Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Abiding in the Eight Liberations (三明六通住八解脫)
Date: November.14. 2016
“Whether in the past, present or future, we can have insight into our own or others’ past lives. We can know our own and other’s live and see into future appearances of birth and death. We can end all Leaks, all afflictions, and clearly eliminate the ignorance of delusions of views. With the Eight Liberations, we can practice to enter the Samadhi of boundless space.”
This describes a mental state. As we engage in spiritual practice, has all the ignorance in our mental state actually been eliminated? If we have eliminated our afflictions, then our thinking should be very clear. So, we must regularly cultivate contemplation to enter a tranquil and clear state of mind. This is something we must earnestly work on.
“He develops the Three Insights, Six Spiritual Powers and [37] Practices to Enlightenment.” In the past, we spoke about the Three Insights. The Three Insights are insight into previous lives, insight of the heavenly eye and insight into ending all Leaks. “Insight into previous lives” is knowing what causes and conditions we created in the past that led to the effects and retributions we face in our present and future lifetimes. We will understand all of this very clearly. This is called an insight, an “insight into previous lives”.
With insight we can understand our past as well as others’ past. We have such causes and conditions with them, so this life we face such effects and retributions. This is having insight into previous lives; it is insight into our past and present lives. So, whether “our own or others’ past lives,” we know them all very clearly.
Next, “We can know our own and others’ lives and see into future appearances of birth and death.” This is “insight of the heavenly eye.” We know we must practice earnestly in this life. We must let go of things that happened in the past and not continue to provoke future entanglements in future lifetimes.
What we are creating in this lifetime will become our retributions in our future lifetimes. Only with the insight of the heavenly eye can we understand clearly in our future births and deaths what kind of land, family and followers, era, society and people we will live with.
So, we must engage in spiritual practice and be earnestly mindfully of the Dharma. The power of knowing past lives and the power of the heavenly eye are both found within our calm contemplation. Our minds must be calm, and we must cultivate contemplation.
In our daily living, in all our actions and as we interact with people and deal with things, we must constantly heighten our vigilance. How can we get rid of afflictions and ignorance? This requires us to implement the Buddha-Dharma in our daily living. We must eliminate all Leaks of ignorance and afflictions. Only when we have eliminated afflictions can we take the Dharma to heart. This way we can “clearly eliminate the ignorance of delusions of views.”
We will then be able to have clear understanding. When we escape our afflictions, our mind and wisdom will be clear and bright. When we eradicate delusions of views and thinking, our perspectives, our thinking and our ignorance will no longer confuse our minds. If we can do this, we will gradually attain the Three Insights and the Six Spiritual Powers and begin to enter the state of liberation.
“With the Eight Liberations, we can practice to enter the Samadhi of boundless space.”
We can then gradually develop the Three Insights and the Six Spiritual Powers and attain the Eight Liberations. These will be explained broadly later.
The previous sutra passage states, “In that land, that Buddha will transform countless sentient beings. Of those whom that Buddha teaches, most are Bodhisattvas, and all have sharp capabilities and can turn the non-retreating wheel.That land is constantly dignified by Bodhisattvas.”
Do you still remember that when Subhuti attains Buddhahood, His epithet will be Name and Appearance?His kalpa will be called Bearing Treasures, and His land will be called Treasure Born.
The Buddha-Dharma will flourish there.
Moreover, there will be many Bodhisattvas of great capabilities, and there will also be many Hearers.
The next sutra passage says, “The number of Hearers is beyond calculation. They have all attained the Three Insights, possess the Six Spiritual Powers, abide in the Eight Liberations and have great might and virtue.”
Their numbers will be great.There will be many Hearers.After these Hearers listen to the Dharma, all attain the Three Insights and are replete with the Six Spiritual Powers.There will be a great number of them.
The Three Insights and Six Spiritual Powers are the fruits attained by Hearers.
In their spiritual practice, although they are Hearers, they have taken the Dharma to heart and have already eliminated their afflictions; they have completely eliminated them.They have attained the Three Insights and the Six Spiritual Powers.These are the fruits of the Hearer’s spiritual practice; they “Develop the Three Insights, Six Spiritual Powers and [37] Practices to Enlightenment.”
We have read this before.
“[They] abide in the Eight Liberations and have great might and virtue.”The Eight Liberations are much more profound.
They are also called the Eight Abandonments.All of these refer to our mental state.The term abandonment means to “abandon evil and turn toward good, abandon the crude and turn toward the fine; abandon the afflictions of the Three Realms.”All of these must be abandoned.
Deep inside ourselves, we must forever abandon evil and turn toward good.We must move toward a path of brightness.
“Abandon the crude and turn toward the fine” means in spiritual practice, we must not celery work on the surface.We must not think that simply doing the Ten Good Deeds is enough.The Ten Good Deeds are relatively crude because when we practice the Ten Good Deeds, we still have afflictions within us.We still have a sense of self and other, etc.
