Friday, October 7, 2016

Dualistic notions and The three doors of liberation (1)

Read deeply the following article regarding The Doors of Liberation by Thich Nhat Hanh.
http://www.lionsroar.com/the-doors-of-liberation-may-2014/
The followings are key phrases.

Quote:
Dualistic notions, such as birth and death, being and nonbeing, sameness and otherness, coming and going, are the foundation of all afflictions. Meditating on the three doors of liberation helps us throw away these notions. 

The three doors of liberation, which are taught in every Buddhist tradition, are emptiness, signlessness, and aimlessness. Contemplating these three profound truths can help liberate us from fear and suffering. They are our doorways to freedom.

Living mindfully and with concentration, we see a deeper reality and are able to witness impermanence without fear, anger, or despair.

Nirvana is available to us right now. Emptiness, signlessness, and aimlessness are called the three doors of liberation because if we meditate on them, they will liberate us from all kinds of discriminative thinking so we can touch our true nature.

1. Emptiness
Emptiness is not a philosophy; it is a description of reality.

Emptiness is always emptiness of something, just as consciousness is always consciousness of something.

The grass, the flower, everything inside us and around us, and we ourselves are only empty of one thing: a separate independent existence.

The simplest description of emptiness in the Buddhist teachings is this sentence: This is because that is. A flower cannot exist by itself alone. To be can only mean to inter-be. To be by oneself alone is impossible.

Looking in this way, we begin to see that everything has the nature of emptiness. Sometimes that nature of emptiness is called nonself

When we think something, we are those thoughts. We and our thoughts are not separate. When we say something, those words are us; there’s no speaker outside of the words. When we do something, our action is us. There’s no actor outside of the action.

A buddha is made only of non-buddha elements, just as I am made only of non-me elements. 

Communication is perfect when we can understand that the one who bows and the one who is bowed to are both empty. This is meditation.

If we can’t understand how that child could possibly act a certain way, it’s helpful to remember that the child doesn’t have a separate self.

When we can see those around us with this understanding, instead of with anger and attachment, we enjoy the fruit of the contemplation on emptiness.
:Unquote

(My commentary)
All notions cause separation, discrimination, or the duality. That's why afflictions arise and people suffer. All notions are equal to all ideas, thoughts, perceptions, views, beliefs, words, languages, ...etc. All of them are made up by human ego for self-protection. But the truth is that if we separate ourselves from others, we suffer. So, they are rather self-destructive. That's why the Buddha taught emptiness which enables us to stop separation, discrimination, or the duality

(Cf.) http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WBTLNEU

Thích Nhất Hạnh