Q&A

Questions for ‘What is liberation?’

A which statement(s) is(are) incorrect?
1) The sufferings of sentient beings are predominantly caused by their own ignorance.
2) The sufferings of sentient beings are predominantly due to not understanding the law of cause and effect and due to the result of attachment to true existence,
3) Sentient beings suffer because in the process of pursuing of happiness they often perform negative deeds which in turn causes more suffering in their future lives
4) The greater our attachment to our partner, the greater our love is for them.
5) To be free of attachment, simply let go! Letting go is liberation.
6) Samsara is like supporting South African football, you don’t stay satisfied for long.
7) Attachment binds us, like a monk(ey) who puts his hand into a jar to take an apple and then gets trapped because he can’t pull his hand out of the jar while still holding the apple and because he won’t let go off the apple.
8) When we have realised the right view we will naturally be liberated. Like when we wake up from a nightmare, we are naturally free from its illusion.
9) Our external enemies cause far more suffering than our inner afflictions.
10) As we grow older our worries and our self grasping will naturally fall away like autumn leaves falling from the trees
11) The meaning of true liberation is recognising that there are no truly existing phenomena and becoming accustomed to this view.
12) Renunciation, Bodhicitta and faith are the root cause for liberation from samsara

B) General food for thought / Discussion questions:
B-1) what is the relationship between one’s mind and possessions?
B-2) Do people know their own minds, and if they don’t know their own minds do they know themselves?

Homework

Congrats everyone you have been going for a month.

If you are able, increase your meditation to 4 x 5 minutes each day.

And an extract from the poem ‘If’ by Rudyard Kipling:

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:
……….

This chapter is part of: Introduction Course - Part 1: Renunciation