Samsara, Nirvana, and Buddha Nature

by Dalai Lama

  Therefore, monastics, any kind of form whatsoever, any kind of feeling . . . discrimination . . . miscellaneous factor . . . consciousness whatsoever, whether past, future, or present, internal or external, coarse or subtle, inferior or superior, far or near should be seen as it really is with correct wisdom thus: This is not mine, this I am not, this is not my self.

  Seeing thus, monastics, the instructed ārya disciple experiences disenchantment toward form, feeling, discrimination, miscellaneous factors, and consciousness. Experiencing disenchantment, he becomes dispassionate. Through dispassion [his mind] is liberated. When it is liberated, there comes the knowledge: “It is liberated.” He understands, “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.”

  Here we see the progression that outlines the upcoming steps of dispassion, liberation, and knowledge of destruction.

  9. Disenchantment is the proximate cause for dispassion.

  Disenchantment with conditioned phenomena results from understanding their nature. It is based on accurate knowledge and insight and is not emotional rejection, fear, or escapism. Understanding the conditioned prepares us to realize the unconditioned. With disenchantment, a meditator detaches herself from conditioned phenomena. With knowledge that there is an actual state of lasting happiness that can be attained, she is determined to attain it. She continues relinquishing craving and clinging to conditioned things and does not take up any new attachments. This process of mental “spring cleaning” sees the gratification and danger of conditioned things and now seeks an escape — a path to freedom — from them.

  Insight becomes deeper and more penetrative until a breakthrough is reached and she sees nirvāṇa. This is dispassion, path wisdom that is the first supramundane (lokottara, lokuttara) factor in transcendental dependent arising. While the eight previous factors are called members of transcendental dependent arising, they are in fact still mundane (laukika, lokiya) because their objects are conditioned phenomena, in particular the five aggregates. While these factors are indispensable steps to arrive at the supramundane path, they themselves are not supramundane.

  10. Dispassion is the proximate cause for liberation.

  The commentary on the Saṃyutta Nikāya explains:

  Seeing with correct wisdom (P. sammappaññāya) is path wisdom together with insight. The mind becomes dispassionate at the moment of the path and is liberated at the moment of the fruit.

  The mind becomes dispassionate when it sees nirvāṇa with correct wisdom and insight. This marks entrance into the supramundane path of stream-enterer. When the first three fetters — view of a personal identity, doubt, and view of rules and practices — have been abandoned, the fruit of stream-enterer is attained. In this way, dispassion as the path is the condition for liberation as the fruit. The path and fruit sequence begins with stream-entry, continues with once-returner and nonreturner, and culminates in arhatship. Each path is a time of reducing or eliminating fetters, and each fruit is a time of knowing and enjoying the reduction or abandonment of those fetters. The mind is peaceful and delights in its newfound freedom.

  There are two aspects to full liberation. One is freedom from the ignorance and defilements experienced during this lifetime. The mind is now immune to attachment, animosity, and confusion, and any last traces of these poisons have been eliminated so that they can never arise again. This nirvāṇa is visible here and now; it is nirvāṇa with remainder. The Buddha says (AN 3.55):

  When a person is impassioned with sensual desire . . . depraved through animosity . . . bewildered by confusion, overwhelmed and infatuated by [sensual desire, animosity, and] confusion, then he plans for his own harm, for the harm of others, for the harm of both; and he experiences in this mind suffering and grief. But when sensual desire, animosity, and confusion have been abandoned, he neither plans for his own harm, nor for the harm of others, nor for the harm of both; and he does not experience in his mind suffering and grief. In this way, nibbāna is directly visible, immediate, inviting one to come and see, leading onward, to be personally experienced by the wise.

  The other aspect of liberation is freedom from rebirth after the breakup of the present body. At arhatship, the peace in the mind is immense, for the mind is no longer controlled by defilements. Arhats rest with the security that comes from knowing that all future existence in saṃsāra has ceased.