This is still just a crude practice of goodness.
We must penetrate down to a very subtle level, to goodness that comes naturally from deep inside, that love that is very fine and subtle.
That kind of mental state is not merely about letting go of our afflictions.We do not even have the appearance of afflictions.We not even have the thought of letting go.This is fundamentally how things are.We have trained ourselves to the point where our mind and our thinking are one with the universe.
This is extremely fine and subtle.
At this point, the capacity of our mind has opened.We no longer have any other obstacles.This is the meaning of “fine”.
“Abandon the afflictions of the Three Realms”; all of these must be abandoned.This is liberation.If we can do this, we are liberated.
Liberation is also called “abandonment”.Its principles are generally divided into eight kinds.
The Eight Liberations:
1.Contemplating external appearances when material desires arise.
2.Contemplating external appearances when no material desires arise.
3.Liberation of purity confirmed by the body.
4.Liberation of the Samadhi of boundless space.
5.Liberation of the Samadhi of [boundless] consciousness.
6.Liberation of the Samadhi of absolute nothingness.
7.Liberation of the Samadhi of neither thought nor absence of thought.
8.Liberation of the cessation of feeling and perception.
The first is “contemplating external appearances when material desires arise”.
When material desires arise, it means that we still have a “sense of self”.We must earnestly contemplate; “Spiritual practitioners should [first] examine their material body’s degeneration, decay and impurity.”
The first of the Eight Liberations is contemplating external appearances when material desires arise:
This means that spiritual practitioners should first examine their material body’s degeneration, decay and impurity.
It is not something to love or take joy in.
Thus they single-mindedly enter tranquil Samadhi.
In our spiritual practice, we should earnestly contemplate ourselves.What kind of thing is our body, really?We eat things daily; what becomes of them after they are digested?
What are the things that we excrete?
We must earnestly contemplate these things.
Once things enter our stomach, don’t they all rot and become impure?This is something we must reflect on.
In fact, if we carefully think about this process, it is not something to love or take joy in.
The second is to contemplate external appearances when no material desires arise. Look around you. The greedy desires of the desire realm. The greedy desires of the desire realm are hard to eliminate. We live in the desire realm, so everywhere there are afflictions. Thus, desire is difficult to eliminate. If we can earnestly “contemplate the impurity of external appearances”, we will “give rise to renunciation and disgust and seek to eliminate them. That is why it says to contemplate appearances”.
We often hear about how, after people have died, we can see just how impure the body is. This is “the impurity of external appearances”; they are all impure, so what more is there to take issue over? What more is there to crave? So, we “give rise to renunciation and disgust”? Why harbor these sexual desires? Both partners’ bodies are impure. Isn’t this very repulsing?
So, spiritual practitioners. So, spiritual practitioners “give rise to renunciation and disgust and seek to eliminate them. That is why it says to contemplate appearances”. If we want to eliminate them, this is how to do it.
Third is liberation of purity confirmed by the body. We now know that both the inside and the outside of our bodies are unclean. So, “Purity comes from a pure appearance”. In order to have this pure appearance, we must “abandon the impure appearances of external form so as to be clean, pure and bright, just like a wondrous treasure chamber. Thus one’s mind is clear and pure, and joy will gradually increase”.
Since we understand that external and internal appearances are all impure, we should relinquish them. We must not continue to cling to our desires. Then naturally, in our minds there will be no internal or external sensual desires, no thoughts of greed for the inner or outer. We naturally will be able to maintain this purity of mind. When our minds are pure, naturally we will attain Dharma-joy.
Next is “the liberation of the Samadhi of boundless space. This is reaching the level of the Samadhi of boundless space. This boundless space is very clean. To attain this, it is necessary to “abandon the impure form of our own body”, and “abandon all the impure forms outside of us”. If our minds can “abandon appearance”, we can “single-mindedly connect to emptiness and resonate with emptiness. Thus we enter the Samadhi of bondless space”.
We must clearly understand our own body. When we see external forms and appearances, we should not give rise to thoughts of craving. This kind of sexual desire, or desire for fame, wealth and so on, must be eliminated. If we can relinquish all desire from our minds, and not give rise to craving and desire, we can “single-mindedly connect to emptiness”. Then naturally our minds will become very pure. Our minds will be totally empty. “[We] resonate with emptiness. Thus, we enter the Samadhi of boundless space.
At this time, our minds converge with emptiness. Fifth is the liberation of the Samadhi of [boundless] consciousness:
The Fifth of the Eight Liberations is the Samadhi of [boundless] consciousness: We single-mindedly connect to consciousness, which depends on the Five Skandhas and so on, all of which are impermanent, full of suffering, empty and without self. As these things are false, deceitful and untrue, we give rise to renunciation and do not love or become attached to them. Thus, this is the liberation of [boundless] consciousness.
