I remember once when I was walking with my teacher, Ajahn Chah, he pointed to a boulder in a field and asked, “Is that heavy?” I replied, “Yes, of course.” Ajahn Chah smiled and said “Not if you don’t pick it up.”
Jack Kornfield
Tag: Renunciation
When the supreme Jina has advised the aspirants not to have attachment even for their own bodies, where is the question of possession of other objects?
Dulichand Jain, Thus Spake Lord Mahavir
Knowing the worldly objects as bonds of the soul, the aspirant should procced in his life with extreme caution. As long as the body remains strong, he should use it to practise self-restraint. When the body is devoid of its strength completely, he should renounce it without any attachment like a lump of clay.
Dulichand Jain, Thus Spake Lord Mahavir
No person has the power to have everything they want, but it is in their power not to want what they don’t have, and to cheerfully put to good use what they do have.
Seneca
Desire for enlightenment in a renunciate
Knowledge of the Self does not dawn on a mind which is not purified by non-attachment and renunciation. The latter are the necessary means for attaining the end of the knowledge of the Self. If a man gets attached to renunciation and non-attachment without recognizing them as means to the final end, he loses the sight of the end and loses the game.
Translation by Shri Brahmachariji of Verse 7, Shri Atma Siddhi Shastra by Shrimad Rajchandra