Download The What and Why of Relinquishment

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BENJAMIN BRENNAN
The What & Why of Relinquishment
R
eligions throughout history have advocated the relinquishment of
personal gain for the purpose of creating a better world for all of
mankind. After all, a vast majority of the problems and injustices
of mankind have arisen because of the individual desire for personal gain.
This need for altruism in the world is what brings many of these religions
together, as they often seek to better the lives of their practitioners by
helping them to improve their community. Two such major world religions
that unite in the need for the relinquishment of attachment to personal
gain are Christianity and Buddhism, although it will be observed later that
the immediate goal of relinquishment for each religion differs. But in order
to understand the importance of relinquishment in these religions, as well
as how the act brings them together, two questions must be addressed: what
must be relinquished and why it should be relinquished. The “what” and the
“why” for both Christianity and Buddhism finally turn out to be the same:
the attachment to personal gain must be relinquished in order to achieve
spiritual fulfillment and happiness.
The “what” of relinquishment in Christianity can be found in Matthew
19:16-30. In this chapter, Jesus instructs a rich young man on how to achieve
eternal life. When the rich young man tells Jesus that he has followed all
of the commandments, Jesus responds by telling him “if you want to be
perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have
treasure in heaven.” (Matthew 19:21) The rich young man walks away sadly
at hearing the response, to which Jesus responds by telling his disciples,
“I tell you the truth… it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a
needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” (19:24) The act
of simply giving up material goods is not enough of a step toward both
the betterment of the world and the self; it is the act of relinquishing the
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attachment to personal and material gain that is truly noble. After all, one
can relinquish a childhood toy or stuffed animal once they have outgrown
it, while still maintaining an attachment. Because the rich young man could
not relinquish his attachment to his wealth, he could not truly give himself
over to God and act with compassion towards others.
Although Buddhism is very different from Christianity in the sense that
it focuses on relinquishing the Self, like Christianity it primarily focuses on
the relinquishment of attachment to personal pleasure. When Siddartha,
the key figure in Buddhism, is a young prince he is surrounded by all of the
wealth and physical beauty that his loving father can provide for him and
thus does not realize the fleeting nature of all of these things. However, one
day when he is going on a carriage ride along the royal highway, he sees
Old Age in the form of a feeble old man, Sickness in the form of an ailing
man crying out to his mother as he lays dying, and Death in the form of
a funeral procession. When he returns to the royal palace, he is unable to
enjoy the beautiful harem of women seducing him as he is preoccupied by
the fleeting nature of the world. (Ashva-ghosha 105-7) It is at this moment
in Siddhartha’s life that he begins to realize the futility of maintaining an
attachment to the personal pleasures of youth, good health, and life itself;
through relinquishing the Self, Siddhartha is able to relinquish these
ephemeral pleasures of the mortal world and achieve a happy and fulfilled
life. This reasoning is what brings Christianity and Buddhism together;
they both follow the idea that relinquishment of the attachment to personal
gain will help the practitioner lead a happier and more fulfilled life.
In order to understand the answer to the question of “what,” the “why”
must also be understood. To begin, we previously stated that to be a good
Christian, personal gain and pleasure must be relinquished as seen by the
parable of the rich young man. The “why “behind the relinquishment of
personal pleasure and gain is fairly obvious: material goods and wealth don’t
last and cannot be brought to heaven. In fact, in Matthew 6:19-21, remaining
attached to personal gain such as wealth is the furthest way to achieve entry
into the Kingdom of Heaven both in Heaven and on Earth. Since these
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material goods are susceptible to the ravages of time or the greed of man,
relying on them for happiness and fulfillment is foolish because once the
material gains are either stolen or lose their value the beholder is unhappy
and unfulfilled instantly. By giving up attachment to these impermanent
material goods, a new treasure that cannot be destroyed by time nor stolen
from the beholder can be found: spiritual fulfillment.
The “why” in Buddhism at first appears quite different for a very
interesting reason: in Buddhism there is no Self and therefore the object
is not to achieve a permanent spiritual fulfillment, but rather to recognize
that nothing is ever permanent. In The Life of the Buddha, Siddhartha
realizes that he can no longer remain in his home at the palace because
he is surrounded by transience and that a life of transient pleasures has
little meaning. When he tells his father that he is leaving for the ascetic
grove, Siddhartha’s father tries to stop him by lavishing the young prince
with wealth, beautiful women, and earthly pleasures. It is interesting that
the King tries to instill attachment to personal gain as a way to prevent
Siddhartha from leaving to achieve spiritual fulfillment—an incident that
further proves the need to relinquish personal gain. In response, Siddhartha
gives his father four requests that must be fulfilled in order for him to
remain in the palace, “My life shall never be subject to death, / disease shall
not steal this good health of mine, / old age shall never overtake my youth,
/ no mishap shall rob this fortune of mine.” (137)
Like his attempt to stop Siddhartha from leaving, the King’s response
to his son’s requests shows the importance of relinquishing personal gain.
