Nature, Reality, & Buddhism

[takso]

Let Go vs. Give Up

Buddhists believe that letting go is a good starting point for spiritual liberation.  To ease suffering, a fervent Buddhist must accept the importance of letting go of things or issues.  Unfortunately, some Buddhist followers who are not well-educated often feel uncertain about letting go and giving up.

 

To be honest, giving up is usually a response, but letting go is a conscious choice. Similarly, “not to hope” is called pure disengagement, while “abandoning hope” is about the disengagement that comes after entanglement.  Their subtle distinction is confined to the moment when they engage in gripping activities.

 

In Buddhism, dukkha is associated with suffering (enduring), and letting go is the opposite of it.  To succeed in letting go, it is crucial to practise vipassanā meditation whenever possible.  This meditation is primarily focused on the typical thought process of relinquishing perceptiveness in real-life realities.

 

It can be practised by microscopically and macroscopically observing things or events; that is, the mind would enter into full observation without identifying the stream of thought (the subtle mental consciousness).  Eventually, the mental consciousness would attain full mindfulness through pure awareness. 

 

In this way, one would be liberated spiritually by not succumbing to any conditional circumstances.  With a great deal of sustained and continuous effort over several life cycles, it is possible to liberate the mental consciousness.  Ultimately, there is a complete lack of circumstances, and it’s like being in balance, that is, nibbāna.