The Standard of Mental Liberation

When the first dhyāna manifests, regardless of external circumstances or how others treat you, afflictions within the mind will not arise. Though occasional sadness may surface, it remains superficial and cannot penetrate the heart's depths. At that time, the mind is like an impenetrable fortress—nothing external can enter, nothing internal can exit. External insults cannot truly touch the innermost heart, for the mind develops a protective layer. This state is called "afflictions cannot invade the mind, the mind does not give rise to afflictions." This is the state described in the Āgama Sūtras as: "The mind is at ease, the mind attains liberation."

Cultivating to this stage brings benefits throughout all one's lifetimes. Therefore, before attaining the second fruition, the mind is neither at ease nor liberated, because it remains bound to the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion. The liberation of the mind primarily depends on the manas (the seventh consciousness). When the manas is fully endowed with greed, hatred, and delusion, it drives the six consciousnesses to create karmic actions of greed, hatred, and delusion. The manovijñāna (mind consciousness) is also liberated, as are the first five consciousnesses: the eye does not crave forms, and the five senses do not crave sights, sounds, smells, tastes, or touches. Once the manas severs the view of self, it gains a portion of the merit and benefit of liberation. After severing self-attachment, it becomes completely liberated from the bondage of worldly phenomena in the three realms, gaining the ability to extinguish itself—that is the state of the third and fourth fruition Arhats, who possess the capability to liberate themselves from the three realms upon death. True mental liberation is attained at the fourth fruition, where self-conceit is utterly eradicated, the five higher fetters are severed, and one can personally verify that one will undergo no further rebirth.