We “single-mindedly connect to consciousness”. We should earnestly consider the way the Six Roots connect with the external Six Dusts. When we give rise to thoughts and take actions, the consciousness of good and evil, those seeds of fruition, will be taken into our minds. All of these things, this consciousness, depends on the Five Skandhas and so on.
External form and sense objects are taken in by our Roots and Consciousness, by form, feeling, perception, action, consciousness. When we have a feeling and then take action, the result will be stored in our consciousness. This consciousness is what we must earnestly seek to comprehend.
If we understand that all things are impermanent, full of suffering, empty and without self, that they are all illusory, deceitful and untrue, if we can understand this, then we will naturally give rise to a sense of renunciation and abandonment. Naturally, we will no longer create karma out of greed and attachment. Thus we do not love or become attached to [things]. This is the Samadhi of [boundless] consciousness.
Sixth is the Samadhi of absolute nothingness. We depend on these Five Skandhas, which are all likewise impermanent, empty, false, deceitful and untrue. In such a state, our minds must give rise to abandonment. We want to get rid of evil so, “We must abandon [these things], and not love or be attached to them. Thus this is called the liberation of the Samadhi of absolute nothingness. ” This is entering “the liberation of the Samadhi of absolute nothingness”, where there is nothing at all.
Seven is “the Samadhi of neither thought nor absence of thought.”
The seventh of the Eight Liberations is the Samadhi of neither thought nor absence of thought: when one single-mindedly connects to neither thought nor absence of though, then one observes the true principles. As all things depends on the Five Skandhas and are all impermanent, full of suffering, empty and without self, they are false, deceitful and untrue. Thus, this is the liberation of [the Samadhi] of neither thought nor absence of thought.
“The Samadhi of neither thought nor absence of thought.” Means that there is no thought, because what are we doing if we are always getting lost in our thoughts? And there is no absence of thought, because we cannot fail to think mindfully.This is neither thought nor the absence of thought.
Letting our thoughts only carry us away is of no use, yet we cannot abandon cultivating contemplation. So, we must remain in the Middle Way to understand that the Dharma is like this, and the turbidity of the human world is like this. Therefore, how must we engage in practice? We must understand this very clearly.
If we are attached to these two extremes, if we are cling to either extreme, that is incorrect, so we must also abandon these. Thus, “One single-mindedly connects to neither or absence of thought. Our mind must have neither one or the other. We must be very clear on this. This is observing the true principles.”
We must mindfully observe the true principles and understand that all things depend on the Five Skandhas and are all impermanent, full of suffering, empty and without self.” They are all “false, deceitful and untrue.” We must thoroughly understand all this. This depends on our cultivation of contemplation. Only when we contemplate the truth can we avoid being biased toward thought or non-thought and thus thoroughly understand the principles.
Eighth is “the liberation of the cessation of feeling and perception.”
The eighth of the Eighth the Liberation is the cessation of feeling and perception: Feeling refers to our sensations. Perception refers to our thinking. These refer to the thinking mind of thinking and perception in the skandhas. These will lead practitioners to be troubled and have scattered minds. Therefore, one must abandon and cease all feeling and perception. This is the cessation of feeling and perception.
We eliminate everything; feeling, perception, action and consciousness. We abandon all of these. Feeling is what we take in, all that we take in [through our senses]. Perception is our thinking. Among the Five Skandhas, this is the thinking mind of feeling and perception. We take in appearances in our minds and constantly turn them over in our thoughts. This is called the thinking of feeling and perception.
As human beings, we should know that we must not let what we have done in the past, all of our past mistakes, pile up on top of each other. When we do good deeds, it is also not necessary to keep them in our minds after we have done them.
In summary, we should choose what is correct and practice very fine and subtle good deeds. This is the correct thing to do. It is not necessary to think so much. These things will lead us to be more troubled and cause us to have scattered minds.
To continually think of the past or be attached to the present so on can easily cause us to have scattered minds. So, we definitely must abandon this and cease such feeling and perception.
In our spiritual practice, we must seize the clear and pure mind of the present moment and continually sustain it. This means that we must not be attached.This is the eighth [liberation], the cessation of feeling and perception.
If we can practice accordingly, then we have flawless wisdom. At that point, our wisdom will have no more Leaks. We have eliminated the first six consciousnesses, those of the mind king and mental objects. Having eradicated delusions of views and thinking, what we attain is “Samadhi of complete cessation.” This is “the Nirvana of the Two Vehicles.”
If we can do this, we will “have great might and virtue. Goodness can subdue all maras of hatred, whether internal or external. One with might is to be feared. One with virtue is to be respected.”
Aren’t these teachings a bit more profound? This is all taking about the mind. So, let us be very mindful of profound Dharma. We must abandon the crude for the fine; we must get rid of our crude afflictions and be very meticulous to reach a level so subtle it is like we are returning to emptiness. So, we must have no attachments. We must always be mindful!
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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