Letting Go And Liberation. When we have truly awakened to everything in this world, that means there is letting go. There's nothing left to hate, just as there's nothing to seduce us. All are like. It is an important step that takes us from awakening to equanimity (viraga). Passion is raga, from which the English word 'rage': not necessarily anger as in anger, but rage as 'in the place of action'. Boredom means the cessation of inner turmoil that keeps the mind from letting go. In contact with physical objects, we neither hate nor desire. The mind is not pushed back or pulled from the middle position, becoming larger. We have enough spiritual power to move forward unrepentantly on the spiritual path, because what happens in our daily lives no longer causes us to react strongly. We understand very well that all existence involves suffering: the body breaks down, the mind tries to know, to understand, to try to control - these are all characteristics of conflict, reaction. Inner conflict interferes with our spiritual progress, and reaction leads to actions, because we feel, then judge. Having recognized this as the source of suffering, but without fear, the mind now tries to find something better. The world, full of uncertainties, is seen as an ever-changing phenomenon. Since all things are conditioned and we cannot depend on (because conditions are fragile, ever changing), it is clear that now we need to look for what is not conditioned. My body is conditioned by craving, according to the desire to exist; should be born, nourished with food and drink, until the day of death. Predestined mind according to the scene, otherwise no mental formations will arise. All are not considered good, sustainable, or desirable. Of course, the mind doesn't yet know what independent, conditioned states are, but the mind is lucid enough to know that it has been able to turn away from ordinary concerns. Usually the mind is occupied with whatever arises inside, all arising is an opportunity for the mind to move. All dependent-arising has the three characteristics of impermanence, suffering and non-self. Since body and mind are dependent on conditions, there is no real being, showing us that the idea of ​​a real self is just an illusion. From there the mind realizes that there must be a stopping point, the point of non-rebirth, to seek a state of complete, absolute peace where there is no birth, no cessation. Intuitively, the mind knows itself to step forward. The character of this step is clearly expressed in the Visuddhimagga (Path of Purification) by a metaphor. If we want to go from one bank of the river, which is this worldly life, to the other shore, which is Nirvana, we can do so through the achievements of our practice. I tied the material cord to the branch of the self, then grabbed the rope, and following the impulse of practice, I leaped across the river, to where I could see it from this side. We bend over, face the other side of the bank, let go of the material ropes and branches of the fallen tree on this side of the river. At that time we can let go of all attachment to things, mainly body and mind. The feeling of having someone in the body that we consider 'me' has disappeared. When we have completely let go, we can lie down on the riverbank. Of course, at first, I wobbled a little, unable to stand. We must stand on our front feet. This is a metaphor for the moment of enlightenment (magga) when the 'level change' occurs. 'change of lineage' means that one has changed from mundane (puthujjana) to the rank of ariyas, saints who have attained liberated enlightenment based on the Buddha's teachings. The first moment when that happens is called 're-rebirth' (sotappatti). The moment of enlightenment is the only moment of meditative attainment, in which nothing happens, nothing arises, therefore nothing perishes. The moment of realization, with one-pointed mind, contains no real wisdom. The next two realizations that bring about liberation (vimutti) are 'results' (phala) and are signs of our attainment. We can reap the fruits of our practice through this experience. Non-returning means having experienced the absolute, having lost all conditions, no longer discriminating. It is a return to being, to the ground of existence, which is the unconditioned primordial source; from which comes 'being' because of craving. That meditator steps forward, craving has decreased, so the absolute is still one of the factors of his mind. Witness is the moment when the concept of 'self' has disintegrated; A feeling of relief overflowed, as if a burden had just been lifted. A sense of lightness plus an understanding of what happened; it is the mind that has let go of all that we already know, whether they are good, wholesome, praiseworthy or otherwise, and all sensations of self-existence disappear. The imprint of experiencing 'path and fruit' is so vast, the mind now seems to be able to dissolve into it, like a pause after a long journey, through many lives with many sufferings. Our ability to temporarily let go of our ties to conditioned things has brought us to our final destination. That's just the beginning, there are three more, but this first one is especially important. It has a profound effect on our psyche. Now the mind can turn to the visualization of its purity, its insight, as well as all the unwholesome, defilements still present, so that it can see the path ahead more clearly. The Buddha spoke of the ten fetters, which