What is liberation

Seeking liberation

What is liberation?

While practicing the Buddha Dharma we should seize the key points. In order to thoroughly liberate ourselves from the sufferings in samsara, we should first understand the root cause of all sentient beings circling existence in samsara, then take direct measures to tackle it. Only through this way can we resolve this urgent problem effectively. The sufferings of all sentient beings are not caused by external forces, rather they are caused by our own ignorance. It is demonstrated in the following two aspects.

Firstly, sentient beings do not understand the law of cause and effect. They pursue happiness but keep on performing negative deeds that cause negative results. According to the law of cause and effect, the root causes of sentient beings being reborn in the three lower realms are craving, hatred, ignorance, pride, and jealousy. The root causes of rebirth in the three higher realms are the five disciplines and ten virtuous actions. Renunciation, Bodhicitta and faith are the root cause for liberation from samsara, being reborn in the Pure Land, and obtaining Buddhahood. Sentient beings do not understand the law of interdependent origination and cause and effect, therefore when seeking happiness, they perform negative deeds, which simply creates more sufferings in their future lives.

Secondly, it is the result of attachment to true existence, when sentient beings do not understand the impermanent nature of everything. This attachment to true existence is the attachment to the self, which has the aspects of attachment to ourselves and attachment to phenomena. Attachment to ourselves means taking the five aggregates as inherently existing, this applies to all sentient beings. Attachment to phenomena means all sentient beings mistakenly understand that all phenomena truly exist. Phenomena here is explained in two senses: in the broader sense it is all phenomena including ourselves, while in the narrower sense it means all phenomena except for ourselves.

Attachment to ourselves causes emotional obscurations, which prevent sentient beings from attaining temporary liberation. This includes the five poisons of craving, hatred, ignorance, pride and jealousy, and wrong view, known as the six root afflictions. From the six root afflictions many other afflictions arise. Sentient beings commit all kinds of positive or negative deeds driven by these afflictions. Thereafter they will experience happiness or suffering as a result of all the karma they have created. The attachment to phenomena, in the narrow sense, causes cognitive obscurations, which are obstacles in the way of sentient beings in attaining the omniscience of Buddhahood. Such obstacles include attachment to the three conceptual spheres of subject, object, and action or grasping on to subject and object, and habitual patterns.

Sentient beings mistakenly perceive worldly, impermanent illusions as truly existing and permanent. Therefore the mind automatically grasps at the outer world and chases after delusional thoughts. This wrong view binds the mind, like people who are dreaming but do not realise that they are dreaming and, as a result, they are bound by attachment and fear, like a silkworm which wraps itself up in its own cocoon. As long as any sentient being attaches to phenomena as truly existent they will experience suffering. The stronger our habits of duality and attachment, the greater will be our five poisons consisting of craving, hatred, ignorance, pride and jealousy, and the less freedom we will have. This may lead to more impure speech and behaviour, and therefore result in more negative karma in the future.

Due to the attachment to phenomena as truly existent, people tend to seek happiness from outside, in order to satisfy their minds: delicious food, fun, entertaining things to do, nice things to see, and so on. When we encounter them we feel happy and comfortable, when we do not have them we feel depressed. The habit of attachment is like drinking salt water: the more we drink, the thirstier we become. The more we eat, the more we want. When things are satisfactory people still wish for even more. It is a never ending story. When we do not achieve our goal, we feel angry, we complain. We continually pursue things, deliberately allowing the five poisons to emerge. Although we spend our lifetime pursuing our aspirations, we are not able to fulfil our wishes. The moment our life gets better, another worry arises. This is because the afflictions and habitual patterns are inherently negative and bring the sufferings of samsara. Chasing after afflictions and habitual tendencies is what sentient beings are about. No matter whether rich or poor, famous or unknown, young or old, as long as we still have gross afflictions and habitual tendencies , no matter who, no matter where, we cannot obtain true happiness and well-being.