The King responds by telling Siddhartha of the foolishness of such requests.
Siddhartha responds,
If that’s not possible, don’t hold me back;
for it is not right to obstruct a man,
who’s trying to escape from a burning house.
When separation is the fixed rule for this world,
is it not far better for dharma’s sake
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to make that separation on my own?
Will death not separate me as I stand
helpless and unfulfilled,
without reaching my goal? (141)
Siddhartha has come to understand that because life’s pleasures such as
wealth, youth, and beauty by their very nature can never last and will be
separated from him by time and death, then an attachment to them can
never lead to true fulfillment.
However, a second part of the “why” must also be understood; the goal of
relinquishment must be examined to see where Christianity and Buddhism
truly diverge. Contrary to popular belief, the idea that one will be able to
enter the Kingdom of Heaven simply by relinquishing an attachment to
personal gain and living by God’s commandments after they die is only
a rudimentary interpretation of the Gospels. In Matthew 5:44-48, Jesus
preaches to the people:
But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
that you may be children of your Father in heaven… if you love those who
love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing
that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than
others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly
Father is perfect.
The idea that Jesus is preaching to the people is that they should love their
enemies specifically because doing so would bring them closer to God. By
recognizing that all people are a part of God, mankind can become even
closer to God and through him the bliss of the Kingdom of Heaven.
In relation to the “what,” Jesus goes further to illustrate this point in
Matthew 6:32-33 in regard to the disciples possible anxiety about their lives
and how they will find the basic material needs (food, water, clothing, etc.)
by telling them, “the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly
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Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and his
righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Jesus
specifically says to them that by seeking “his kingdom and his righteousness”
they will have their needs provided for and live a fulfilled life without worry
or fear. In this way this passage also illustrates the “why” of relinquishment
in Christianity: when one is consumed with worry over the material wants
and needs of this world, they cannot fully give themselves over to God.
It can therefore be stated that the Kingdom of Heaven isn’t a place; it is
spiritually fulfilled state of being where one recognizes one’s closeness to
God through closeness to their fellow human beings.
Unlike Christianity, there is no Heaven in Buddhism; there is instead
acceptance of the transience of life. In Canto 14 of The Life of the Buddha,
Buddha achieves Nirvana when he realizes that “samsara [the cycle of
rebirth] had no substance, like the core of banana trees.” (405) He comes
to this conclusion when he watches those who are reborn in Heaven
experience misery when they are forced to be reborn in the mortal world
and must leave behind the pleasures of Heaven. (417) The idea that even
the pleasures of Heaven will not last forever, but will end once the cycle of
samsara repeats itself illustrates the idea that the “what” is necessary not
only for spiritual fulfillment but for the escape from the cycle of suffering.
Siddhartha understands the transience of life and of the material gains
accumulated during one’s life and he believes that only by accepting the
transience of it all can one escape the cycle of suffering and be happy.
In the end, for both Christianity and Buddhism, the “what” that must be
relinquished is the attachment to personal gain and the “why” is the simple
and straightforward fact that such earthly and mortal pleasures cannot
bring true fulfillment and happiness to life. A reliance on personal gain for
happiness and fulfillment is futile as these earthly treasures can be taken
in the blink of an eye, leaving the original possessor empty and unfulfilled.
And since a man who is attached to his personal gain relies on the treasures
he accumulates for happiness and fulfillment, he will then have to go and
accumulate more wealth, possibly at the expense of others. The only major
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difference between the two religions is the ending goal of the “what” and
the “why” and even then it could be said that the ending goal for both is
to achieve a truly happy and spiritually fulfilled state of being. Christianity
and Buddhism both require the relinquishment of attachment to personal
gain and pleasure not only for individual happiness but also to help create a
society that acts with compassion rather than out of greed.
Works Cited
Ashva-ghosha. The Life of the Buddha. Trans. Olivelle. New York: NYU Press, 2008.
The Holy Bible: New International Version. Colorado Springs, CO: International Bible
Society, 1984.