Letting Go and Liberation. When we have truly awakened to everything in this world, it means there has been letting go. There is nothing that makes us hate, nor anything that attracts us. Everything is the same. It is an important step that takes us from awakening to letting go (viraga). Passion is raga, from which the English word 'rage' comes: it does not necessarily mean anger as in anger, but rage means 'in the place of action'. Boredom means the cessation of inner disturbances that prevent the mind from letting go. When we come into contact with mundane objects, we neither hate nor desire them. The mind is neither pushed back nor pulled from the middle position, becoming larger. We have enough spiritual capacity to move forward irreversibly on the spiritual path, because what happens in daily life no longer causes us to react strongly. We understand very clearly that all existence contains suffering: the body will perish, the mind will try to know, try to understand, try to control - all are characteristics of conflict and reaction. Inner conflicts hinder our spiritual progress, while reactions lead to actions, because we feel, then judge. Having recognized this as the origin of suffering, but without fear, the mind now tries to find something better. The world, filled with uncertainties, is seen as an ever-changing phenomenon. Since all things are caused by conditions and we cannot depend on them (because conditions are fragile and always changing), it is clear that we now need to look for things that are not caused by conditions. Our body is conditioned by desire, by the desire to exist; should be born, nourished with food and drink, until the day of death. The mind depends on the physical environment, otherwise no mental activity will arise. All are not considered good, sustainable, or desirable. Of course, the mind does not yet know what independent states are, not caused by conditions, but the mind is clear enough to know that it can turn away from normal concerns and worries. Normally, the mind is always busy with whatever arises within, all arising is an opportunity for the mind to function. All dependent birth has the three characteristics of impermanence, suffering and non-self. Because the body and mind depend on conditions, there is no real essence, 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, a point of no rebirth, to seek a state of complete, absolute peace where there is no more birth, no more death. Intuitively, the mind knows it needs to move forward. The characteristics of this step are clearly described in the Visuddhimagga (Path of Purification) by means of a metaphor. If we want to go from one bank of the river, which is this worldly life, to the other bank, which is Nirvana, we can do it through the achievements of practice. We tie the material rope to the branch of the ego, then hold the rope, and following the push of the practice, we rush across the river, to a place we can see from this side. We bow down,towards the other side of the river, let go of the material rope and tree branches to fall on this side of the riverbank. At that time we can let go of all attachment to all things, mainly the 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 was a bit wobbly and unable to stand. We must stand firmly first. This is a metaphor for the moment of enlightenment (magga) when the 'radical transformation' occurs. 'Change of lineage' means that the person has changed from the worldly (puthujjana) to the rank of ariyas, saints, those who have attained enlightenment and liberation based on the teachings of the Buddha. The first moment when that happens is called 'rebirth' (sotappatti). The moment of enlightenment is the only moment of meditation, in which nothing happens, nothing arises, and therefore nothing perishes. The moment of attainment, with one-pointed mind, contains no real wisdom. The next two mental attainments that bring liberation (vimutti) are 'realizations' (phala) and are the signs of our practice. We can reap the fruit of our practice through this experience. No return means having experienced the absolute, having cut off all conditions, and no longer having a discriminatory mind. It is a return to being, to the foundation of existence, which is the absolute primordial source; from which 'existence' is born because of craving. That practitioner steps forward, craving has decreased, so the absolute remains one of the elements of that person's consciousness. The result is the moment when the concept of 'self' has dissolved; An overwhelming feeling of relief, as if we had just let go of a heavy burden. Feeling of lightness plus understanding of what happened; That is, the mind has let go of all that we have known, whether they are good, good, praiseworthy or otherwise, and all feelings of the existence of self have disappeared. The imprint of experiencing the 'path and fruition' is so vast, the mind now seems to be able to disappear into it, like the rest after a long, arduous journey through many lives and many lives. suffering. The ability to temporarily let go of our connections with conditioned things has brought us to our final destination. That's just the beginning, there are three more stages, but this first stage is especially important. It deeply affects our psychology. Now the mind can turn to contemplate its purity, its wisdom, as well as all the unwholesome and defilements that are still present, so that it can see the path before it more clearly. The Buddha talked about ten fetters, binding us to the conditioned dharma. The first three fetters have been destroyed at this point. The most important thing is to eliminate the view of the self as an entity, with personality, with differences. The person who has attained the 'stu-da-complete' has reached this first step to join the unsurpassed, although he has not yet maintained his inner self as always being 'selfless', but he never believes that he is a stable entity. ,has form. Although the wrong view of self has been eliminated, it is only a concept, not a clear experience, which can be considered a 'kindergarten' of enlightenment. The second fetter that is eliminated is belief in rituals. It doesn't mean we can't perform rituals, but their importance and effectiveness are broken. Something completely different brought liberation and liberation, which was the letting go of attachment and anger, which means being completely independent of feelings. Having seen the futility of seeking satisfaction in any combination, our previous greed must give way to equanimity. As a result, we have the ability to completely let go of the illusion of self, along with all desires for ourselves. No ritual can do that. The third fetter to be eliminated is doubt (vicikiccha). Doubt and belief in rituals and ceremonies are completely eliminated. The wrong view of self is also eliminated, but the feeling of complete absence of self is still not achieved. Doubt no longer hinders our practice, because we have realized that the Buddha's teachings are true. There's nothing left to doubt anymore. From his own experience, the practitioner knows that the mind can stay in samsara (samsara) or attain nirvana (nibbana), that sentient beings can attain liberation and enlightenment. According to tradition, it is believed that one who has attained sotapanna must go through at most seven human lives before fully attaining enlightenment; however one can also attain it in just one lifetime. That person will forever be a disciple of Buddha; and can never break any of the five precepts. Although the important step in spiritual liberation has been achieved, greed and anger are still not resolved. The wrong view of self, which is the source of greed and anger, has been transformed, so these obstacles are no longer as heavy as before, but the practitioner still needs to go through two more attainments before they can completely eliminate them. . Just based on what has been described above, we can see that all the defilements in the world are caused by conflicting and disturbing emotional states. However, even if they cause trouble, it is not worth blaming ourselves or others. They are just the natural harshness of human life. Only when we can move from the minds of living beings to higher levels of consciousness can we get rid of these problems once and for all. Once, when the Buddha was sitting under a tree, a traveler passed by, admired the Buddha's shining form, and asked him: "Are bees a God?" Buddha replied: "No". The other person asked again: "Are bees people?" Buddha replied: "No". The other person said in surprise: "It's not God, it's not human, so who is Ong?" Buddha replied: "I am Buddha, the Enlightened One, not God or man." Buddha began life as a living being, like all of us. But when he attained the level of the enlightened ones,characteristic of figurative transcendence, to the point that relationships with humans gradually change. The realized Sotapanna has entered the world of enlightened beings. No longer attached – no likes or dislikes – means we can live peacefully in the world. The difficulties we often encounter when we separate spiritual life from worldly activities no longer exist. When there is no longer any discrimination in the mind, the hidden energies are revealed, and we can then use them to repel all desires. Some cravings may arise again in a person who attains sotapanna, but the basic cravings such as pride, self-satisfaction, and self-fulfillment have been eliminated. Letting go of desire here implicitly means letting go of the concept of self, which means formless, formless, and empty (anatta). That does not mean stopping all thoughts or stopping all activities in life. The attained Sotapanna also looked, acted, and spoke as before. Only his concept and perspective are completely changed. It's not just a matter of sometimes remembering and sometimes not remembering impermanence, but it has become an inner transformation. The human world needs to be transformed because all the sentient beings there live with illusions, causing them to suffer. This inner transformation gives rise to profound compassion for sentient beings lost in the cycle of birth and death (samsara) with no way out. The feeling of the moment of attainment can be recreated at any time, thus becoming a part of the practitioner's inner self, bringing him absolute peace. Enlightenment occurs only once at each different stage of enlightenment. Persistence in practice is necessary to take the practitioner to the next step, becoming a 'once-returner' (sakadagami). The 'once-returner' does not eliminate any further obstacles; Greed and anger are only reduced, but not completely eliminated. The 'once-returner' needs to have another attainment, which is also easy to do after having made the first leap to the other shore. Because a sotapanna is still suffering, when he knows that there is a place where there is no suffering, he has more strength to go further. Therefore, the realized Sotapanna knows that it is necessary to direct the mind away from worldly things, because they cause affliction. That direction is a determining factor for the mind. Only the Arhat, who has accomplished everything, is no longer influenced by the world. His mind is no longer agitated. Anyone who is still on the path to liberation and enlightenment needs to find a quiet, secluded place to meditate at times. The practitioner needs to revive in his mind the moments of attainment through meditation, directing his mind away from mental activities, with the realization that doing so will bring peace and freedom. Our mind always longs to stop, so the more often