We can observe this reality in our daily life: with the same living conditions, the poor perceive them as luxurious, while the rich perceive them as sub-standard or inferior. This is because of duality and the habit of comparing. People from Sichuan enjoy spicy food; people from Zhejiang enjoy sweet food. This is a long sustained habit. When we encounter difficulties and setbacks we feel intense pain and suffering, because we have strong attachment to ourselves. When friends and family members encounter difficulties and setbacks, or pass away, we may feel much pain and suffering, but less than if it were to happen to ourselves. This is because our attachment to friends and family members is not as strong as our attachment to ourselves. When a stranger encounters difficulties, or even dies, we might not feel any pain at all, this is because we do not have any attachment to the stranger. In daily life we do not care about petty things, but when we encounter life threatening situations we might react very strongly. This is because what we are attached to most in our lives is the self. We believe our psychophysical existence composed of the five aggregates is the self, therefore we fear losing it. All in all, no matter what we want to grasp, the more we struggle, wanting to grasp tighter, the more we will feel stressed and experience suffering. On the other hand, when our minds are open, the more fearless we become and the more peace and contentment we will enjoy.

In fact, from time immemorial, it is not external enemies interfering with us or hurting us, it is the afflictions of craving, hatred, pride and jealousy caused by our strong attachment to true existence, which costs us our own freedom and binds us to samsara. No matter how strong our outer enemies are, they may only hurt us in this one life, but our hidden habit of attachment to true existence will hurt us for all our lives. Hence, our inner afflictions cut the deepest and are our most terrifying enemies. The meaning of liberation is to free ourselves from the chains of ignorance, completely releasing ourselves from the sufferings of samsara.

Due to ignorance, sentient beings mistakenly perceive all phenomena as permanently existing, resulting in dualistic attachment, from which afflictions and habits arise. The great master His Holiness Lama Achuk once said, “The root of afflictions lies in attachment to the self. This attachment causes us to circle in samsara, and therefore we should observe this carefully.” If we cannot free ourselves from ignorance and overcome our habitual tendency of attachment to a self, the ensuing afflictions will be like an inflammation that has not been entirely cured. Once we encounter the ripening causes and conditions, they will become inflamed again. Although sometimes we may have a tranquil mind, and the five poisons seem to have disappeared, once the conditions are triggered, the afflictions will arise again. Only when we thoroughly destroy ignorance and purify our minds of all our habits of dualistic attachment, will we be able to uproot our attachment to true existence and stop the craving, hatred, ignorance, pride, jealousy and wrong view from reappearing. Our impure three doors of body, speech, and mind will be purified. We will stop creating positive, negative or neutral karma, and bring an end to experiences of happiness and suffering in samsara.

From the Mahayana point of view, the very idea of abandoning samsara, seeking nirvana and liberation, is incorrect. In fact, we are not bound by ignorance, which we need to remove, and we are only then able to attain liberation. Rather, it is because we ourselves are confused, thinking that we are trapped in a truly existing samsara and need to seek liberation. Just like during a nightmare, we mistakenly experience the dream as reality and therefore wish to escape from it. When we wake up, we realise that the events in the nightmare never actually occurred and there was no need for us to escape from one place to another. Similarly, there is nothing that really binds us. Once we no longer have the wrong view we will naturally be liberated. As when we wake up from a nightmare, we are naturally free from its terrifying illusion.

Therefore, the meaning of true liberation is recognising that there are no truly existing phenomena and becoming accustomed to this view. The attachment to truly existing phenomena will weaken, and afflictions and suffering will gradually reduce. When all attachments disappear, your five poisons will become the five wisdoms. Hence you will not create any karma. With no karma there will be no associated result due to your actions, and you will be liberated from samsara.

However, the view of Mahayana Buddhism is not suitable for all beings, as they have different capacities. In the case of those whose attachment is very strong, they may not understand the view of emptiness and consequently slander Mahayana Buddhism. They may also mistake all phenomena as being non-existent and fall into the extreme of nihilism. Therefore when hearing, contemplating, and practicing the Buddha Dharma, reflect according to your own capacity. The view and practices discussed here are for Mahayana practitioners.

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