Aiding or Thwarting Liberation

We turn now to consider the practices that facilitate the penetration of Nibbāna.

These practices include views – ways of regarding the world of experience. Our view may be unreliable as a means of seeing truth. A part of the path leading to Nibbāna includes the process of reflecting on descriptions of Nibbāna so as to gain clear understanding.

The need for this sort of reflection derives from the role of perception in aiding – or thwarting – the attainment of liberation. [See A 4.179]

Perception is what conditions all of our thoughts, words, and deeds. …we have the opportunity to be “fully set free in this very life,” but are unable to do this as a result of our not seeing clearly.

If we were able to recognize that a particular way of perception would lead to a decline in skillful states or in well-being, then we would happily relinquish it as in our best interests.

Or, as we cultivate mindfulness and a steadiness of heart and observe that this particular mode of perception leads the mind to steady states of well-being, we would naturally want to protect and nurture that perception as it increases our happiness.

If we could be more attentive to perceptions that penetrate the nature of our bodies and minds and of the world around us, our relationship to everything would be radically different. Our fascination with the world would easily be replaced with a sense of world-weariness, disenchantment, or disgust (nibbidā). In practice, this ‘disgust’ is an inner quality that loosens the hold of our habitual patterns of perception and conception.

It is not the emotional upheaval of finding something abhorrent, repugnant or offensive. Instead, it is closer to the roots of the word itself – “losing one’s taste for,” or “not delighting in its flavour,” leaving the heart cool, settled and clear. This sense of disenchantment can be fostered by focusing on the drawbacks of our normal involvement in the world of sensual passions, but it can also be fostered by focusing on the positive aspects of the peace offered by Nibbāna:

Here, Ānanda, having gone to the forest, to the foot of a tree or to an empty hut, a monk reflects thus: “This is peaceful, this is sublime, that is, the stilling of all formations, the relinquishment of all acquisitions, the destruction of craving, cessation, Nibbāna. [A 10.60]

This reflection by Luang Por Pasanno is from the book, The Island, (pdf) pp. 222, 223; (A 10.60) translated into English by Bhikkhu Bodhi.