistakenly think are We must have in order to be happy. How many times have you gone, you logged on, I'm just going to assume you've done this too, onto Amazon, and you see something, you're like, I really need to have that. That's going to bring me happiness. And you get it a few days later, and you're like, ah, okay. And suddenly that hit is gone, right? And it really doesn't bring your happiness. The Buddha taught that genuine renunciation requires clearly seeing how we make ourselves unhappy through grasping and through greed.

[20:54]

So when we do, then when we recognize this, when we recognize these grasping tendencies as the mine of greed, then we naturally, what happens is renunciation naturally follows. And in this case, it's a positive liberating act. It's not a punishment. The Buddha spoke to this when he said, if by forsaking a limited ease, one would see an abundance of ease, the enlightened person would forsake the limited ease for the sake of the abundance. So in other words, a wise person understands the value of forsaking what brings only limited temporary joy for that which will eventually bring a greater lasting joy and ease. So this idea, you know, you've done these experiments with kids and sometimes animals and so on, you know, we'll give you this piece of candy, but if you don't eat it now, if you wait five minutes, we'll give you something more, right?

[22:03]

And something different. And oftentimes they may or may not be able to wait that long. Renunciation is also an important aspect of the Buddha's noble Eightfold Path. The second factor on the Eightfold Path is right intention. The Buddha explicitly defined right intention as having three parts to it. The intention of renunciation. the intention of non-ill will, and the intention of non-culti. So this means that renunciation, it's a structural component of the path itself. And each time you cultivate the intention to let go, you are walking the noble eightfold path. So...

[23:04]

The intention of renunciation, you could think of it as directly opposing the intention of pursuing central pleasure in some way. And in daily life, this manifests as a conscious choice. A choice to turn the mind away from thoughts of seeking pleasure, from seeking status, comfort, to any of those things that you are naturally wanting to grasp. toward thoughts of simplicity, of contentment, of release. So we've got to be careful. We don't want to be suppressing desire. Renunciation isn't about suppressing desire, because that sometimes just makes it stronger. Rather, it means recognizing that thoughts of sensuality lead to agitation and suffering, while thoughts of renunciation lead to peace. So this grasping, the grasping mind, it creates agitation in the body.

[24:08]

You can feel it in the body. Where the letting go mind, you can feel how there's a release in the body. So there's a tangible physical experience throughout the whole body when you constantly choose to turn the mind away from grasping and focus on what is present and releasing into the fullness of the present moment. So different Buddhist traditions approach and apply renunciation in slightly different ways. In the Theravada tradition, for example, the primary practice is discern through contemplation how one's enjoyment of sensual pleasure might impede one's spiritual path. And so renunciation, therefore, and then that tradition is seen as not only a direct antidote to sensual desire, but But also it's considered a pre-resigret for a deep state of meditation.

[25:11]

So when the mind is entangled in thoughts and desires of pleasure, it's not able to settle into deeper states of absorption and concentration, known as the jhanas. Because the mind's kind of being pulled, you can almost think of it, towards objects. However, renunciation kind of acts as a gatekeeper. helping to turn the mind inward rather than being entangled by desire and distraction. And then there's Mahayana Buddhism, which holds that while renunciation is an antidote to grasping, essential desire, and it's a prerequisite for deep states of meditation, it also sees renunciation practice as part of the Bodhisattva path. So the bodhisattva path entails committing to awakening, to enlightenment for the benefit of all beings.

[26:13]

So it's not holding on to it for yourself, it's for practicing for the well-being and liberation of everyone. And so here renunciation becomes a bodhisattva practice for developing bodhicitta or the thought of awakening and removing the obstacles that prevent you from helping others. to be free or liberated. You could say that renunciation is more of an inner attitude of non-attachment than it is a literal abandonment of worldly life. Zen often holds that genuine renunciation is fundamentally a matter of the mind rather than external appearances. For example, Most of us, you know, you might define yourself as a layperson or a householder. None of us here are traditionally monastics that I know of. But, for example, a layperson who works, raises a family, participates in society, can still practice deep renunciation internally, kind of with the same spirit as a monk or a nun might, right?

[27:29]

There's a traditional saying from Tibetan Buddhism that goes, renunciation is not giving up your possessions. It is giving up your attachment to them. So a lay bodhisattva, they can have lots of wealth, but they use it for the benefit of others. They generously give, and they remain unattached to that wealth. And this is sometimes called renunciation within samsara. So we're acting within this world of greed, hidden delusion, but we're renouncing the attachment to the fleeting world. And, you know, if a layperson or a householder were not expected to give up our home, go sleep under the tree like the original, the first monks in Buddhist time did, but we could practice to realize the ephemeral nature of possessions and not be attached to them in some way.

