The Conditions for Liberation of Mind (Cetovimutti)

Question: Does attaining the first dhyāna mean the mind is liberated?

Answer: It is not liberation of mind. Attaining the first dhyāna can only subdue afflictions, but cannot eliminate them, so one cannot obtain liberation of mind (cetovimutti). The first dhyāna by itself has no necessary connection to liberation. The condition and standard for liberation of mind is the merit and benefit of having eliminated self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi) combined with the first dhyāna—neither can be lacking.

After eliminating self-view, within the first dhyāna one can eliminate the two afflictions of greed-desire and ill will, and the mind becomes liberated from the greed-desire of the desire realm and the ill will of the form realm, no longer bound by these two afflictions. Such a person is called a third-fruit noble one, a non-returner (Anāgāmin), who has liberation of mind. However, the delusion of the formless realm has not yet been eliminated. When the afflictions of delusion and ignorance (avidyā) are completely eliminated, that is the fourth-fruit noble one, an arhat, liberated by wisdom (paññāvimutti). Only Mahāyāna bodhisattvas who are third- or fourth-fruit persons will in the future be qualified to become noble ones at the first bhūmi or above.

Therefore, without cultivating meditative concentration (dhyāna), without any state of meditative absorption (samādhi), one cannot attain liberation, much less become a Buddha. Likewise, without eliminating self-view, one cannot attain liberation, much less become a Buddha. These two checkpoints, before the first bhūmi and the third fruit, must be passed through—no matter what, they cannot be bypassed or avoided, no matter what tricks one may come up with in practice.

Even if one expounds the Tripitaka and the twelve divisions of the scriptures so brilliantly that flowers rain from the sky, without passing these two checkpoints, it has nothing to do with liberation or buddhahood, nor with genuine realization. No matter how lofty one's verbal wisdom may be—even lofty to the point of the Buddha stage—not a single one of these two checkpoints can be skipped over; they must be passed through. Otherwise it is called lofty talk and grand discourse, having nothing to do with liberation, nirvāṇa, or becoming a Buddha.

The condition for liberation of mind is having fairly good meditative concentration as a foundation. With manas within fairly good meditative concentration, aided by the mind consciousness in carrying out contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), one realizes that the five aggregates (pañcaskandha) are illusory, and then eliminates self-view, no longer clinging stubbornly to the physical body. Manas then obtains the most initial liberation, possessing the liberating merit and benefit of the first fruit.

Liberation is in fact the liberation of manas. It is manas that is bound by ignorance, and it is manas that transmigrates through birth and death. If one does not break manas's ignorance but only breaks the ignorance of the six consciousnesses, then at the time of death, manas, pulled along by ignorance, will continue to sink in the bitter ocean of birth and death. At that time the six consciousnesses will have vanished without a trace and simply cannot go on to future lives. At that point, whether the mind consciousness has ignorance or not no longer matters. It is only while the five-aggregate body is alive that a mind consciousness without ignorance can effectively permeate and influence manas, causing manas also to break its ignorance and become free of ignorance. If the mind consciousness has ignorance while the five aggregates are alive, it cannot permeate and influence manas to break its ignorance, and thus one will still commit evil bodily, verbal, and mental actions, leaving behind karmic seeds of evil for future lives and suffering the pain of birth-and-death transmigration.