Visuddhimagga (the pah of purification)
by Ñāṇamoli Bhikkhu | 1956 | 388,207 words | ISBN-10: 9552400236 | ISBN-13: 9789552400236
This page describes The Triple Gateway to Liberation of the section Purification by Knowledge and Vision of the Way of Part 3 Understanding (Paññā) of the English translation of the Visuddhimagga (‘the path of purification’) which represents a detailled Buddhist meditation manual, covering all the essential teachings of Buddha as taught in the Pali Tipitaka. It was compiled Buddhaghosa around the 5th Century.
The Triple Gateway to Liberation
It enters upon the state of the triple gateway to liberation now with the predominance of [one of] three faculties according as the contemplation occurs in [one of] the three ways.[1]
67. For it is the three contemplations that are called the three gateways to liberation, according as it is said: “But these three gateways to liberation lead to the outlet from the world, [that is to say,] (i) to the seeing of all formations as limited and circumscribed and to the entering of consciousness into the signless element, (ii) to the stirring up of the mind with respect to all formations and to the entering of consciousness into the desireless element, (iii) to the seeing of all things (dhamma) as alien and to the entering of consciousness into the voidness element. These three gateways to liberation lead to the outlet from the world” (Paṭis II 48).[2]
68. Herein, as limited and circumscribed [means] both as limited by rise and fall and as circumscribed by them; for contemplation of impermanence limits them thus, “Formations do not exist previous to their rise,” and in seeking their destiny, sees them as circumscribed thus, “They do not go beyond fall, they vanish there.” To the stirring up of the mind: by giving consciousness a sense of urgency; for with the contemplation of pain consciousness acquires a sense of urgency with respect to formations. [658] To the seeing … as alien: to contemplating them as notself thus: “Not I,” “Not mine.”
69. So these three clauses should be understood to express the contemplations of impermanence, and so on. Hence in the answer to the next question [asked in the Paṭisambhidā] it is said: “When he brings [them] to mind as impermanent, formations appear as liable to destruction. When he brings them to mind as painful, formations appear as a terror. When he brings them to mind as not-self, formations appear as void” (Paṭis II 48).
70. What are the liberations to which these contemplations are the gateways? They are these three, namely, the signless, the desireless, and the void. For this is said: “When one who has great resolution brings [formations] to mind as impermanent, he acquires the signless liberation. When one who has great tranquillity brings [them] to mind as painful, he acquires the desireless liberation. When one who has great wisdom brings [them] to mind as not-self, he acquires the void liberation” (Paṭis II 58).
71. And here the signless liberation should be understood as the noble path that has occurred by making Nibbāna its object through the signless aspect. For that path is signless owing to the signless element having arisen, and it is a liberation owing to deliverance from defilements.[3] In the same way the path that has occurred by making Nibbāna its object through the desireless aspect is desireless. And the path that has occurred by making Nibbāna its object through the void aspect is void.
72. But it is said in the Abhidhamma: “On the occasion when he develops the supramundane jhāna that is an outlet and leads to dispersal, having abandoned the field of [false] views with the reaching of the first grade, secluded from sense desires he enters upon and dwells in the first jhāna, which is desireless … is void,” (Dhs §510) thus mentioning only two liberations. This refers to the way in which insight arrives [at the path] and is expressed literally.
73. However, in the Paṭisambhidā insight knowledge is expressed as follows: (i) It is expressed firstly as the void liberation by its liberating from misinterpreting [formations]: “Knowledge of contemplation of impermanence is the void liberation since it liberates from interpreting [them] as permanent; knowledge of contemplation of pain is the void liberation since it liberates from interpreting [them] as pleasant; knowledge of contemplation of not-self is the void liberation since it liberates from interpreting [them] as self” (Paṭis II 67). (ii) Then it is expressed as the signless liberation by liberating from signs: “Knowledge of contemplation of impermanence is the signless liberation since it liberates from the sign [of formations] as permanent; knowledge of contemplation of pain is the signless liberation since it liberates from the sign [of formations] as pleasant; knowledge of contemplation of not-self is the signless liberation since it liberates from the sign [of formations] as self” (Paṭis II 68). [659] (iii) Lastly it is expressed as the desireless liberation by its liberating from desire: “Knowledge of contemplation of impermanence is the desireless liberation since it liberates from desire [for formations] as permanent; knowledge of contemplation of pain is the desireless liberation since it liberates from the desire [for them] as pleasant; knowledge of contemplation of not-self is the desireless liberation since it liberates from the desire [for them] as self” (Paṭis II 68). But although stated in this way, insight knowledge is not literally signless because there is no abandoning of the sign of formations [as formed, here, as distinct from their sign as impermanent and so on]. It is however literally void and desireless. And it is at the moment of the noble path that the liberation is distinguished, and that is done according to insight knowledge’s way of arrival at the path.[4] That, it should be understood, is why only two liberations are stated [in the Abhidhamma], namely, the desireless and the void.
