Courageous Compassion by Dalai Lama

Author:Dalai Lama
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wisdom Publications

Occasions for Attaining Liberation

Pāli sūtras mention five occasions or “spheres of liberation” (P. vimuttāyatana) that can trigger the breakthrough to liberating insight: when hearing the Dharma, teaching the Dharma to others, reciting sūtras and scriptures, reflecting on the Dharma, and meditating.

While doing any of these five activities, a practitioner may have a direct grasp of the teachings, which leads to experiencing delight and joy, which in turn bring pliancy and concentration. Of these, joy, pliancy, and concentration are awakening factors. The description of the seven awakening factors says these are preceded by mindfulness, investigation of phenomena, and effort, which lead to the direct grasp of the teachings. A mind with these awakening factors that is thus concentrated sees things as they really are, and as the Buddha often said, a concentrated mind leads to a realistic vision of things according to the four truths. Such clear insight leads to disenchantment regarding the five aggregates and dispassion, which triggers the process of eliminating ignorance, anger, attachment, and other afflictions. This process culminates in liberation.

Clearly liberation is attained not from just listening to teachings, teaching others, reciting sūtras, and so forth. Rather, these five are occasions for the ripening of previously created causes in the mindstreams of mature practitioners who have cultivated the three higher trainings. The ripening of these causes produces a breakthrough to nirvāṇa.

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