bind us to conditioned dharmas. The first three fetters have been eradicated at this time. The most important thing is to destroy the view of self as an entity, with personality, with difference. The witness of 'tu-da-complete' has reached this first step to join the unsurpassed ranks, although he has not yet kept his inner 'no-self', but never again believed that he was a solid, formative entity. Although the wrong view of self has been eliminated, it is just a concept, not a clear experience, can be considered as the 'kindergarten' of enlightenment. The second fetter to be eliminated is belief in rituals. That's not to say we can't perform rituals, but their importance and effectiveness is shattered. Something completely different has brought about liberation, release, that is the letting go of attachment, of anger, which means completely unconditioned to feelings. Having seen the futility of seeking gratification under any conditions, our previous attachment has given way to equanimity. As a result, we have the ability to completely let go of the illusion of self, along with all our desires for ourselves. No ritual can do that. The third fetter to be eliminated is doubt (vicikiccha). Doubts and beliefs in rituals and rituals were completely eliminated. The wrong view of self has also been eliminated, but the feeling of complete absence of self has not yet been achieved. Doubts no longer hinder our practice, because we have realized that the teachings of the Buddha are true. There is nothing left to doubt. From his own experience, the meditator knows that the mind can be in samsara (samsara) or reach nirvana (nibbana), that sentient beings can attain enlightenment. Traditionally, it is thought that a person who has attained tuda-completeness has to go through at most seven human lives before fully attaining enlightenment; however one can also attain it in just one human lifetime. That person will forever be a disciple of the Buddha; and can never break one of the five precepts. Although the important step in spiritual liberation has been achieved, greed and hatred remain unresolved. The wrong view of self, which is the source of greed and hatred, has been transformed, so these hindrances are no longer as heavy as before, but one still needs to pass two more attainments before they can be completely eliminated. . Just based on what is described above, we also see that all defilements in the world are caused by conflicting emotional states, afflictions. However, even if they cause trouble, it is not worth blaming ourselves or blaming others. They are just the natural cruelties of human life. Only when we can transform from the mind of sentient beings, to the higher levels of consciousness, can we get rid of these problems once, for all. Once, when the Buddha was sitting under a tree, A passerby, admiring the shining form of the Buddha, asked him: "Is the bee a god?" The Buddha replied: "No". The other asked, "Is the bee human?" The Buddha replied: "No". The other was surprised and said, "It's not God, it's not human, so who is the Bee?" The Buddha replied: "I am the Buddha, the Enlightened One, not a God or a human". The Buddha began life as a sentient being, like all of us. But when he attained to the level of the enlightened ones, the character transcended the figurative, so much so that his relations with people also gradually changed. The cultivator has entered the world of the enlightened ones. No more attachment – ​​no liking or disliking – means we can live peacefully in the world. The difficulties we often face when we separate the spiritual life from the mundane activities are gone. When there is no discrimination in the mind, latent energies are unleashed, and then we can use them to repel all craving. Some craving may arise again in the cultivator, but the basic cravings such as pride, self-satisfaction, and arrogance have been eliminated. Letting go of craving here implies letting go of the concept of self, which means formless, formless, and void (anatta). That doesn't mean stopping all thoughts, stopping all activities in life. The tu-da-complete witness also looks, also acts, also speaks as before. Only his opinion, his way of looking at it completely changed. It's not just about remembering, sometimes not about impermanence, but that has become an inner transformation. The human realm needs to be transformed because all the sentient beings there live with delusions, causing them to suffer. This inner transformation generates profound compassion for beings who are lost in the cycle of birth and death (samsara) with no way out. The feeling of the moment of fruition can be recreated at any time, thus becoming part of the practitioner's inner self, giving him absolute peace. Enlightenment occurs only once at each of the different stages of enlightenment. Persistence in practice is essential to take the practitioner to the next step, to become a 'one-returner' (sakadagami). The taste 'first future' does not eliminate any further obstacles; greed and hatred have only been reduced, but not completely eliminated. The 'one-returner' requires one more attainment, which is also easy to do after taking the first leap to the other shore. Because the ascetic is still suffering, so when he knows that there is a place where there is no suffering, he has more strength to go further. Thus the cultivator knows that it is necessary to turn the mind away from worldly things, because they cause