[28:32]

Suzuki Roshi said that renunciation is not giving up the things of the world, but accepting they go away. Not giving up the things of the world, but accepting they go away. So it's all going to go away, folks. Your looks, your youth, your strength, your health... Parents, friends, all of it goes away. Your bodies, their lives themselves, they're going to slip away. And most of us find this a hard reality to accept. So given this, it might be wise to begin practicing renunciation sooner than later through the practice of non-attachment to letting go, letting go of what you already have, not grabbing onto it and trying to maintain it in some way. I recently came across the mission statement for Norman Fisher's Everyday Zen Foundation and includes the following line. We believe in the possibility of engaged renunciation.

[29:36]

Being in the world, but not of it. Living a fully committed religious life that does not exclude family, work, and a powerful interest in the world. Engaged renunciation. What a great term. We hear... socially engaged Buddhism, but I've never heard engaged renunciation. So to take up a conscious, thoughtful, deliberate way of practicing renunciation in our everyday life, whether we're living at a Zen center or in the world. And renunciation doesn't have to be a dramatic giving up your processions. Again, it can be kind of a quiet moment-to-moment release of our mental commentary, the thoughts that are going on in our head, our worries. You can renounce your worries, your planning, all the craving you're having. It can mean choosing to stop living in the past or the future.

[30:39]

And just be fully here in the present moments. So this is an internal renunciation. And it's accessible to everyone, everywhere, all the time. So ultimately renunciation comes down to being present and aware of what we're holding on to and releasing our grip in the moments. And what is the... The best practice training in renunciation? Zazen. Yes. Yes. You could call Zazen as an all-encompassing renunciation practice, right? So we sit down with the attention. I'm just going to sit here. I'm going to be quiet. I'm going to be still. I'm going to let go of all my thoughts, right? And then what happens? A moment or so after you sit down, suddenly there's this urge to start thinking, daydreaming. You want to move.

[31:40]

You want to do something else. Anything but be with what's here in the present moment. And the practice of Zazen is don't move. Stay here. Stay with this. Renounce the urge to move away from the present moment. Renounce the urge to grab onto your thoughts, your daydreams, your fantasies, whatever it is. Renounce the... the desire to make reality different than what it is and that is the hardest thing for us to do in many cases right and we we really um struggle with just letting go of this tendency to shape reality in the way that we want it to be you know and so to we um renounce that tendency and be able to settle fully here. And in being fully here in this present moment with things as it is, that form of renunciation, I let go of my desire for things to be different, we have true freedom.

[32:44]

True freedom is just accepting things as it is. And we notice over time... part of what also begins to happen is we let go of deeper, deeper layers of habitual grasping and attachment, the way that we want things to be different, but also the stories that we have of ourselves. We begin to renounce the stories of self. I no longer want to hold on to the story itself. It takes so much to maintain, to carry, to keep going over and over and keep trying to keep it from dissolving. So can we renounce the story of self? That's the truest form of freedom. The goal of who you think you are and discover who you truly are before thought even arises. You could call that, we call that in Zen, the great renunciation. It goes beyond central pleasures. It goes to renouncing the deepest attachment of all, the belief in a separate, solid self.

[33:50]

Ultimate renunciation is letting go of ego clinging. I think it's safe to say that the teachings of renunciation are under siege in our modern society. Culturally, there's an ever-increasing push to get more, to get better, be better, get the latest upgrade, all of which is seeing bigger and better, right? Keep going. And so this practice of organization kind of doesn't get into the door at all. And there's not much encouragement for simplicity. In fact, there's a particular sentiment in American culture and capitalism that you can have it all. You can have it all. Do you want it all? I don't. And you can have it your way too. Not only can you have it all, you can have it your way. And of course, this is predicated on the dare that you already don't have enough.

[34:55]

There's something that you're lacking, that somehow you're lacking, or your life is lacking, or somehow there's a powerlessness there. And so we get swept up into this kind of idea. But Buddhism suggests that when you let go of everything, everything belongs to you. There's a passage in the Sutta Nipata where the Buddha says that the wise see that nothing belongs to them. Nothing doesn't belong to them either. When there is real letting go, the heart of non-attachment is fully attuned to the world, yet not entangled in it. When renunciation is truly enacted, there's a beautiful sense in which everything is yours. So renunciation is actually, true renunciation is the experience of fullness. Which, you know, the Buddha would say gives rise to a certain feeling of bliss, profound joy.

