Beyond Inverted Views and Dreams | There Is No Suffering

Without obstructions, they have no fear. Far beyond inverted views and dreams,they reach the ultimate nirvana.When the mind has problems, there will be obstructions, and when there are obstructions, there will be fears, such as the fear of losing what you have, or the fear of not getting what you want. This fear refers to a kind of basic anxiety associated with the givens of our existence. People fear the known as well as the unknown, and they fear the future as well as the past. People purposely do things to scare themselves, such as going to horror movies, or riding on roller coasters. We do this because we cannot help it. As long as we have self-attachment, these existential anxieties exist for us.

We have anxiety because we feel threatened by our circumstances—whether it is our health, our security, our ideas, our perceptions, our feelings, or any number of other things. The anxiety of fear stems from our attachment to ourselves; we see ourselves as being permanent, but we must come to directly realize that everything about ourselves is transient, constantly changing. To come to such awareness requires contemplation.

An elderly gentleman came to me seeking advice. He confided that he was not so much afraid of death as he was afraid that others were taking advantage of him. He said he spent all of his time giving to others, yet people always wanted more. For him, death was not a threat, but a release from this other fear. I told him we all come to this world for different reasons. Some come to this world solely to pay back previous debts. Others come to borrow, or accumulate, more debts. Still others come to lend things, or help others. The elderly man was happy then, deciding that he had returned to the world in order to repay old debts and give things away. This man is not enlightened, so he still has fears, but, with a better understanding of cause and consequence and an acceptance of karma, his fears have been lessened.

Once we understand the nature of our existential fears, they will no longer be a problem. The first order of business though, is to acknowledge and identify our fears. Of course if we were to eliminate our self-centeredness all fears would disappear. To truly have no fear you must contemplate and eventually experience the emptiness of self and the five skandhas.

For practitioners, being “far beyond inverted views and dreams” means maintaining a clear and sober mind. The goal of practice is to awaken from the dream of the self, to the wakefulness of enlightenment. Once full liberation is reached, one no longer dreams of having a life. There is no more, “I want to do this and I don’t want to do that.” One’s life no longer belongs to oneself, but rather it is there for the benefit of all, responding to the environment and to the needs of others, naturally and spontaneously doing the right thing.

Inverted views are the four upside-down views: perceiving suffering to be happiness; perceiving impurity to be purity; perceiving impermanence to be permanence; perceiving that which is not a self to be fthe self. Basically, suffering arises because of our misperceptions regarding such matters.

Dreams can take many forms. Making unrealistic plans is a form of dreaming. For example, imagining being a successful millionaire, fantasizing about how you made the money and what you would do with your riches, is a dream. After all, what do you know about the causes and conditions of other people? People have their own unique characteristics, their own karma. Some people live their entire lives dreaming of a different life, never even trying to realize it. Others realize that they are dreaming about another life and will themselves to awaken. In this case, they are not awakening to enlightenment but merely to a soberer, clearer outlook.

We cannot contemplate what it is like to depart from inverted views and dreams. Rather, we must contemplate our afflictions directly. It is similar to contemplating obstructions and fears. When you experience deep afflictions, such as greed or anger, and are suffering, ask yourself, “Am I experiencing confusion?” What is causing you to have such strong vexation and suffering? It is time to reflect on your thoughts, moods, and intentions, to reflect on the four inverted views. Allow the steady clarity of mind to naturally heal your agitation.

We can also begin by reflecting on whether or not we are dreaming. Sometimes we will not know until everything has already fallen apart. Still, that is a good start; seeing afterward that it was all a dream will lessen your vexation. With practice, you will know you are dreaming in the midst of a dream. That is better because, whether the dream is painful or pleasurable, you will realize it is only a dream, and not become attached to it. That is deep practice. Finally, you will awaken altogether from the dream of life, the dream of the self, the dream of ignorance. That is liberation.
In the line “they (bodhisattvas) reach the ultimate nirvana,” we are speaking of the nirvana of the Mahayana path. There are three kinds of nirvana, two of which are not ultimate nirvana. The first is the nirvana of non-Buddhist paths. The second is the nirvana of arhats whose goal of practice is self-liberation. The third is the ultimate nirvana of the Mahayana path.

There is no specific non-Buddhist nirvana. Generally, non-Buddhist practitioners mistake unity of self with a god as ultimate nirvana. They may believe it is the ultimate state and that they will no longer have afflictions or continue on the wheel of samsara. This is considered the nirvana of the non-Buddhist path. God, in one case, may refer to a condition when a practitioner feels unified with a personal, anthropomorphic god. The other case is when a practitioner feels unified with everything, the highest and the ultimate; this can be called pantheism. Such a practitioner feels he or she has returned to that purest or highest of states, a kind of universal embodiment. It can also be called the Godhead.

People who have experienced returning to a personal god feel reborn in heaven. Those who have returned to the Godhead feel they have disappeared or merged with the universe. Most people would consider either of these experiences as liberation or nirvana. Some time ago, a Christian father used to come for intensive seven-day retreats. After the first retreat, he felt he was reborn. He had similar moving experiences on the second and third retreat. He stopped coming after that. When I asked him why, he said, “I have had enough experiences of being reborn.” Perhaps he thought that this was the limit of meditation, and that he had attained it.

Non-Buddhist path nirvana can be attained by one of two methods. The first is by invoking and receiving the help or grace of a deity. This method would work for attaining unity with a personal god. Actually, one does not merge with a god; rather, one lives in the presence or light of that god. Also, this method would not work for unifying with the Godhead. To attain that kind of non-Buddhist nirvana, one must practice. Practice includes cultivating merit and virtue by following the precepts as well as cultivating samadhi power. The reason why the first kind of nirvana is brought to a heaven, is not considered eternal from a Buddhist viewpoint. Further, it is questionable whether the god has even transcended samsara.

The second kind of nirvana is similar to the experience of dissolving into nature or expanding to a large self. Such an experience will also not last because the power of samadhi and the power derived from merit and virtue will wane.

Practitioners who aspire to self-liberation and who have attained arhatship are liberated from all afflictions. They no longer create the causes that bring vexation. Hence, they no longer create the cause to be reborn or remain in samsara. They are truly free from afflictions and samsara. But what about the causes they have created in the past before attaining liberation? Retribution as such only comes to those who still have self-attachment. People with attachment definitely receive karmic retribution for past actions. Those without self-attachment must also undergo the karmic consequences of past actions, but because they have no attachment to self, they do not see it as retribution. Therefore, those who attain arhatship and transcend self-attachment do not feel the retribution for previous actions, whether they are good, bad, or neutral. It does not matter what they did. Also, from the Mahayana perspective, those who attain arhatship may cross over to the Mahayana path. In that case, they will reappear in the world to help sentient beings. In returning, bodhisattvas resolve previous karmic debts, though their purpose in returning is to help others.
The nirvana of the Mahayana path is the goal of bodhisattvas. Bodhisattvas attain the goal without fear, confusion, or imaginings. Although they have no attachment to life or to the world, bodhisattvas still choose to remain in the world to help others. To great bodhisattvas, samsarea is the Pure Land, the arena in which they work. They do not separate themselves from the world of ordinary sentient beings. Even this being so, they do not have the emotional afflictions that ordinary sentient beings have. Great bodhisattvas remain in samsara, but their mental states are the same as that of arhats.

How do we contemplate ultimate nirvana? In daily life, we must understand that avoiding vexing situations is not appropriate—running away does no good. