Issue 283

The sound of liberation. Liberation refers to attaining one kind of true freedom — unrestrained and unbounded; hence, liberated. From what are we liberated from? We are liberated from the suffering and afflictions of birth and death in the six paths of transmigration. In the past, a monk requested dharma from a prominent sangha, “Senior monk, how can we become liberated?” The prominent monk replied, “Who bound you up?” The listening monk became enlightened instantaneously, “Oh! No one bound me up. I myself kept me in bounds.”If we do not bind ourselves up, then naturally, we attain liberation.

What does it mean by binding ourselves up? We should think this over. When we cannot see through and let go, we cannot be at ease. Not being at ease is not obtaining liberation. If we can see through everything, understand everything, and let go of everything, then we have attained true freedom. Being truly free is having attained liberation — unrestrained and unbounded, unhindered and unimpeded, leaving mixed up dream thinking far behind. Truly letting go, we attain liberation; not letting go, we do not attain liberation.

Now that Shakyamuni Buddha speaks of this sound of liberation, we should all liberate ourselves. Do not bind ourselves up, do not lock ourselves in jail, forever not obtaining freedom. What is meant by ‘locking ourselves in jail’? If you were not in jail, you would attain liberation. Not attaining liberation is akin to being in jail. You want to head east, but you are not free to do so. You want to head west but you are not free to do so. You want to head south but you are not free to do so. You want to head north but you are not free to do so.

When we say ‘not attaining freedom’, we are not referring to this stinking skin bag being not physically free but rather, we are referring to the inherent nature. When the inherent nature attains freedom, one may live if one wants to, or die any time one wants to. Dying, one is without any illness; one simply sits there and departs. This is true freedom. This is so-called “my ‘birth and death’ is up to me and not up to fate”. I live or die as I wish. I may live to a hundred, a thousand, or ten thousand years old. If I wish not to live, I can always return to my original home. When I want to live in this ‘house’, then I live in this house. When I do not want to live in this house, then I can move any time.

‘If you want to live in this house’ has two explanations. One explanation points to the consciousness that has attained freedom. This belongs to yin nature. It can go to New York, Europe, Australia or anywhere, and knows everything about that location. But, it cannot take anything. It cannot buy something in New York and bring back to San Francisco. Why? Consciousness is in the yin realm. It can see New York but cannot do anything there.

The other explanation points to your inherent Buddha nature. The Buddha nature is yang in nature, it is an entire substance of great functionality. Even when you are in San Francisco, you may reach your hand out and get something from New York. Isn’t this amazing? Is this spiritual power? This is a state of liberation, without restraints or constraints, without impediments or obstructions. With this state of liberation, one trichiliocosm can be as close as being in the same room. You can accomplish anything you want in the world. This is the yang Buddha nature. If you are liberated and free, then you will experience this kind of state. Nevertheless, people with such states should not casually manifest their state. Do not try to make me buy some German product for you because I can do it with my spiritual powers. This is forbidden. Before the Buddha entered nirvana, he admonished all of his disciples not to use their spiritual powers. If you use your spiritual powers, then you have to leave this world. Since most people do not have spiritual powers, they will be startled by your spiritual powers. In short, when you can do things as you wish, that belongs to the yang realm. When there are things you cannot do, that belongs to the yin realm and a function of the consciousness. Every one of us must be clear about this.

The sound of no outflows. What is meant by ‘no outflows’? It is being without ignorance. Without ignorance, there is no outflow. With even just a bit of ignorance, you cannot be free of outflow. Ignorance is the root of afflictions. When you have ignorance, you have all sorts of afflictions; without ignorance, you have no afflictions. Why do you have greed? It is because of your ignorance. Why do you have hatred? It is because of your ignorance. Why do you have delusion? It is because of your ignorance. Hence, ignorance is the root of afflictions. Why do you have desires and lust? It is also because of your ignorance. From the starting point, you have not clearly understood, and you have created all kinds of karma. Were you to have attained the sound of no outflows, you would be without ignorance. Therefore, Shakyamuni Buddha emitted all kinds of sounds to enable all beings to be enlightened through the sounds.