afflictions. That direction is a determining factor for the mind. Only the Arahant, who has accomplished everything, is free from the influence of the world. His mind is no longer agitated. Anyone who is still on the path to liberation and enlightenment needs to find times to find a quiet, quiet place to practice. The practitioner needs to revive in his mind the moments of fruition through meditation, directing the mind away from mental formations, with the realization that doing so will bring peace and freedom. Our mind always yearns to stop, so the more often we do that, the easier it is to reoccur. When the mind ceases to wander, We need to let go again to free ourselves from existence. Then we will realize that we have come to the right place where we have always been, except that before we considered appearances to be important, valuable, worth maintaining. For most, this is of course not normal. Practitioners need to practice constantly, over and over again to be able to completely transform the mind, to get there. If we feel aversion to existence, that is just another side of the coin of craving. What we need to keep in mind is that only the state of liberation without suffering can help us go beyond existence. Only we know for ourselves where we have reached on the path of practice. If we follow the map, then we can only succeed, if we know at what corner of the street we are standing. The same goes for spiritual growth when we want to follow the Buddha's guidance. Practitioners must completely let go to be able to witness the Way. Although only an Arahant can completely get rid of the concept of 'self', with each enlightenment, this concept gradually diminishes. However, the practitioner's conceptions have completely changed. The average person would think: 'This is me. I want to be attested.” Such notions are no more. The person who has attained the first and second attainments has not yet experienced the complete feeling of 'not-self', but he has realized that there is no real meaning anywhere else. The 'liberation from appearances' is the goal that one who takes impermanence (anicca) as the object of meditation, wants to achieve. He does not see anything permanent anywhere. 'Freedom from desires' is the object of one who uses dukkha as an object of meditation, understanding that dukkha cannot arise without desire. The 'liberation of nothingness' is the door open to the person who takes non-self (anatta) as the main object, and realizes that there is no 'self' in all things. At this point, there are still seven fetters to be eliminated. The next stage of attainment is for the 'non-returner' (anagami), who will no longer be reborn in the human realm to attain nirvana. The non-returner is no longer greedy for anger, even though it is a leap on the way to liberation, there are still five hindrances left. The non-returner sees realities as they are, no longer deceived by appearances to distinguish between male and female, beautiful and ugly, and so on. All these appearances have deceived us for so long, and always cause us suffering. Dukkha (Suffering) is not only pain, suffering, and resentment, but also includes dissatisfaction, dissatisfaction, emotions with which we are all so familiar. We can compare the experience of the non-returner with the sea foam we mentioned earlier. It emerged just because it existed, but now it no longer thinks of itself as an individual bubble; it sank to the bottom of human life without any resistance. It no longer wants to be like a great, wise, individual sponge. The re-establishment of the third fruition makes it possible for the meditator to remain completely in the state of freedom, not conditioned. It is a strong barrier against dukkha effectively, even though the other five fetters still exist. The most important obstacle that we must eliminate is ignorance, which has been described as follows: "As incense clings to flowers, the notion of self still clings to the non-returner." When contemplating what has happened, the non-returner will be aware of this ignorance. When we have memorable experiences in life, we often reflect on them later to understand them better. The effect of bearing fruit also forces us to do so. We reflect on our experience, see which obstacles have been removed, which defilements still exist; We also recall the experience of liberation. This contemplation needs to be made after experiencing the path and fruition, otherwise it is difficult to be sure which defilements have not been eradicated. In the one-returner, anger is still present in the form of resentment, and greed in the form of liking, but in the non-returner, these feelings are no longer present. The charms of the world no longer sway him, and difficult situations, obstacles, which the Buddha himself faced, did not affect him. One of the other five fetters is restlessness. Since the notion of 'self' has not completely ceased, there is still the urge to go somewhere, do something to get more results, which all sentient beings are all too familiar with. Arousal is subtly present. There are two more obstacles to be solved: the desire to be reborn, either in the deva or holy realm, in the form world or in the formless realm. Since there is still the element of clinging to 'self', the delusion arises that 'I' can more happily exist in one of those beautiful, pure realms where there is no suffering. The fifth fetter is conceit (mana), which does not mean that one is proud, but one