Three and Eight Liberations

Wisdom Quarterly based on Ven. Nyanatiloka Mahathera, A Buddhist Dictionary: A Manual of Pali Terms and Buddhist Doctrines (vimokkha)

LIBERATION (vimokkha): deliverance, emancipation, freedom from suffering; enlightenment; awakening.
 

I. The three liberations are: 1. the conditionless or signless (no nimitta) liberation, 2. the desireless liberation, and 3. the emptiness or void liberation (shuññatá-vimokkha). 
 
They are also called "the triple gateway to liberation" (vimokkha-mukha; Path of Purification XXI, 66ff) because they are three different approaches to the paths of enlightenment.
 
1. "Whosoever, being filled with determination, reflects that all formations are radically impermanent, such a person attains the conditionless liberation. 

2. Whosoever, being filled with tranquility, reflects that all formations are painful, such a person attains the desireless liberation. 

3. Whosoever, being filled with wisdom, reflects that all formations are without a self, such a person attains the emptiness liberation" (Path of Purification XXI, 70 = Pts.M. II, p. 58).
  

(1) and (2) are mentioned and explained in the Middle Length Discourses (MN 43) under the name of deliverances of mind (ceto-vimutti), and (2) and (3) appear in Dhs. (344ff, 353ff) in the section on supermundane consciousness (see Atthasálini Tr., p. 299ff).
  

II. The EIGHT LIBERATIONS occur frequently in the texts (A. VIII, 66; DN 16, etc.) and are described as follows:
 

[The Buddha:] "There are eight liberations, O meditators. What are they?
 

(1) ''While remaining in the Fine-Material Sphere, one perceives corporeal forms: this is the first liberation.
 

(2) "Not perceiving corporeal forms on one's own person, one perceives corporeal forms externally: this is the second liberation.
  
(3) ''By thinking of the beautiful, one is filled with confidence: this is the third liberation.

   .

(4) "Through the total overcoming of the corporeality-perceptions, the vanishing of the reflex-perceptions, and the non-attention to the multiformity-perceptions, with the idea 'Unbounded is space,' one reaches the plane of boundless space and abides therein: this is the fourth liberation.

 

(5) "Through the total overcoming of the sphere of boundless space, and with the idea 'Unbounded is consciousness,' one reaches the plane of boundless consciousness and abides therein: this is the fifth liberation.

 
(6) "Through the total overcoming of the plane of unbounded consciousness, and with the idea 'Nothing is there,' one reaches the plane of nothingness (ákiñeaññ-áyatana) and abides therein: this is the sixth liberation.
 

(7) "Through the total overcoming of the plane of nothingness, one reaches the plane of neither-perception-nor-non-perception and abides therein: this is the seventh liberation.
  

(8) "Through the total overcoming of the plane of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, one reaches the extinction of perception and sensation: this is the eighth liberation.
 

"These, O meditators, are the eight kinds of liberation."
 

For (1-3), see abhibháyatana; for (4-7), see jhána; for (8), see nirodha-samápatti.
 

By (3) is meant the attainment of the Fine-Material Sphere absorptions (jhánas) by means of concentrating the mind on perfectly pure and bright colored disks (kasinas) as meditation objects. 
 
According to Pts.M. this mental state is also produced by concentrating the mind on the Four Sublime States (Brahma Viharas): all-embracing loving-kindness, compassion, appreciative joy, and equanimity. The result of this is that all beings appear perfectly pure and glorified, and therefore the mind turns to the beautiful.
 

See Pts.M. II, Vimokkha-kathá; Atthasálini Tr., p. 255; App. More

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Seven things the Buddha taught

Dhr. Seven and Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly

Reclining Buddha in Pagan, Burma (KateMcKenna/flickr.com)

   

Buddha and change (Omoo/flickr.com)

Before passing into final nirvana, the Buddha gave a final exhortation. He had taught seven essential things:

1. As soon as a desire arises, dissatisfaction co-arises. Our entire psycho-physical existence is beset by this unsatisfactoriness. Clinging makes it worse. By their own nature things fall away. Everything of which we are composed falls away. Yet, we cling and will not let go. We cannot let go. But there is an escape from dissatisfaction and disappointment. 

   

Wisdom itself has the power to uproot clinging, harming, and ignorance to free us from all forms of "suffering," whether subtle or gross. This path to release is the Buddha's Dharma, the stainless path laid down 26 centuries ago although often reformulated with the essential message remaining: THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS, which ennoble any individual who practices in accord with them, are the way to the development of compassion, wisdom, and final liberation.

  

2. Do not be content with this transient state, but instead really look at it and strive to undo the three bonds -- greed, hatred, and delusion -- that hold one like a poisoned slave who is sure to perish. We cannot walk the path alone unaided, yet no one can "save" (walk the path) for another. Indeed others may save our life, point out the way to the heavens, or help free us from miserable states. But striving to awaken is something one undertakes for oneself to benefit others as well as oneself

3. When the "self" (atta) is seen for what it actually is -- a composite constituted by many transient parts, it is realized that ultimately, in an unconventional way of speaking, there is "no self" (anatta) who suffers or is liberated, is trapped or is freed, dies or is reborn -- except that ignorance makes it so. So it is said that the universe is "illusory" (maya).

(The Brahminical/Hindu belief that uniting a self and the external world one leads to "eternal serenity" is exactly mistaken but widely believed in Mahayana forms of Buddhism. If non-duality were the answer, others would already have a path to final liberation and there would be no need for the Buddha to have arisen in the world and made know the fourth Noble Truth -- the Noble Eightfold Path).

  

(American Buddhist Perspective)

4. Practice "meditation" (bhavana and jhaneti: cultivation, self-development, progress in serenity then insight or proper-concentration then mindfulness of the factors of Dependent Origination to bring wisdom into being). 

   

5. Remember what the Buddha taught -- which he mostly limited to what would advance listeners (savakas) toward enlightenment or maintain the Teaching in the world (vinaya) as long as possible. His final exhortation was, "All component things are hurtling toward destruction, [so] work out your emancipation with diligence!"

 

6. When the first four absorptions (jhanas) are developed as "proper concentration" (samma samadhi), one can begin to see impermanence by mindful and penetrative observation. Every "thing" is constantly changing, including every component we call the parts of ourselves -- form, feelings, perceptions, formations, and [the process of] consciousness -- with the sole exception being "the unconditioned element" called nirvana.

   

7. Compassion and non-attachment (non-clinging) naturally emerge out of liberating-wisdom. Because everything -- and every component of our separate existence -- is fleeting, attachment to them makes no sense for one who knows-and-sees.

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