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.