renunciants
People giving up
Renunciants are people who formally give up something, especially worldly possessions, pleasures, or social ties for spiritual purposes.
The term appears most often in religious contexts—Hindu sannyasis, Buddhist monks, Christian ascetics: The renunciants lived simply, owning nothing but their robes.
More broadly, anyone who deliberately abandons a former way of life.
Muslim or Hindu ascetics
- yogisPractitioners of meditative discipline
- dervishesAscetic Muslim mystics
- hermitsPeople choosing isolation
- mendicantsThose who live by begging
cenobites · desert fathers · solitaries · recluses · swamis · pilgrims · wanderers · penitents
Deliberate food avoidance
- celibacyAbstaining from intimate relations
- chastityAbstaining from sexual activity
- continenceControl over bodily functions
- teetotalismTotal sobriety as principle
sobriety · temperance · restraint · self-denial · austerity · frugality · simplicity · abnegation
Profound spiritual awakening
- liberationRelease from constraint
- nirvanaRelease from cyclical existence
- mokshaRelease from rebirth cycle
- samsaraCycle of rebirth
karma · dharma · meditation · contemplation · devotion · transcendence · detachment · awakening
Freedom from emotional clinging
- dispassionFreedom from emotional bias
- equanimityUnshakable mental steadiness
- letting goReleasing one's grasp
- surrenderCease resistance, yield
release · disentanglement · desirelessness · impartiality · disengagement · objectivity · indifference · aloofness
fakirs
Muslim or Hindu ascetics
- yogisPractitioners of meditative discipline
- dervishesAscetic Muslim mystics
- hermitsPeople choosing isolation
mendicants · cenobites · desert fathers · solitaries · recluses · swamis · pilgrims · wanderers · penitents · flagellants
fasting
Deliberate food avoidance
- celibacyAbstaining from intimate relations
- chastityAbstaining from sexual activity
- continenceControl over bodily functions
teetotalism · sobriety · temperance · restraint · self-denial · austerity · frugality · simplicity · abnegation · mortification
enlightenment
Profound spiritual awakening
- liberationRelease from constraint
- nirvanaRelease from cyclical existence
- mokshaRelease from rebirth cycle
samsara · karma · dharma · meditation · contemplation · devotion · transcendence · detachment · awakening · guru
nonattachment
Freedom from emotional clinging
- dispassionFreedom from emotional bias
- equanimityUnshakable mental steadiness
- letting goReleasing one's grasp
surrender · release · disentanglement · desirelessness · impartiality · disengagement · objectivity · indifference · aloofness · withdrawal
monks
Cloistered religious men
abbesses · novices · cloister · abbey · convent · hermitage · vows · habit · order · vespers
renunciantsmaterialists
Prioritizers of physical possessions
hedonists · sybarites · sensualists · pleasure-seekers · epicureans
renunciantshouseholders
People occupying residences
secularists · careerists · laypeople · socialites · men of the world
renunciantshouseholders
People occupying residences
laypeople · laity · family men · breadwinners · patriarchs