When the Mind Renounces, the Body Renounces More Fully

When the Dharma is about to perish, the Shurangama Sutra and the Pratyutpanna Samadhi Sutra will vanish first, followed by the twelve divisions of the scriptures, which will completely disappear without a trace, leaving no written words behind. The kasaya robes of the Shramanas will naturally turn white.

Shramanas are monastics who wear black kasaya robes, while those in white clothing are laypeople. The whitening of the kasaya symbolizes that all monastics have returned to lay life or that no one is left to renounce the world. The result is the complete extinction of the Dharma. This illustrates that from beginning to end, the Dharma is upheld and propagated by monastics. Without monastics, there would be no one to transmit it, and the Dharma would inevitably perish.

Therefore, as disciples of the Buddha, we have the duty to protect the treasury of the Dharma left by the Buddha. The best form of protection is to renounce worldly life and cultivate the path, using the monastic form to propagate the Dharma, thereby enabling it to flourish. Since some have already renounced the world in mind, there should be no reason not to renounce in body. Because the body lacks autonomy, being entirely governed by the mind and obedient to its commands, as long as the mind renounces, there is no hindrance for the body to renounce. With just one decision, one command from the mind, the body will inevitably comply unconditionally.

Thus, those who have renounced the world in mind should have no attachments left in the mundane world—no craving for the five sensual pleasures, no greed for wealth, sex, fame, food, or sleep, no desire for form, sound, smell, taste, or touch. As for worldly responsibilities, they are far less important than the duties toward the Three Jewels of Buddhism. In the past, how many kings, emperors, ministers, and officials bore the weight of an entire nation’s rise and fall, shouldered the trust of all their people, and possessed numerous wives, concubines, children, and dependents—yet they renounced without hesitation to cultivate the path. During the Buddha’s time, since wives and children had no status or autonomy, being entirely dependent on their husbands and fathers, men who wished to follow the Buddha into homelessness had to entrust their wives and children to others to ensure they would not be left uncared for or without means of survival. They renounced to cultivate the path, first to seek purity and second for the sake of the entire Buddhist Dharma. It is because so many individuals of great merit and virtue renounced to protect and uphold the Dharma that Buddhism has thrived and been passed down through generations to this day.

So why, as disciples of the Buddha in this Dharma-ending age, having already renounced in mind, should there remain any reason for the body not to renounce? If only the mind consciousness renounces, it cannot guarantee or compel the body to renounce; only when the mental faculty renounces can it ensure and determine that the body will also renounce. If only the mind consciousness attains fruition or realizes the mind’s true nature, while the mental faculty has not attained fruition or realized the mind’s true nature, it will remain unable to relinquish worldly benefits and unwilling to detach from the mundane world to allow the body to renounce simultaneously.