  Liberation — the fruit of arhatship — is the freedom from all pollutants that comes at the end of this chain of four paths and four fruitions. The path has been completed; there is nothing more to be abandoned or added.

  11. Liberation is the proximate cause for knowledge of the destruction of all pollutants.

  Each path, which reduces or abandons certain fetters, is immediately followed by its own fruit, which enjoys the reduction or abandonment of those fetters. That is followed by a reviewing knowledge (P. paccavekkhaṇa ñāṇa) that ascertains what has just occurred. It reviews the fetters that have been abandoned by that path and those that still remain. The reviewing knowledge after attaining the fruit of arhatship certifies that all fetters, pollutants, and defilements as well as any underlying tendencies toward them have been eradicated and that none remains.

  At the time of the path of arhatship, the four truths are known as they actually are. This knowing eradicates any remaining defilements. At the time of the fruit of arhatship, the remaining defilements have been eradicated and the mind is freed. Following this, the reviewing knowledge arises that understands that this has occurred and that the mind is liberated from defilements. The Buddha describes the sequence (MN 39.21):

  He understands as it actually is: “This is duḥkha” . . . “This is the origin of duḥkha” . . . “This is the cessation of duḥkha” . . . “This is the way leading to the cessation of duḥkha” . . . “These are the pollutants” . . . “This is the origin of the pollutants” . . . “This is the cessation of the pollutants” . . . “This is the way leading to the cessation of the pollutants.”

  When he knows and sees thus, his mind is liberated from the pollutant of sensual desire, the pollutant of existence, and the pollutant of ignorance. When it is liberated, there comes the knowledge: “It is liberated.” He understands: “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.”

  An arhat sees the final cessation of duḥkha and defilements very clearly and there is no doubt in his or her mind that this has occurred.

  Two ascertainments are involved in this retrospective cognition. The knowledge of destruction knows that all the fetters have been uprooted and no longer remain. The knowledge of nonarising knows that they can never arise again. Together these are called the knowledge and vision of liberation (P. vimutti ṅāṇadassana). Arhats experience freedom from defilements and enjoy the certitude that defilements can never arise again. This brings an incredible confidence and ease in the mind; arhats never experience anxiety or uncertainty. Having fully understood that there is no self or anything belonging to a self anywhere at all, they are the masters of their minds.

  While the knowledge and vision of liberation is not always manifest in an arhat’s mind, it remains there under the surface and can manifest as soon as she looks at the state of her mind. The Buddha analogized this to someone whose hands and feet have been amputated. Whatever he is doing, his limbs have been cut off, and the instant he turns his mind to it, he knows this is the case. Similarly, someone who has destroyed all pollutants is always free from them, and the instant he looks at his mind, he knows that this is the case.

  Karma in Saṃsāra and Beyond

  Karma is of many varieties; discerning them is helpful to our practice. Of the polluted karma of saṃsāra, there is virtuous, nonvirtuous, and neutral karma.

  Virtuous polluted karma is created by ordinary beings — everyone who is not an ārya. It ripens as happiness in saṃsāra and does not directly l
ead to liberation. It is of two kinds as mentioned above: (1) Meritorious karma is created by beings in the desire realm and brings a good rebirth or other happy circumstances in the desire realm. (2) Invariable karma is created by beings in the desire, form, or formless realms; it causes rebirth in the form or formless realms.

  Nonvirtuous or nonmeritorious karma, when created by ordinary beings, propels unfortunate rebirths and other undesirable events in saṃsāra. When created by stream-enterers and once-returners, it does not propel a rebirth. Śrāvaka āryas who are not arhats may still experience suffering in their lives due to seeds of previously created nonvirtuous karma on their mindstreams. Ārya bodhisattvas, owing to the power of their wisdom and compassion, do not experience physical or mental suffering.

  Neutral karma brings neither happy nor suffering results. Created by beings in all three realms, it is not powerful enough to propel rebirth in cyclic existence.