“Herein lies the substance of true teaching, purification through hearing sounds.” In this Saha World, the fundamental substance of Buddhism lies in sounds. We utilize sounds in doing the Buddha’s work. That’s why we have all kinds of sounds e.g. proclaiming, praising, explaining.

The sound of wisdom, the sound of great wisdom, the sound of the Lion’s roar, the sound of the Great Lion’s roar, the sound of thunderclouds, the sound of great thunderclouds. After he had uttered indescribably many sounds.

The sound of wisdom. What is wisdom? Wisdom redeems delusion. When there is wisdom, there is no delusion; when there is delusion, there is no wisdom. These two cannot coexist. Let me tell you something that is easier to understand. Wisdom is delusion; delusion is wisdom. Some say, now that my delusion is wisdom, I will use this delusion to be as deluded as possible. If you can be as deluded as possible, then that is real wisdom.

Some say, “Dharma Master! I do not believe this idea of yours: wisdom is delusion; delusion is wisdom. What I see is that deluded individuals always do muddled things, while wise people do things with a clear understanding.” Not bad, what you say is very much correct and what I say is very much incorrect. How come? Delusion can turn into wisdom so I say delusion is wisdom. Likewise, wisdom can turn into delusion, so I say wisdom is also delusion. I have elucidated this principle a few days ago when I talked about “Intelligence results from anonymous good deeds”. But now, I am bringing it out again. Why is it that when you have wisdom, you will not be deluded? It is because people with wisdom have true freedom and have truly attained liberation.

How is that? People with wisdom do not do muddled things. If you are deluded, you keep doing muddled things and not intelligent things. Deluded people fail to attain freedom; they sway with external influences. People with wisdom are not influenced by external matters. They have true wisdom, they have real subjective discretions. Regardless of what comes, they can recognize the positivity and /or negativity of each situation. They proceed if it is a good thing to do and do not proceed if it is not a good thing to do. They have true judgment and true Dharma-selecting vision. Deluded individuals do not have these traits; they will proceed to do something that they know is clearly wrong.

For instance, we know that gambling is something bad but they think that they may have a chance in a million at winning and getting rich. This one thought of ignorance and greed led them to wish for riches; they end up losing all their assets. They still do not wake up after they lose all that. They think, I am just one step away from winning and getting rich. For example, a dollar something buys you eight numbers on a lotto ticket. If you select the matching set, you will win millions. But you lost by one number, so you buy again, thinking you will win for sure. Is that delusion or not? If gamblers can all win, then casinos will not make any profit.

Some people smoke opium. People say opium is an intoxicant that is harmful, yet, deluded individuals will try it. After the first try if they do not feel the effect, they will try a 2nd, 3rd, 4th and many more times, again and again. Eventually, they get addicted. They cannot function without it. Is that delusion or not? A perfectly sound individual becomes controlled by opium – dripping snot and tears, one’s entire body so discomforting, rushing to get money and buy more opium to sustain oneself. This is the working of delusion, disabling you to attain freedom. How is it? Opium smokers think that smoking opium is a form of freedom and enjoy it, but is it freedom when you are not smoking it and crave for it? This extends to everything else just the same. Doing something that you should not do is delusion, not wisdom. If you have wisdom, you will not be muddled and do what you ought not.

The sound of great wisdom. One with great wisdom sees through the bottom of things. One need not wait till things go wrong to realize that something is wrong. One can foresee the unfavorable outcome if one does certain things. With great knowledge and great wisdom, one can avoid doing muddled things. What is great knowledge and great wisdom? Investigating the Buddhadharma is great knowledge and great wisdom. People who investigate the Buddhadharma can attain true freedom; hence, it is great wisdom.