Aṅguttara Nikāya (AN6.104): Anodhi Sutta (3) Six Ways to Liberation
Wong Weng Hon
Purport:
Gotama Buddha promulgates that whoever intuitively perceives Insubstantiality or Non-self (Anattā) is said to be liberated. According to the Exalted One , there are six attributes of a liberated person who has intuitively discerned Anattā and thus gains liberation (vimutti) . They are enumerated as follows :
- In any world , the Liberated One will not claim personal ownership
- The notion of ‘I’ ceases in the mind of Liberated One .
- The notion of ‘Mine’ ceases in the Liberated One
- The Liberated One discerns the ineffable perfect knowledge of Truth
- The Liberated One apprehends well the worldly Law of Cause and Effect
- The Liberated intuitively penetrates into Dependent Co-arising
Non-ownership
A Liberated Person or the Knower of the Truth of Insubstantiality or Non-self (Anattā) does not claim personal ownership of anything in whatever way. He or she owns nothing in this world. It does not necessarily imply that he or she renounces all his or her possessions or wealth. Even a monk or nun does not renounce all his or her basic material possessions. What is actually renounced by monk or nun is greed or attachment. It connotes that he or she still owns them without attachment or self-grasping and without reifying his or her possessions. A lay person cannot abandon his or her economic wealth or material possessions. He or she is expected to abandon grasping upon the wealth or possessions when his or her self-cultivation has matured.
The wisdom of Anattā is said to be consummated if he or she discerns insightfully that he or she does not belong to the world neither does the world belongs to him or her. Correspondingly put, he or she has annihilated the personality view (sakkāyadițțhi). Synonymously put, he or she ceases grasping (upādāna) upon the five aggregates (pañcakkhandhā) as This is I; This is Mine; This belongs to me. That a person possesses nothing is merely an ultimate Truth. Conventionally, a person still owns what is legally possessed by him or her. The distinction between ultimate truth and conventional Truth must be identified in order to avoid confusion and unnecessary religious disputation causing unnecessary conflict and remorse.
The Knower of Truth or Gnostic discerns that a human personality itself is insubstantial and does not exist ultimately. Likewise, he or she perceives that everything external is also insubstantial and belongs to no one. There are no independent or discrete entities which can be possessed by any person who is equally insubstantial. An owner is insubstantial and what is owned is also insubstantial. Ontologically put, the world is empty of inherent existence. Ultimately, the world is acknowledged to be empty. Conventionally, the world is many. This is the Middle View to be recognized by all practioners.
Any notion of duality or discrimination between the owner and the owned is sheer illusion. Insubstantiality is the Truth of Non-duality between the subject and the object. The wisdom (paññā) of Non-duality (Advittatā) or universal Unity liberates the Discerning One. Thus , the wise one fully discerns the Truth of Insubstantiality or Non-duality that nothing in the world in which he or she dwells belongs to him or her. He or she denies all forms of personal proprietorship or private ownership in terms of ultimate Truth (paramattha Sacca). Anattā should be discerned in this manner in order to gain liberation of Nibbāna. Paradoxically, he or she cannot conventionally deny wealth possessions in order to live a proper earthly life. The perceiver and the perceived or the subject and the object is non-dual or one. The Liberated One perceives Non-duality or the oneness of the world and lives in oneness with all others, both biotic and abiotic without discrimination.
Cessation of ‘I’
Whoever annihilates the notion of ‘I’ annihilates the self-centric ego (ahaṃkāra). The notion of ‘I’ can only be annihilated when one truly apprehends the Insubstantiality of the five aggregates. The intuitive apprehension of the Insubstantiality of the five aggregates leads to the cessation of the grasping upon the five aggregates as this is ‘I’. Liberation is gained from the non-grasping upon the five aggregates. Non-grasping is directed and empowered by the skillful execution of the four establishment of mindfulness (cattāri satipațțhāna) by which the extinction of Iness is accomplished .