we can do it, the easier it is to reappear. When the mind stops all wandering, we need to let go again to free ourselves from existence. At that time, we will realize that we have arrived right where we have always been, the only difference is that before we considered appearance to be important, valuable, and worth maintaining.For most people, this is of course not normal. Practitioners need to practice continuously and repeatedly to completely transform their minds to get to that place. If we feel disgusted with 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 is the absence of suffering, which can help us go beyond existence. Only we know what point we have reached on the path of practice. If we rely on the map, we can only succeed if we know which corner we are standing on. The same goes for spiritual development when we want to follow the Buddha's guidance. Practitioners must completely let go to attain enlightenment. Although only an Arhat can completely get rid of the idea of ​​'self', with each enlightenment, this idea gradually diminishes. However, the practitioner's concepts have completely changed. Normal people would think: 'This is me. I want to attain enlightenment.” Such notions no longer exist. Although the person who has achieved the first and second attainments does not yet have the feeling of complete 'selflessness', he has realized that nothing anywhere has any real meaning anymore. 'Liberation from appearances' is the goal that people who take impermanence (anicca) as the subject of meditation want to achieve. He sees nothing of a permanent nature anywhere. 'Freedom from desires' is the object of one who uses dukkha as the subject of meditation, understanding that dukkha cannot arise in the absence of desire. The "liberation of nothingness" is the door opened to the person who takes non-self (anatta) as the main theme, and realizes there is no 'self' in all objects. At this point, there are still seven fetters that need to be eliminated. The next level of attainment is for the person who attains 'no return' (anagami), he will no longer be reborn in the human world to reach nirvana. The non-returner is free from greed and anger. Although it is a giant leap on the path to liberation, there are still five more hindrances remaining. The non-returner sees reality as it exists, no longer deceived by appearances to distinguish between male, female, beautiful or ugly, etc. All these external appearances have deceived us for so long, and have always caused us suffering. Dukkha (Suffering) is not only pain, suffering, and resentment, but also includes dissatisfaction and dissatisfaction, emotions that we are all too familiar with. We can compare the experience of the non-returner to the foam of the ocean waves we mentioned before. It emerged just because it existed, but now it no longer thinks of itself as a separate bubble; It sank deep into the bottom of life without any resistance. It no longer wants to be like a great, wise, individual sponge. The re-establishment of the third fruition enables the practitioner to completely remain in a state of freedom, without any combination of conditions. It is a solid barrier to effectively resist suffering (dukkha), even though the remaining five fetters still exist. The most important obstacle that we must destroy is ignorance, which has been described as follows:“As fragrance clings to flowers, the idea of ​​self still clings to the Non-returner.” When contemplating what has happened, the Non-returner will realize this ignorance. When we have memorable experiences in life, we often reflect back afterward to understand them better. The impact of attainment also causes us to do it. We reflect on our experiences and consider which obstacles have been eliminated and which defilements still exist; We also recall the experience of liberation. This contemplation needs to be done after the enlightenment of the path and fruition, otherwise it is difficult to be sure of any defilements that have not been eliminated. In the once-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 seductions of the world no longer move him, and the difficult situations and obstacles, which the Buddha himself also faced, do not affect him. One of the remaining five fetters is excitement. Because the concept of 'self' has not been completely eliminated, there is still the urge to go somewhere, do something to get more results, something that all sentient beings are all too familiar with. Restlessness is present in a subtle way. There are two more obstacles that must be resolved: the desire to be reborn, either in the celestial realm or the saintly realm, in the form realm or in the formless realm. Because there is still the element of clinging to 'self', delusion arises that 'I' can exist more happily in one of those pure, beautiful realms where there is no suffering. The fifth fetter is arrogance (mana), which does not mean that the person is proud, but that the person still thinks about self. Observation will help the practitioner see that these obstacles 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 notion of self is in living beings, even after three times of attaining enlightenment. it is not yet completely destroyed. The last five hindrances can only be eliminated when the practitioner attains Arahantship. To become an Arhat, the practitioner must have the opportunity to attain the fourth enlightenment. Contemplation is no longer necessary, because all defilements have disappeared, there is no more resistance, rejection or running after anything. That can happen because he has completely eliminated the feeling of having to be 'someone'. The Non-returner must find a way to eliminate the remaining five hindrances, then when he has destroyed them to the end, he can enter the final stage of enlightenment. Each