Discourse on the Pitaka of Fathers and Sons (68)

The Reason for Being Unable to Distance Oneself from All Dharmas

What is the reason why we cannot distance ourselves from all dharmas? It is because of craving and attachment, due to the mind of delight and desire (trsnā), that the mind dwells upon all dharmas and cannot separate from them. We wish to possess and own all dharmas in the world; this is the mind of delight and desire. If there is no mind of delight and desire, the mind would dwell upon nothing and would not wish to possess or own. In this way, the mind is not bound by any dharma, gains the power of liberation, and thereby attains liberation. One who does not generate delight and desire for the desire realm gives rise to the first dhyāna (meditative absorption). One who does not delight in the state of the first dhyāna attains a higher level of meditative absorption. One who does not delight in even higher states of dhyāna reaches the highest state within the three realms. One who does not delight in any dharma of the threefold world enters the state of cessation (nirodha-samāpatti), which is the state of the fourth-fruit Arhat. At the end of life, such a one extinguishes their first seven consciousnesses: the physical body perishes, the seven consciousnesses cease, the five aggregates (skandhas) are extinguished, and they enter the state of Nirvāṇa without residue (nirupadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa), liberated from birth and death within the three realms, no longer subject to rebirth.

The reason an Arhat can enter Nirvāṇa without residue, end rebirth, transcend death, and escape the three realms is precisely because they have no mental inclination of delight and desire toward the dharmas of the threefold world. We suffer within the three realms, especially in the desire realm. Being born in the human realm of the desire realm, rather than in the heavens of the desire realm, is because our mind of delight and desire for the dharmas of the desire realm is deeper than that of the heavenly beings, deeper than that of the beings in the form realm, and beyond comparison with those in the formless realm. The lighter the mind of delight and desire, the higher the heavenly realm one is reborn into at the end of life, where life is happier, more tranquil, and suffering is less. The heavier the mind of delight and desire, the greater the suffering. If there is no mind of delight and desire, one can distance oneself from all dharmas, and the mind attains purity and stillness.