The Four Liberations for Meditation

[Aloka]

I've always enjoyed listening to Mingyur Rinpoche, ever since I attended a talk he gave a number of years ago.

Here he is with "The Four Liberations for meditation".(approx. 5 minutes).

[philg]

There's not really a lot of explanation for each 'liberation' but my take would be that the first is an understanding of the idea that primordial liberation as something we already have. As the sky is always sky no matter what is happening in it, our awareness is separate from our thoughts and emotions. It is something we can work on as a practice. The second liberation, or self-liberation, is a first step where we use a support such as the breath. Once mastered, we can use other senses to support our practice. We can even use our 'monkey mind'.

The third, or direct liberation is an open awareness, staying with awareness. I suppose the nearest thing I have done here is 'just sitting' meditation where you stay with whatever you see or hear or feel, and with whatever emotions arise. As a consequence this can lead to the fourth stage or 'complete liberation' where we automatically use pure perception. This last one could do with a bit more teasing out, I think.

[Genecanuck]

There's not really a lot of explanation for each 'liberation' but my take would be that the first is an understanding of the idea that primordial liberation as something we already have. As the sky is always sky no matter what is happening in it, our awareness is separate from our thoughts and emotions. It is something we can work on as a practice. The second liberation, or self-liberation, is a first step where we use a support such as the breath. Once mastered, we can use other senses to support our practice. We can even use our 'monkey mind'.

The third, or direct liberation is an open awareness, staying with awareness. I suppose the nearest thing I have done here is 'just sitting' meditation where you stay with whatever you see or hear or feel, and with whatever emotions arise. As a consequence this can lead to the fourth stage or 'complete liberation' where we automatically use pure perception. This last one could do with a bit more teasing out, I think.

Hello Philg,

I looked this up online and found this useful link which explains each liberation.

https://newbuddhist.com/discussion/1...-of-liberation

I am still reflecting on this teaching and will come back to it. I sense this can help deepen my practice.

Many thanks Aloka and Philg.

Regards,

Gene