335. Con Duong Tay Phuong TT
II. The stage of liberating mind training
Also called worldly renunciation. Practitioners eliminate craving, live a life out of persecution.
enthusiastic about giving birth to the Western Bliss, sincerely willing to relieve the fire. Also called the Western-facing period. Practitioner c
At the above stage of training the mind of doing good, the practitioner just changes his mind to become good, lives with loving kindness, and he also initiates good desires to eliminate evil karma.
Therefore, the practitioner ‘s craving is still dominated by the world, the worldly mind is still strong, the will to roam the world is still much, and even liberation is weak. So, when one’s mind becomes kind, one must continue to liberate and release the world’s craving.
“Ai” here does not mean exclusively for the love between men and women, husband and wife, but includes all sentient beings’ prejudice towards all creatures. Love no matter what, if not moderately, without an illuminating reason, without an upper hand and a binding character, is called love. Attachment to things is also called love. And worldly attachment all goes back to the world.
“Sex” means desire. Sex here is not just about sensual pleasures of the flesh, but it encompasses all the desires of the world, from bad desires to good desires and all kinds of senseless desires, neither good nor evil. The bad desires, in the first stage one must eliminate. In this stage, the practitioner still has good and non-evil desires (neither good nor evil) except the desire to be liberated, all of those good and non-negative desires must be let go of. Because even though they are wholesome, they are still a mortal world. Practitioners only live and do what is necessary to do, not want to do. Wanting or not wanting is contrary to liberating mind.
In the previous stage, the practitioner needs to have a mind set to do good deeds. But at this stage is not wanted anymore. Because “want” is a manifestation of the needless and not very useful. Practice meticulously liberation but still want to do this thing or that, if we want this dish or the other, it is difficult to avoid chaos, we cannot separate from the world, how to achieve liberation results? For things, even knowing it is good is not wanted. The subtle desire leads to attachment mind, the gross wanting mind leads to the craving mind, both of which are binding, both to anxiety and defilement when not accomplished. Everything, everything that is destined to come, cannot avoid it, but if it has not come, we should not want it, if it has been lost, we should not regret it.
Kindness makes people passionate when dealing with the world and makes people regret their separation from the world. Lust (desire) makes people want to follow the world. This craving often causes fear, anxiety and afflictions when leaving the world and encountering contradictions with it, causing him to spin around in worldly events, it is the root of unending samsara.
Practitioners of liberation must be aware of the manifestations of craving and prevent it unless it has just arisen in the mind. From the point of contact with pleasant and favorable things, the mind should like it, this is the source of love. Love leads to kindness, worry, care, that is love has formed. From worrying kindness, caring to fear when thinking it is destroyed is that love is stronger than reason and sad to remember when these things are lost or separated, that is, attached, love has ingrained. consciousness. Desiring mind arises from the difference that the benefit is pleasing or pushed by the first love to satisfy more greed. A concept of desire that has just arisen if not self-controlled and eliminated will lead to searching, contemplating anxiety, fear and insane afflictions.
These two love and desire help each other, one after another, the practitioner is always in turmoil and lack of awareness, most difficult in spiritual practice.
To let go of craving, one should contemplate it to fully understand its nature, and then dedicate itself to Western birth. This is the most wonderful method.
Practitioners contemplate the world, contemplate the false impermanence and the suffering of all kinds of emotional benefits and things in the world, observing the constraints of time, suffering in samsara. Observe the low insanity that binds ignorance and suffering while living with craving, observing the serenity, bliss, radiance, nobility when the end of craving. With genuine, profound observation, one will no longer be confused about the nature of sensual love and the world. Practitioners will want to renounce the world and bravely eliminate craving, which has cut the roots of craving. Because knowing the defiled nature and form of craving is not deceived and attracted to it, seeing it lead to the defilements of attachment, suffering and darkness is ready to give up.
One should not forcefully try to forget when he sees that he arises craving, but must bravely confront it and observe it thoroughly in order to eliminate it. Because the problems caused by the practitioner try to forget are useless while the mind is still enjoying or suffering from it. Because the problems caused by the practitioner trying to forget unresolved will accumulate in the mind, becoming strong for a long time. One day they are predestined, they will wake up. At that time, the practitioner cannot control himself, or they keep silently destroying the practitioner’s mind, causing them to become mad and dark. A lustful mindset, a long latent longing, an idea of love hidden for many years due to the oppression of trying to forget not to observe to break it, are all extremely dangerous.
At the same time, with the observation of sensual love, practitioners need to constantly initiate the mind to pray for Western birth and practice a way of life that is not precarious, not fixed in one scene, does not depend on a predestined relationship, does not depend on one’s own body, is not good the heart to let go of what we like to treasure, we should not be persistent in wanting the bad and the bad, because the desire to love for good or bad things is also lust.
When a practitioner has fully understood sensual love and the world, the practitioner’s mind will be calm, clear, and self-contained in the face of conditions and conditions, and not be infatuated with any person or thing. Seeing everything, the practitioner sees in it there is the germ of suffering, attachment, impermanence, darkness, samsara, and the practitioner also sees all the suffering of himself and of others, all possible at all times, every time. The place is always praying for birth to the West, don’t think anymore.
Remember, when the mind has not fully understood craving, the mind is reeling from pitiful desires, there are still great obstacles in spiritual practice; Even if we try to pray to be born to the West, it is difficult to avoid being interrupted by that craving, because if we want to go to the West, we cannot go back to the West if we hold on to the West.
Like wanting to pull the tree to one side but let the roots stick to the ground, how can we pull. Observing clearly craving to develop worldly renunciation mind means cutting off the roots of those trees. If you are afraid of Ta, you really like the Pure Land. If you get bored of the world, you will sincerely wish for the West.
