From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nekkhamma is a Pali word generally translated as "renunciation"
while also conveying more specifically "giving up the world and
leading a holy life" or "freedom from lust, craving and
desires."[1] In Buddhism's Noble
Eightfold Path, nekkhamma is the first practice
associated with "Right Intention." In the Theravada list of ten perfections,
nekkhamma is the third practice of "perfection."
In the
Pali literature
Renunciation as right
intention
In the Pali Canon, in a discourse in which the Buddha describes
antecedents precipitating his Awakening, the Buddha divided his thoughts
between those that impair discernment, cause affliction and deter
one from Nirvana on the one hand, and those that have the opposite
effect.[2] In the
former category, he included thoughts permeated with sensuality,
ill-will and harmfulness; in the latter, thoughts permeated with
renunciation, non-ill will and harmlessness:
- "Whatever a monk keeps pursuing with his thinking &
pondering, that becomes the inclination of his awareness. If a monk
keeps pursuing thinking imbued with renunciation, abandoning
thinking imbued with sensuality, his mind is bent by that thinking
imbued with renunciation. If a monk keeps pursuing thinking imbued
with non-ill will, abandoning thinking imbued with ill will, his
mind is bent by that thinking imbued with non-ill will. If a monk
keeps pursuing thinking imbued with harmlessness, abandoning
thinking imbued with harmfulness, his mind is bent by that thinking
imbued with harmlessness."[3]
These latter three types of thought content — renunciation,
non-ill will and harmlessness — comprise the traditional triadic
definition of the Noble Eightfold Path's notion of
"Right Intention" (Pali: sammā-saṅkappa; Skt.: samyak-saṃkalpa).[4] For
each of the former types of thought content — sensuality, ill will
and harmfulness — the Buddha stated:
- "Whenever thinking imbued with sensuality [or ill will or
harmfulness] had arisen, I simply abandoned it, destroyed it,
dispelled it, wiped it out of existence."[5]
Renunciation vs.
sensuality
Elsewhere in the Canon,[6] the
Buddha more finely juxtaposes the pursuit of thoughts regarding
sensuality (kāma) and those regarding renunciation
(nekkhamma):[7]
- "There is the case where the mind of a monk, when attending to
sensual pleasures, doesn't leap up at sensual pleasures, doesn't
grow confident, steadfast, or released in sensual pleasures. But
when attending to renunciation, his mind leaps up at renunciation,
grows confident, steadfast, & released in renunciation. When
his mind is rightly-gone, rightly developed, has rightly risen
above, gained release, and become disjoined from sensual pleasures,
then whatever fermentations, torments, & fevers there are that
arise in dependence on sensuality, he is released from them. He
does not experience that feeling. This is expounded as the escape
from sensual pleasures."[8]
Renunciation as a
bodhisatta practice
As indicated above, in a Pali discourse, the Buddha identified
renunciation as part of his path to Awakening. In the Buddhavamsa, Jataka tales and exegetical literature,
renunciation is codified as the third of ten practices of "perfection" (pāramī).[9]
Contemporary
elaborations
Renunciation's benefit
Bodhi (1999) elaborates on the various and ultimate benefits of
Buddhist renunciation:
- "Contemplating the dukkha inherent in desire is one way to
incline the mind to renunciation. Another way is to contemplate
directly the benefits flowing from renunciation. To move from
desire to renunciation is not, as might be imagined, to move from
happiness to grief, from abundance to destitution. It is to pass
from gross, entangling pleasures to an exalted happiness and peace,
from a condition of servitude to one of self-mastery. Desire
ultimately breeds fear and sorrow, but renunciation gives
fearlessness and joy. It promotes the accomplishment of all three
stages of the threefold training: it purifies conduct, aids concentration, and nourishes the
seed of wisdom. The entire course of practice from
start to finish can in fact be seen as an evolving process of
renunciation culminating in Nibbana [Pali; Skt: Nirvana] as the ultimate
stage of relinquishment, 'the relinquishing of all foundations of
existence' (sabb'upadhipatinissagga)."[10]
See also
Notes
- ^
Rhys Davids & Stede (1921-25), p. 377, entry for "Nekkhamma"
(retrieved 2008-04-12). Rhys Davids & Stede speculate that the
Sanskrit term with which
nekkhamma is associated is either:
-
- ^
Dvedhavitakka Sutta (MN 19) (Thanissaro, 1997).
- ^
Thanissaro (1997). Those
familiar with the Dhammapada will recognize this passage bears
a resemblance to the opening passages of that text.
- ^
Thanissaro (1996).
- ^
Thanissaro (1997).
- ^
For instance, in the Nissaraniya Sutta (AN 5.200) (Thanissaro, 2000).
- ^
Rhys Davids & Stede (1921-25), p. 377, entry for "Nekkhamma"
(retrieved 2 Jul 2007), suggests that the connection between
sensuality and renunciation is underscored by alliterative word
play (between kāma and nekkhamma) in the
Canon.
- ^
Thanissaro (2000).
- ^
Buddhavamsa, chapter 2. For an on-line regarding the Buddhavamsa
and parami, see Bodhi (2005). In terms of
other examples in the Pali literature, Rhys Davids &
Stede (1921-25), p. 454, entry for "Pāramī,"
(retrieved 2 Jul 2007) cites Jataka i.73 and Dhammapada-Atthakatha i.84. Bodhi (2005) also mentions
Acariya Dhammapala's
treatise in the Cariyapitaka-Atthakatha and the Brahmajala Sutta subcommentary
(tika).
- ^
Bodhi (1999), ch. 3.
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