Cessation of ‘Mine’
The cessation of the notion of ‘Mine’ (mamakāra) follows the same liberating principle applicable to the notion of cessation of ‘I’ aforementioned. The cessation of the notion of ‘Mine’ is effected also through the obliteration of the self-centric ego. The obliteration of the self-centric ego ensues from the Anattā-strategy of non-grasping (anupādāna) upon the five aggregates as this is ‘Mine’ . Non-grasping is directed and empowered by the skillful execution of the four establishment of mindfulness (cattāri satipațțhāna).
Discernment of Ineffable Knowledge
When one intuitively understands that the unconditioned Nibbāna is neither arising nor ceasing. The knowledge of neither arising nor ceasing is non-dual knowledge of Truth of Insubstantiality and Dependent Co-arising. This non-dual knowledge of Truth is uncommon in the sense that it is mysterious, unfathomable, abstruse to the ordinary worldlings. However, it is perfectly intuitively discerned by the Liberated One. The abstruse non-dual knowledge of Insubstantiality cannot be intellectually understood. It can only be comprehended intuitively or self-realized through self-awakening, mysticism or gnosis.
Very few Buddhist disciples apprehend ‘Insubstantiality’ or ‘Dependent Co-arising’ insightfully. Their knowledge is merely intellectual, conceptual and rationally scholastic. Fundamental doctrine of Anattā and Pațiccasamuppāda are apparently simple philosophical concepts. They are actually very profound message of Gotama Buddha. They are soteriologically significant. Intuitive discernment of Anattā and Pațiccasamuppāda will liberate a sentient being. The knowledge of emancipation will be permanently gained to live an incessant life of Nibbāna while one is still living in the present life. One dies before one dies.
Moral Causality
The Liberated One masters the skill of four foundations of mindfulness to transcend the moral Law of Cause and Effect (Kamma-vipāka-dhamma). He or she has developed the Wisdom of Insight (Vipassanā) to appease his or her dispositions so that he or she performs only kammaless activities. He or she shuns evils , does good and purifies his or her mind in all his or her six sense activitities through the body, speech and mind. The Liberated One has obliterated the self-centric ego. Consequently, he or she transcends the moral law of causality . If the liberative non-dual knowledge has not been gained, a sentient being is morally accountable for all committed kammas , wholesome and unwholesome. One is rewarded wholesomely for wholesome kammas committed. Conversely, one is retributed for the unwholesome kammas committed. The law of moral causality insures that one will reap precisely what one has sowed. Its precision of operation is zero-defect.
Dependent Co-arising
Dependent Co-arising of every phenomenon (dhamma) connotes that there is no autonomous or discrete entity or existent which arises by itself. Every empirical phenomenon is dependently co-arisen from the unity of a multiple contigent conditions (dhammā-paccaya) . The multiple contigent conditions are supporting one another and are being supported by one another. The appropriate phrase to depict a conditioned phenomenon is unity of existence dependently co-arisen from contigent conditions. Every phenomenon is ultimately a dynamic process becoming – a state of flux in which discrete entities can not be identified. The discrete entities of the multiplicity of the empirical world perceived by sentient beings are illusory and unreal. The discernment of ultimate Truth is intuitive perception of dependently co-arisen unity of dynamic process becoming.
Whoever intuitively discern the dependently co-arisen unity of dynamic process becoming (bhava) also intuitively apprehends the Truth of Three Universal Characteristics (Tilakkhaṇas) of the five aggregates (pañcakkhandhā) or the eighteen elements (dhātus). The Three Universal Characteristics are Impermanence (Anicca) and Insubstantiality (Anattā) of all empirical phenomenon and Suffering (Dukkha) caused by ignorance of the ontology of process becoming. When the Three Universal Characteristics are intuitively discerned in relation to the Four Noble Truths (Cattāri Ariya Saccā̄ni) , one will put an end to suffering (dukkhanirodha), that is, one will attain salvation or emancipation (vimutti). Whoever has intuitively penetrated into dependently co-arisen unity of dynamic becoming will intuitively apprehend the Three Universal Characteristics and Four Noble Truths. This intuitive apprehension of Truth brings about soteriological release . |