  Unpolluted karma is created by āryas who are not buddhas. It does not propel rebirth in saṃsāra. Together with the latencies of ignorance, it produces the mental bodies of ārya bodhisattvas and arhats and leads to liberation and buddhahood. Buddhas do not create karma but engage in spontaneous awakened activities that benefit sentient beings.

  When we closely examine our intentions, we may be surprised to find that many of them seek the happiness of only this life. The appearances of this life are so vivid to our senses that naturally the minds of us ordinary beings gravitate toward them. Even if we believe in future lives, in our daily lives we often are not mindful that our actions create the causes for our future rebirths and our experiences in them. This limited perspective obscures the great opportunity our precious human lives provide to gain spiritual realizations. Although we may still create virtuous karma that will result in a fortunate rebirth with a motivation focused on this life, such a motivation impedes us from attaining liberation or full awakening. To expand the intentions behind our daily actions, it is important to enlarge our worldview to include future lives, liberation, and awakening.

  All ordinary beings — including those from the supreme dharma stage of the path of preparation of all three vehicles downward — accumulate karma that propels rebirth in saṃsāra under the influence of ignorance and view of a personal identity.68 Their motivations that see the disadvantages of saṃsāra and genuinely aspire for liberation, and virtuous karma similar to the wisdom analyzing selflessness, are contrary to first-link ignorance and are remedies for the craving for rebirth. They lead to the eradication of craving and the attainment of the ārya path, and in this sense they are not actual true origins. However, since they are similar to true origins in that they are not free from grasping true existence, this karma is included under true origins. The Compendium of Determinations (Viniścaya-samgrahaṇī) says (LC 1:305):

  By nature they are not directed toward rebirth in saṃsāra. However, they approximate the physical, mental, and verbal good conduct that leads to rebirth. Consequently, you should understand that on this account they are included under the truth of the origin.

  Antipathy toward all forms of duḥkha, sincere aspiration to attain liberation, bodhicitta, and the mind similar to the correct view are excellent steps along the path. But to create unpolluted karma that leads directly to liberation and awakening we must generate the ārya path by realizing emptiness directly. Only then do our actions become unpolluted and direct causes for liberation.

  For us ordinary beings, the only karma we create that is not typical true origins of duḥkha are actions depending on the power of the field — that is, by interaction with holy objects, places, and people. Tsongkhapa says (LC 1:305–6):

  You might not have acquired, through extensive meditative analysis of the faults of cyclic existence, the remedy that eradicates the craving for the wonders of cyclic existence. You might also not have used discerning wisdom to properly analyze the meaning of selflessness, and might not have become habituated to the two bodhicittas [conventional and ultimate], in which case your virtuous activities — with some exceptions on account of the field’s power — would constitute typical origins [of duḥkha], and hence would fuel the process of cyclic existence.

  Nevertheless, contact with holy objects creates seeds of powerful virtuous karma. In Letter to a Friend (Suhṛllekha) Nāgārjuna says that even if someone sees the form of the Tathāgata in a mural and reacts to it with an afflictive attitude, he still creates karma to have visions of buddhas and buddha lands in the future. Buddhas and bodhisattvas are such powerful fields for accumulating merit because they have dedicated their lives to benefiting sentient beings for as long as saṃsāra endures. Due to the incredible virtue of their aspirations, any contact with them becomes virtuous in the long term. When we make offerings or prostrations to them, bodhisattvas rejoice in our virtue and dedicate their merit to be able to benefit us. Even when people harm them, bodhisattvas pray to be able to teach them the Dharma and lead them to awakening.

  Although creating merit with holy objects is important, it is not sufficient for the attainment of spiritual realizations. We must cultivate all the steps on the path — the three higher trainings, the three principal aspects of the path, and the path of Tantrayāna — to gain full awakening.