still thinks of self-centeredness. Observation will help the meditator to see that these hindrances are still present. Although the realization of nirvana eliminates all notions of self at that moment, it still appears, showing us clearly how deeply ingrained the concept of self is in sentient beings, immediately after three times of attaining the path and fruition, it's not completely destroyed yet. The last five hindrances are eliminated only unless the practitioner attains arahantship. To become an Arahant, one must have the opportunity to realize the fourth path and fruition. Contemplation is no longer necessary, for all defilements have disappeared, and there is no longer any resistance, denial, or pursuit. It can happen because he has completely abandoned the feeling of having to be 'someone'. The non-returner must find a way to get rid of the remaining five hindrances, and then having destroyed them to the end, he can enter the final stage of attainment of the path. Each stage of enlightenment, although similar, will become deeper, more extensive, For example, when we have to take increasingly difficult competitions in college, in order to finally gain a deeper understanding of our subject. Such a profound impression is imprinted on the mind, that the enlightened mind can never return to the ordinary mind. Even though an Arahant may continue to live an ordinary life, he should always remember that everything is driven by the five aggregates, and nothing is 'I' or 'mine' associated with it. regarding this body and mind. The chorus is still repeated again and again, when someone talks about liberation to the Buddha, it is: "Birth has passed away, lived a holy life, done everything possible to do, there is nothing left to return to. ”, is the traditional method to determine the state of liberation and enlightenment. CONSULTATION When we haven't become an Arahant, we still have a self. The self makes us think that this is 'my' mind. Mind as well as people who think they are intentional, want peace. It was a perfectly legitimate wish. The mind knows very well that it needs to stop thinking in order to achieve that goal. If it is an unnatural thing, the mind will not find peace and purity, on the contrary, it will lead to anxiety and anger. When you feel the dissolution of things, but the mind does not feel at ease, then of course you feel fear. Our ego will say: “I don't want to perish, I want to be happy; That's why I practice." But another thought immediately followed: “I want to be happy, but my leg hurts like this, I'm going to fall to pieces. I don't like that at all!" There are two ways to deal with this problem. One is that the mind can enter meditative states, fear will not arise, and the mind can enlighten to the Way more gently. The other way is to face the fear, to see that the fear is justified. It is the point of letting go of the clingings to self that remain, to see that all formations are dangerous, that sentient beings cannot find happiness in any existence. We have no choice but to focus on that feeling, because of its power. Your question returns to the first causes, one of the four that the Buddha did not answer. These are known as the “four inconceivables”. That's right. There are four inconceivable things, namely, the influence of a Buddha, of the samadhi, the origin of the universe (or humanity) and the intricacies of karma. These questions do not help the practitioner in his practice. The Buddha said that answering such questions only confuses sentient beings. There is no primary cause; all move in a circle. The number one enemy of sentient beings. There are no other enemies; We all have this enemy inside. At the same time we also contain purity, good things. We cannot separate the self from whatever we do, or think, for all our desires are so imbued with the self, like a sponge filled with water, that we cannot distinguish it. is water, where is foam. Of course. Without compassion, the sermon does not reach anyone. The Buddha preached the Dharma every day, even when he was ill, for forty-five years, out of his immense compassion for suffering beings. He wanted to show people how to end suffering (dukkha), to teach them the way to liberation. The Four Noble Truths are a fundamental part of the Buddha's teachings. They arise spontaneously in the mind at the moment of enlightenment. A Buddha can immediately understand the four noble truths without any teacher, but for those who follow the path of the Buddha, the four noble truths are realized because they have become part of the mind-continuum through through sermons. This event can be compared with when the sun rises, the light pervades, the darkness is repelled, the sun is warm, and the cold is dispelled. We can see things clearly because the darkness is gone, feel safe, warm, and secure because the cold is gone. The same goes for the four noble truths; they arise in the mind immediately because the third noble truth of nibbana is the sun shining down on our mind, bringing warmth to our heart. Those who have achieved liberation are those who have entered the Eightfold Path.END=NAM MO SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA.( 3 TIMES ).GOLDEN ZEN BUDDHIST MONASTERY=VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUN=THE WOMEN OF THE SAKYA CLAN CHAN TANH.AUSTRALIA,SYDNEY.8/4/2023.VIETNAMESE TRANSLATE ENGLISH BY=VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUN=THE WOMEN OF THE SAKYA CLAN CHAN TANH.