Why Does Profound Samadhi Enable the Mind to Attain Supreme Liberation?

Samādhi is also known as focusing the mind in one place, and by focusing the mind in one place, nothing remains unaccomplished. Non-Buddhists can focus the mind in one place, Arhats and Pratyekabuddhas can focus the mind in one place, great Bodhisattvas can focus the mind in one place, and Buddhas can focus the mind in one place even more profoundly. All can attain mastery over the mind, all can correspondingly act according to their will, and all can accomplish corresponding undertakings. However, due to differences in the depth of samādhi, differences in wisdom, and differences in the capacity of the mind, the degree of mental mastery differs, and the accomplishments achieved also differ.

The general understanding of samādhi is that concentration is a form of bondage, a constraint that binds the body, head, limbs, and constrains the mind's free wandering. However, if the body is unbound and roams freely, its strength becomes scattered, and there will be no powerful force to transform and alter all dharmas; if the mind is unconstrained and allowed to wander and scatter arbitrarily in all directions, there will be no powerful force to command and create all dharmas. Thus, body and mind will forever be constrained by the environment, lacking freedom, let alone great freedom.

In the initial stages of cultivating concentration, the body is bound, and the mind is constrained. However, as samādhi gradually deepens, the four elements (mahābhūta) of the body undergo changes, qi and blood flow smoothly, and one feels comfortable, no longer bound by the constraints of the four elements (earth, water, fire, wind), becoming increasingly light, at ease, and free. Simultaneously, the mind is no longer bound by the physical form (rūpa-kāya) or external objects, becoming increasingly tranquil, joyful, free, and powerful. Which mind attains freedom and liberation? Initially, it is the sixth consciousness (mano-vijñāna). The five sense consciousnesses (pañca-vijñāna) are no longer bound by the suffering caused by the internal and external objects of the five sense fields (pañca-viṣaya), and the mental consciousness is no longer constrained by mental objects (dharma-viṣaya) causing afflictions. Gradually, the mind root (manas) is no longer bound by internal and external objects of the physical body, nor does it arbitrarily grasp at sense objects. It gradually focuses on one place, concentrating its power and strengthening mental force. At this point, whatever realm the manas desires will manifest immediately. The ālaya-vijñāna (storehouse consciousness) follows and supports it, and the manas utilizes the six consciousnesses and the ālaya-vijñāna to transform all dharmas and alter the entire world. However, the deeper the samādhi, the lesser the functional role of the six consciousnesses. Ultimately, the six consciousnesses may no longer be needed. The manas, carrying the ālaya-vijñāna, freely roams heaven and earth, traversing the ten directions and the past and present at will, without any constraint, attaining great freedom (mahā-vaśitā). This is liberation (mokṣa). Therefore, liberation is inseparable even in the slightest from samādhi, and also inseparable from great wisdom (mahā-prajñā). From the beginning, it is also inseparable from precepts (śīla). Although precepts initially constrain body and mind, preventing them from being as freely self-willed as before, that former self-willed "freedom" was actually bondage, capable of creating unwholesome karma and incurring painful retribution. Once body and mind become accustomed to the precepts and cease creating unwholesome karma, they no longer feel constrained by the precepts but feel free at all times, no longer perceiving the existence or constraint of the precepts.

It is like when traffic rules were first instituted requiring driving on the left side. Beings, accustomed to acting arbitrarily and driving in the left, middle, or right at will, were unwilling to keep left. At that time, they felt constrained and unfree by the traffic rules. Once accustomed to the traffic rules, they naturally drive on the left without the slightest feeling of constraint. Only then is it true freedom, and it also ensures traffic safety. The so-called freedom of not following traffic rules in the past was actually bondage, unable to ensure personal safety. For all rules, when unaccustomed, they feel like constraints; once accustomed, one feels free, without a sense of restraint. Cultivation is about enabling beings to develop good and wholesome habits to change past bad and unwholesome habits. Good and wholesome habits are a form of liberation; bad and unwholesome habits are bondage and lack of liberation, capable of bringing about suffering.

Some people are unwilling to accept the Five Precepts (pañca-śīla), let alone the Bodhisattva Precepts (Bodhisattva-śīla), fearing the constraint of precepts. However, the Buddha said that precepts bring liberation to beings; they are called Prātimokṣa (individual liberation) precepts. By upholding one precept, one becomes free regarding that precept; by creating one less unwholesome karma, body and mind attain one form of liberation. Once accustomed to upholding precepts, one no longer feels the existence or constraint of precepts, nor does one have the conceptual thought of "upholding precepts." This is freedom regarding the precepts; one can act according to one's will without transgressing the bounds.

Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, having upheld the precepts for countless kalpas (aeons), have long ceased to be constrained by them. Therefore, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas neither uphold precepts nor violate them. The Buddha is one without precepts, hence the one with the greatest freedom and liberation. Ordinary beings must go through the stages of receiving and upholding precepts. Once accustomed to the precepts, they too will no longer be bound by them and will attain freedom and liberation like Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.