Re: The Buddha's path to liberation
Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2013 4:47 pm
Following the above post:
"Seeing thus, the well-instructed disciple of the noble ones grows disenchanted with the eye, disenchanted with forms, disenchanted with consciousness at the eye, disenchanted with contact at the eye, disenchanted with feeling, disenchanted with craving.
"He grows disenchanted with the ear...
"He grows disenchanted with the nose...
"He grows disenchanted with the tongue...
"He grows disenchanted with the body...
"He grows disenchanted with the mind faculty, disenchanted with mind objects, disenchanted with consciousness at the mind faculty, disenchanted with contact at the mind faculty, disenchanted with feeling, disenchanted with craving. Disenchanted, he becomes dispassionate. Through dispassion, he is fully released." (MN 148)
I'm wondering if the confusion of regarding equanimity (dispassion) as nibbana arose due to the misunderstanding of the teaching "Through dispassion, he is fully released" and "this is the peaceful, this is the sublime, that is, the stilling of all volitions, the relinquishing of all attachments, the ending of craving, dispassion, cessation, nibbana."
To my understanding, dispassion itself is not nibbana, but through dispassion ignorance is abandoned and true knowledge arises, which then puts an end to suffering:
"There is the case where a monk — quite secluded from sensuality, secluded from unwholesome states of mind — enters & abides in the first jhana: rapture & pleasure born from seclusion, accompanied by initial application & sustained application (to the meditation object). With that he abandons passion/lust. No passion-obsession gets obsessed there. There is the case where a monk considers, 'O when will I enter & abide in the dimension that the noble ones now enter & abide in?' In one who thus generates this yearning for the unexcelled liberations, there arises within him sorrow with that yearning as condition. With that he abandons resistance/aversion. No resistance-obsession gets obsessed there. There is the case where a monk, with the abandoning of pleasure & pain — as with the earlier disappearance of joy & distress — enters & abides in the fourth jhana: purity of equanimity & mindfulness, neither pleasure nor pain. With that he abandons ignorance. No ignorance-obsession gets obsessed there."[6]
But exactly what's ignorance? Ignorance is the counterpart of true knowledge. What's the true knowledge?
"When the mind was thus concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished, rid of defilement, pliant, malleable, steady, & attained to imperturbability, I directed it to the knowledge of the ending of the assavas. I directly knew as it actually is: ‘This is suffering’; I directly knew as it actually is: ‘This is the origin of suffering’; I directly knew as it actually is: ‘This is the cessation of suffering’; I directly knew as it actually is: ‘This is the way leading to the cessation of suffering.’ I directly knew as it actually is: ‘These are the assavas’; I directly knew as it actually is: ‘This is the origin of the assavas’; I directly knew as it actually is: ‘This is the cessation of the assavas’; I directly knew as it actually is: ‘This is the way leading to the cessation of the assavas.’
“My mind, thus knowing, thus seeing, was liberated from the assava of sensual desire, from the assava of being, and from the assava of ignorance. When it was liberated, there came the knowledge: ‘It is liberated.’ I directly knew: ‘Birth is destroyed, the holy life has been lived, what had to be done has been done, there is no more coming to any state of being.’
“This was the third true knowledge attained by me in the last watch of the night. Ignorance was banished and (true) knowledge arose, darkness was banished and light arose, as happens in one who abides heedful, ardent, and resolute." (MN 4)
Metta to all!
"Seeing thus, the well-instructed disciple of the noble ones grows disenchanted with the eye, disenchanted with forms, disenchanted with consciousness at the eye, disenchanted with contact at the eye, disenchanted with feeling, disenchanted with craving.
"He grows disenchanted with the ear...
"He grows disenchanted with the nose...
"He grows disenchanted with the tongue...
"He grows disenchanted with the body...
"He grows disenchanted with the mind faculty, disenchanted with mind objects, disenchanted with consciousness at the mind faculty, disenchanted with contact at the mind faculty, disenchanted with feeling, disenchanted with craving. Disenchanted, he becomes dispassionate. Through dispassion, he is fully released." (MN 148)
I'm wondering if the confusion of regarding equanimity (dispassion) as nibbana arose due to the misunderstanding of the teaching "Through dispassion, he is fully released" and "this is the peaceful, this is the sublime, that is, the stilling of all volitions, the relinquishing of all attachments, the ending of craving, dispassion, cessation, nibbana."
To my understanding, dispassion itself is not nibbana, but through dispassion ignorance is abandoned and true knowledge arises, which then puts an end to suffering:
"There is the case where a monk — quite secluded from sensuality, secluded from unwholesome states of mind — enters & abides in the first jhana: rapture & pleasure born from seclusion, accompanied by initial application & sustained application (to the meditation object). With that he abandons passion/lust. No passion-obsession gets obsessed there. There is the case where a monk considers, 'O when will I enter & abide in the dimension that the noble ones now enter & abide in?' In one who thus generates this yearning for the unexcelled liberations, there arises within him sorrow with that yearning as condition. With that he abandons resistance/aversion. No resistance-obsession gets obsessed there. There is the case where a monk, with the abandoning of pleasure & pain — as with the earlier disappearance of joy & distress — enters & abides in the fourth jhana: purity of equanimity & mindfulness, neither pleasure nor pain. With that he abandons ignorance. No ignorance-obsession gets obsessed there."[6]
But exactly what's ignorance? Ignorance is the counterpart of true knowledge. What's the true knowledge?
"When the mind was thus concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished, rid of defilement, pliant, malleable, steady, & attained to imperturbability, I directed it to the knowledge of the ending of the assavas. I directly knew as it actually is: ‘This is suffering’; I directly knew as it actually is: ‘This is the origin of suffering’; I directly knew as it actually is: ‘This is the cessation of suffering’; I directly knew as it actually is: ‘This is the way leading to the cessation of suffering.’ I directly knew as it actually is: ‘These are the assavas’; I directly knew as it actually is: ‘This is the origin of the assavas’; I directly knew as it actually is: ‘This is the cessation of the assavas’; I directly knew as it actually is: ‘This is the way leading to the cessation of the assavas.’
“My mind, thus knowing, thus seeing, was liberated from the assava of sensual desire, from the assava of being, and from the assava of ignorance. When it was liberated, there came the knowledge: ‘It is liberated.’ I directly knew: ‘Birth is destroyed, the holy life has been lived, what had to be done has been done, there is no more coming to any state of being.’
“This was the third true knowledge attained by me in the last watch of the night. Ignorance was banished and (true) knowledge arose, darkness was banished and light arose, as happens in one who abides heedful, ardent, and resolute." (MN 4)
Metta to all!