However, when observing lust, it is always a matter of devotion to the West to deeply sow the seeds of birth, and at the same time also to assist the practitioner to let go of his immersion in the world. Because although observing sensual love clearly, mind can generate detachment, but due to the defilement karma of the practitioner who has trained deeply for many years and the energy of the practitioner is still poor, the practitioner still feels happy to continue. contact with lust. Although reason wants to let go of it, the habit still wants to seek grasp, besides, life always has conditions that cause the growth of craving karma to overwhelm reason. Therefore, in parallel with the observation to let go of craving, it is very necessary to have the will to die for liberation to help the practitioner with enough mind and energy to decisively eliminate craving for the world.
May rebirth, the practitioner must continuously initiate the same vow as reciting the Buddha’s name. Practitioners can make aspirations like this:
“Namo Amitabha Buddha
I take my vows to go to the West of Ultimate Bliss
Please Buddha is so compassionate to my level”.
Or pray according to the verse:
“Regulating the feast of Amitabha Buddha
In the West, the peaceful world,
I would like to take the vow of being in the last birth,
please continue to be compassionate”
Or recite according to the writings of the Patriarchs. The simpler the essential vow, the stronger the direction toward the West, the better.
With such vows, the practitioner always arises in the mind, making it more and more deep in the subconscious and unchanging strong. A single curse like the mantra of immobility, one will forge a solid mind of rebirth like a tree that has tilted completely in one direction. Such a firm will has tilted in one direction, then no longer worry about being bound by the world. No matter what impermanent fire blows tomorrow, the spiritual tree will only fall to the West.
In any situation, meeting any object is only one prayer. At this time, the practitioner should not be bothered by any other issues. Leave all the conditions to be determined. Whether predestined or predestined do not worry. Knowing that we have many karma and bad blessings should not be afraid to seek and do things to avoid karma or create more merit. Be aware that karma cannot be avoided, please calmly accept it, something does not cause any more karma, because you must fully believe that this vow is still capable of helping the practitioner pass all the karmic streams. space.
Even the good deeds, if due to predestined conditions, are willing not to refuse, but liberating practitioners should not deliberately seek work to do, because all are mundane worlds. Blessed is immeasurable and liberating mind in the previous stage, practitioners can turn the worry to do merit to grow good root to eliminate negative karma. Now, at this stage, placing a heavy emphasis on liberation, all good things are done with the compassionate nature according to conditions and conditions, practitioners do not do it because of desire for happiness and whatever they do, they always start to recite to be born to the West. direction without interruption. Until when, at any time, every place, every object, the soul knows only the West. Towards people who only know the West, no longer want anything, hate nothing anymore. The mind is pure with Western concepts.
During this period, the practitioner can find himself still dependent on thoughts, the mind is not yet clear in silence, the body still warms up with sensual sensations. Practitioners should not care about these problems, must know that they are practicing in the stage of training for liberation, not at the time of cultivating the wisdom of liberation and salvation. Therefore, practitioners should not be afraid, anxious to disturb the current practice. The life of seclusion in the world, the soul not indulging in lust, always looking to the West is crucial in this period. Try to pray ceaselessly until the soul becomes calm with the world, no longer hating desires, only the West is the reason of life, the source of happiness of life. Thus was the achievement of the second stage on this road to the West.
From here, the practitioner can be assured with the holy way of liberation. Peace of purity covers the life of the practitioner. Practitioners can take steady steps back to the bar of ultimate enlightenment. Thanks to the thorough contemplation of sensual love, practitioners can control emotions, not indulge, even though they are still disturbed by it. Monastic people no longer indulge in persecution. Thanks to always the Western devotion, the more and more strong willpower is deeply rooted in the mind, the Western path is smoothed, the practitioner will surely be born.
Note, at this stage, the practitioner still recites the Buddha’s name according to the course of time or regularly recites but focuses on praying for rebirth. Maybe after just a few Buddhist words, a prayer starts and so on. Even at the first stage, too, still reciting Buddha’s name and praying to the West according to the course of time or sometimes initiating the mind to recite the Buddha’s prayers in normal activities, but in the early stages, praying to allow the mind to be in wholesome and not diligent.
Practitioners should not ignore or neglect this prayer out of interest in concentration or lazy to initiate thoughts. Ignoring the Western vow, even if the practitioner recalls the Buddha’s name diligently, it is difficult to be reborn. Because we only focus on reciting the Buddha’s mind, when reciting the Buddha’s mind is pure, forgetting the external conditions, but the thought of craving is strong, even liberation is weak, that specialization is also difficult to persist when craving arises. Practitioners to interrupt the use of gong and run after the external environment, or turn the recitation of Buddha’s name into a means to achieve the idea of craving. Or recite the Buddha’s name and start reciting the desire to be a king, be a mandarin or give birth to this heaven or that realm. Thus, reciting the Buddha’s name becomes a means to create good fortune in the world. This is the reason why so many people who specialize in reciting Buddha’s name still have reincarnation. Like a tree that doesn’t tilt to a good side, let it lean in a bad direction and feed the plant tall; upon encountering an uprooted impermanent wind, it will fall in its negative direction.
Although the spiritual power to lead, but the practitioner ‘s mind is not directed to the West, this forgiving power cannot continue, because this forgiving power of the Buddhas is not the kind of worldly power of demons. This energy is equal, not hopeless, comes from an external body, but it originates from the mind of the practitioner, it depends on whether the practitioner’s prayer energy is strong or weak, like an echo in the cave. Therefore, the more deeply the practitioner arises, the more powerful his forgiveness becomes; On the contrary, a few aspirations, of course, are weak, weak, they cannot bring practitioners to the West. That is why there is a place to say “forgiveness depends on self-reliance” or “forgiveness is also self-reliant”.