stage of enlightenment, although similar, will become deeper and broader, for example when we have to take increasingly difficult exams in college, in order to finally be able to understand more deeply. your subject. That profound impression is imprinted on the mind, so much so that the enlightened mind can never return to the ordinary mind. Even though an Arhat can continue to live a normal life, he always remembers that everything is run by the five aggregates, and there is nothing 'I' or 'mine' involved. It's all about this body and mind.The refrain that is repeated over and over again, when someone speaks of liberation with the Buddha, is: “Birth has ceased, lived a holy life, done everything possible, there is nothing left to return from.” ”, is the traditional method of determining the state of enlightenment and liberation. CONSULTING Zen Student (Dr.): Dear Nun, it is difficult for me to put my trust in the state of mind (which) operates on its own to concentration and liberation. I feel completely scared when I experience the feeling of destruction, disintegrate. AYYA KHEMA (AK): When we have not yet become an Arhat, we still have a self. Ego makes us think that this is 'my' mind. The mind, like the person who thinks they are the master mind, wants peace. That is a completely legitimate wish. The mind knows very well that it needs to stop thinking so that it can achieve that goal. If it is something contrary to nature, the mind will not find peace and tranquility, on the contrary it will lead to anxiety and anger. When you feel the destruction of everything, but your mind does not feel peaceful and comfortable, of course you feel afraid. Our ego will say: “I don't want to be destroyed, I want to be happy; That's why I practice." But another thought immediately followed: “I want to be happy, but my feet hurt like this, I will 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 states of meditation, fear will not arise, and the mind can attain enlightenment more gently. The other way is to face the fear, to see that the fear is justified. That is the point to get rid of the remaining attachments to self, to see that all actions are dangerous, that sentient beings cannot find happiness in any existence. TS: Dear Nun, should we choose the ego's reaction to fear as the subject of meditation? AK: We have no choice but to pay attention to that feeling, because of its power. Dear Nun, there are almost always sea foams rising from the bottom of existence. Why should that be? Your question goes back to the first causes, one of the four things that the Buddha did not answer. They are called “the four inconceivables.” Aren't these questions meant to enlighten you, Venerable Nun? AK: That's right. There are four inconceivable things, namely, the influence of a Buddha, of the attained samadhi, the origin of the universe (or humanity) and the complications of karma. These questions do not help practitioners in their practice. The Buddha said that answering such questions only confuses sentient beings. There is no original cause; all move in a circle. In my opinion, it seems like we are all anxious to escape suffering (dukkha), but when dukkha disappears, no one is present to celebrate its absence. Yes; but I have been purified. What is ego, Venerable Nun? The number one enemy of living beings. There are no other enemies; We all contain this enemy within. At the same time, we also contain purity and goodness.We cannot separate the self from anything we do or think, because all our desires are saturated with self, like a sponge full of water, making it impossible to distinguish between them. is water, not a sponge. TS: The nun talked about compassion along with enlightenment and liberation. Is preaching a form of compassion? AK: Of course. Without compassion, the sermon cannot reach anyone. The Buddha preached every day, even when he was sick, for forty-five years, due to his immense compassion for suffering beings. He wanted to show people how to end suffering (dukkha), to teach them the path to liberation. The Four Noble Truths are a fundamental part of the Buddha's teachings. They arise naturally in the mind at the moment of enlightenment. A Buddha can immediately understand the four noble truths without a teacher, but for those who follow the Buddha's path, the four noble truths are realized because they have become part of the continuously communicating mind-body. through sermons. This event can be compared to when the sun rises, the light shines brightly, the darkness is pushed back, the sunshine is full, the cold is dispelled. We can see everything clearly because the darkness has dissipated, feel secure, warm, and peaceful because the cold is no longer there. The same goes for the four noble truths; they arise in the mind immediately because the third noble truth of nibbana is the sun that radiates light to our mind, bringing warmth to our heart. The person who has achieved liberation is the one who has entered the Noble Eightfold Path.The same goes for the four noble truths; they arise in the mind immediately because the third noble truth of nibbana is the sun that radiates light to our mind, bringing warmth to our heart. The person who has achieved liberation is the one who has entered the Noble Eightfold Path.The same goes for the four noble truths; they arise in the mind immediately because the third noble truth of nibbana is the sun that radiates light to our mind, bringing warmth to our heart. The person who has achieved liberation is the one who has entered the Noble Eightfold Path.END=NAM MO SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA.( 3 TIMES ).GOLDEN ZEN BUDDHIST MONASTERY=VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUN=THICH CHAN TANH.AUSTRALIA,SYDNEY.22/6/2024.VIETNAMESE TRANSLATE ENGLISH BY=THICH CHAN TANH.