[35:59]

The heart leaps from the freedom of non-attachments, right? Great bliss arises when you're not attached. And it's, so renunciation isn't a rejection of life, but it's a deepening engagement with life. You can go more deeply into life when you're not trying to hold on and grasp things, you know, on the whole way, right? Right. there are various actual ways to bring renunciation into your daily routine. You can do it gradually. You can do it organically. Sorry, folks, you don't have to go home tonight and throw everything out into the street. You can take up some practices. You can start with just embracing simplicity, particularly maybe material simplicity, which means living a life free from unnecessary acquisition and complexity. So before you acquire something new, ask yourself, do I really need this? Do I really need yet another pair of sneakers?

[37:02]

Do I really need another house? Another computer? Do I really need this? What? What is that trying to fulfill here? If I don't really need it, what's the urge? What's under the urge? You can also explore reducing your use or exposure to digital technology. I keep hearing that going off in the room. So that includes your smartphones, your social media, streaming services, news feeds. You can renounce the news, folks. You don't have to read it every day. You don't have to read all of it. You don't have to expose yourself to it. Does it bring you joy and peace? No. So take a break from it. I think there's a certain spiritual hunger for simplicity in our culture, which is why these days people pay hundreds, thousands of dollars to go off to some place where there's no Internet, no Wi-Fi, and no cell phone reception, and just have silence and simplicity.

[38:08]

We can also practice self-restraint, which means exercising control over our desires and cravings. So it might be easier. You can start with, think of it as periodic restraints, meaning you're delivering something up for a short period of time rather than forever. And so, for example, many people take up the practice of dry January when you give up alcohol for the entire month of January. You can also do a digital Sabbath one day a week. I have friends who are like, I won't touch anything digital on a Sunday. I put it all away. I put it in the closet, my phone, my computer, anything electronic other than a light, I put away. And there's also, you can practice types of, you can think of it as fasting. You can do a digital fasting, not just from food, but you can fast from shopping. For one whole week, I won't buy anything.

[39:12]

Or you can also practice fasting from speaking, which is one of my favorite practices. You know, when we do assignments machines here, I will give up speaking for a period of time. I've already touched on the practices of letting go, releasing, releasing our compulsory attachments to objects, to pleasant experiences. You can also, again, let go of your storylines. the kind of stories of self that you keep reiterating over and over again in your head. And finally, there's the practice of contentment, which can serve as a, you can think of it as a counterpart, a positive counterpart to renunciation. Whereas renunciation is often described as giving up something, contentment is about appreciating what is already present. And so these two work together. We can also kind of study when we're not content, what is the nature of our dissatisfaction, right?

[40:13]

And when we have this kind of tendency to feel we don't have enough, or oftentimes underneath that, we don't have enough is I'm not enough. So just go to the root of it. It's not that I don't have enough. I feel somehow I'm not enough, and I'm trying to fill that hole with some kind of object or experience, right? And so there's always often a story there. And part of that story is I resist allowing reality as it is to be enough. I resist that. And zazen is sitting there allowing reality to be enough. Allowing your life just as it is to be enough. And it doesn't mean that the world and circumstances may not be to your liking. It's true. There's a lot of terrible things out there that I don't like, right? And it also may cause great discomfort and pain. That's true too. But there is a way in which things as it is, is already complete and perfect.

[41:19]

It is reality. It is exactly what it is. It is like this. Start with that. It is like this. As this, this is enough. Now, how do I meet this? It is like this in a way that's conscious and choiceful. So we start with reality. We start with what is. And then we renounce the desire to grasp onto what isn't. We renounce the idea to fabricate a different reality or a different idea. Something, you know, some idea that things should be different. And when you are generally content with what is, the compulsive need to acquire more just kind of naturally falls away. I have enough. I don't need more. I'm satisfied. There's a deep sense of satisfaction, right? And so the baseline happiness is, it is complete, just as it is.

[42:26]

Nothing is lacking. So to summarize, while external forms of renunciation, they have their place, they have their purpose, they have their time, you can take up material renunciation and other forms of that kind of renunciation, but it's really a matter of an internal mental and attitudinal shift. It's primarily a mental letting go of our craving and attachment, and not so much about the abandoning of processions. And renunciation, it's not a form of self-punishment, but rather it's a liberative process that replaces kind of our fleeting, grasping onto fleeting experiences and pleasures, and opening to a more stable, lasting sense of peace and joy. And ultimately what we discover is

[43:27]

Renunciation can be an act of love. It's an intentional, willing, and dignified choice of choosing to love what is and choosing what matters most to you. So that's it. I appreciate your patience and attention, and I hope you'll explore and take up practices of renunciation or letting go just to see what it might free you of. If it might bring you a little bit more contentment to do a little less, have a little less, grasp a little less. Thank you, everyone. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our Dharma Talks are offered free of charge, and this is made possible by the donations we receive.

[44:31]

Your financial support helps us to continue to offer the Dharma. For more information, please visit sfzc.org and click Giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[44:46]

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