MASTER JUN HONG LU’S DISCOURSE ON GUAN YIN BODHISATTVA’S RENUNCIATION DAY
Caller: Master, tomorrow is the renunciation day of our great Guan Yin Bodhisattva. Could you give a word or two in commemoration of this special day?
Master Jun Hong Lu: Renunciation day is a day when one makes a resolution. To fulfil Her resolution to deliver and live for sentient beings, Guan Yin Bodhisattva renounced the world. For this, She made the great vow “to lead an ascetic life, I will leave my family behind. For the sake of sentient beings, I must be accomplished in my spiritual cultivation so that I’m able to guide everyone to the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss and the Four Sagely Realms”. This is how the concept works.
Therefore, renunciation day is a momentous day. It’s a day we make our great vows such as the Four Great Aspirations. In other words, it was the day Guan Yin Bodhisattva made the vow “to let go of my lesser self and worldly self-interests in order to attain a higher state of mind”.
In fact, this is a day worth celebrating as it is the day that inspires us to renunciate our self-interests for the benefit of more sentient beings. In this light, this renunciation day is indeed worth commemorating as it is a day when we recall fondly the sacrifices that Guan Yin Bodhisattva made for the sake of sentient beings.
If you take a close look at any of the monastics, deep down, he must have come with a great vow on the day he was ordained. He had to endure various forms of worldly criticisms for having left his parents behind who can only shed tears of reluctance. As for those monastics who have children of their own, there is nothing that they can do but forsake them.
There are many instances where spouses and children of these aspiring monastics were reluctant to part ways on their renunciation day. With tears in their eyes, they left their secular life to join a temple and henceforth, cut ties with their loved ones. Why did they do all this? The most pertinent question is what is the main purpose of renouncing the world? It’s all for the sake of sentient beings and herein lies the difference in one’s state of mind. These monastics placed the needs of others before their own. In fact, all of you can be considered to have partially left secular life. Why? Besides your work – in fact, some of you chose not to work – you have cast the notion of self aside. Instead of being perpetually preoccupied with those endless streams of household chores or matters, many of you are already making sacrifices and performing meritorious deeds.
Just like many of our youngsters here, who are assisting to respond to questions raised by others, conceptually, they are already leading a semi-monastic life by giving up fame and fortune. On this basis, I feel that Guan Yin Bodhisattva’s renunciation day is worthy of commemoration. After all, it inspires us to gain better insights into the meaning of letting go of the many things in life, including the notion of self, and the illusory and transient material things that we have acquired.
Instead, we should make real gains at the spiritual level which will allow us to follow Guan Yin Bodhisattva and make our way to heaven. There is immeasurable strength that we can draw from the exemplary example set by Guan Yin Bodhisattva. By renouncing the world, Guan Yin Bodhisattva has paved the way for us to gain an understanding that we should not cling to our lesser self at the expense of all other sentient beings.
Caller: I understand now. Thank you, Master.
Source: Wenda20151030 01:58, Master Jun Hong Lu’s call-in radio program
< About Spiritual Cultivation