  11

  Freedom from Cyclic Existence

  THE SIXTEEN ATTRIBUTES of the four truths spoken of in chapter 1 tell us that true cessation, as exemplified by nirvāṇa, has four aspects: (1) It is the cessation of the continuum of afflictions, their seeds, and the karma that causes rebirth. (2) It is true peace, the state of total tranquility that is completely free from all afflictive obscurations. (3) It is magnificent because we have reached ultimate satisfaction. (4) It is freedom because we have definitely emerged from cyclic existence.

  Nirvāṇa is our goal, and the true path to attain it that is held in common by all Buddhist traditions constitutes the Dharma Jewel. The word Dharma has many meanings, depending on the context. In Dharma Jewel, it means to hold or prevent us from falling into duḥkha. From this perspective, even the path of the initial practitioner is the Dharma in that it prevents us from falling into the suffering of unfortunate rebirths. More broadly, Dharma holds or prevents us from experiencing all kinds of duḥkha; this is the role of true paths and true cessations, which together constitute the Dharma Jewel.

  In general true paths consist of the three higher trainings in ethical conduct, concentration, and wisdom, which include the eightfold path. More specifically, the wisdom directly realizing emptiness is the counterforce that eliminates first-link ignorance and directly brings liberation. One moment of this wisdom is not sufficient to remove all deeply entrenched afflictions that have disturbed the mind from beginningless time. Because continual habituation with this wisdom is necessary, we need to cultivate single-pointed concentration (samādhi) and serenity (śamatha) that can focus on emptiness in a sustained manner free from distraction.

  This concentration must be free of two principal faults: laxity and restlessness, which prevent us from focusing with stability and clarity on the object of meditation for long periods of time. The mental factors of mindfulness and introspective awareness are crucial to overcome laxity and restlessness, and these two mental factors are initially cultivated in the training of ethical conduct. To abide in pure conduct, we must hold our precepts with mindfulness and closely monitor the actions of our body, speech, and mind with introspective awareness. Having developed some degree of mindfulness and introspective awareness by observing ethical conduct, we can then employ these two to identify and suppress laxity and restlessness and to deepen concentration. With strong concentration, wisdom becomes a stable and powerful counterforce to eradicate ignorance. In short, all three higher trainings assist one another and all three are necessary to attain liberation.

  Stages Leading to Liberation and Full Awakening

  Attaining spiritual realizations occurs over time. Learning the stages leading to liberation and full awakening gives us an idea of t
he process of spiritual transformation we will undergo and the practices that will bring about the desired spiritual progress. There are many similarities in the paths and fruits of śrāvakas, solitary realizers, and bodhisattvas; there are many differences in them as well.

  Before even entering one of the three vehicles — śrāvaka, solitary realizer, and bodhisattva — we must have a correct and stable understanding of the Buddhist worldview, purify our minds, and create much merit. Each vehicle has five paths: the paths of accumulation, preparation, seeing, meditation, and no more learning. Practitioners enter the śrāvaka path of accumulation when their aspiration to attain liberation remains stable day and night. Practitioners enter the bodhisattva path of accumulation when bodhicitta spontaneously arises in relation to any and all sentient beings.

  In all three vehicles, practitioners go from the path of accumulation to the path of preparation when they have attained the union of serenity and insight on emptiness. This is still a conceptual realization, but through repeated practice they remove the veil of conceptuality and realize emptiness directly. At this point they attain the path of seeing and become āryas.

  Stream-enterers, the first level of śrāvaka āryas, are on the path of seeing and have eliminated acquired afflictions. Afflictions may arise in their minds and they may create destructive karma. However, this karma is not strong enough to project rebirth in saṃsāra, so they no longer begin new sets of twelve links. They still have the seeds of projecting karma of many other sets of twelve links on their mindstreams, and when these are activated by craving and clinging, they take rebirth. Although they are not liberated from cyclic existence, they are not fully under its sway in the way ordinary beings are. Stream-enterers can no longer be reborn in unfortunate realms, although they still experience suffering and sickness when born as humans.