This, firstly, is the treatise on the liberations here.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
When insight reaches its culmination, it settles down in one of the three contemplations [impermanence, pain, or not-self] and at this stage of the development the “seven contemplations” and the “eighteen contemplations” (or “principal insights”) are all included by the three (see Vism-mhṭ 844).
[2]:
“Contemplation of impermanence sees formations as limited by rise in the beginning and by fall in the end, and it sees that it is because they have a beginning and an end that they are impermanent. ‘Into the signless element’: into the unformed element, which is given the name ‘signless’ because it is the opposite of the sign of formations. ‘To the entering of consciousness’: to the higher consciousness’s completely going into by means of the state of conformity knowledge, after delimiting. ‘Into the desireless’: into the unformed element, which is given the name ‘desireless’ owing to the non-existence of desire due to greed and so on. ‘Into the void’: into the unformed element, which is given the name ‘void’ because of voidness of self” (Vism-mhṭ 845).
[3]:
“One who is pursuing insight by discerning formations according to their sign by means of the contemplation of impermanence and resolves according to the signless aspect thus, ‘Where this sign of formations is entirely nonexistent, that is, the signless Nibbāna’ joins insight leading to emergence with the path. Then the path realizes Nibbāna for him as signless. The signless aspect of Nibbāna is not created by the path or by insight; on the contrary, it is the establishment of the individual essence of Nibbāna, and the path is called signless because it has that as its object. One who resolves upon the desireless by keeping desire away by means of the contemplation of pain, and one who resolves upon the void by keeping the belief in self away by means of the contemplation of not-self, should both be construed in the same way” (Vism-mhṭ 846).
[4]:
“Why is signless insight unable to give its own name to the path when it has come to the point of arrival at the path? Of course, signless insight is mentioned in the suttas thus, ‘Develop the signless and get rid of the inherent tendency to conceit’ (Sn 342). Nevertheless, though it eliminates the signs of permanence, of lastingness, and of self, it still possesses a sign itself and is occupied with states that possess a sign. Again, the Abhidhamma is the teaching in the ultimate sense, and in the ultimate sense the cause of a signless path is wanting. For the signless liberation is stated in accordance with the contemplation of impermanence, and in that the faith faculty predominates. But the faith faculty is not represented by any one of the factors of the path. And so it cannot give its name to the path since it forms no part of it. In the case of the other two, the desireless liberation is due to the contemplation of pain, and the void liberation is due to the contemplation of not-self. Now the concentration faculty predominates in the desireless liberation and the understanding faculty in the void liberation. So since these are factors of the path as well, they can give their own names to the path; but there is no signless path because the factor is wanting. So some say. But there are others who say that there is a signless path, and that although it does not get its name from the way insight arrives at it, still it gets its name from a special quality of its own and from its object. In their opinion the desireless and void paths should also get their names from special qualities of their own and from their objects too. That is wrong. Why? Because the path gets its names for two reasons, that is, because of its own nature and because of what it opposes—the meaning is, because of its individual essence and because of what it is contrary to. For the desireless path is free from desire due to greed, etc., and the void path is free from greed too, so they both get their names from their individual essence. Similarly, the desireless path is the contrary of desire and the void path is the contrary of misinterpretation as self, so they get their names from what they oppose. On the other hand, the signless path gets its name only from its own nature owing to the non-existence in it of the signs of greed, etc., or of the signs of permanence, etc., but not owing to what it opposes. For it does not oppose the contemplation of impermanence, which has as its object the sign of formations [as formed], but remains in agreement with it. So a signless path is altogether inadmissible by the Abhidhamma method. This is why it is said, ‘This refers to the way in which insight arrives at the path and is expressed in the literal sense’ (§72).
“However, by the Suttanta method a signless path is admissible. For according to that, in whatever way insight leading to emergence (see §83) effects its comprehending it still leads on to emergence of the path, and when it is at the point of arrival it gives its own name to the path accordingly—when emerging owing to comprehension as impermanent the path is signless, when emerging owing to comprehension as painful it is desireless, and when emerging owing to comprehension as not-self it is void. Taking this as a sutta commentary, therefore, three liberations are differentiated here. But in the Paṭisambhidā the deliverance from misinterpreting, from the sign and from desire, are taken respectively as the arrival of the three kinds of comprehension at that deliverance, and what is described is a corresponding state of void liberation, etc., respectively in the paths that follow upon that deliverance. There is no question of treating that literally, which is why he said, ‘However, in the Paṭisambhidā insight knowledge’ and so on” (Vism-mhṭ 846–48).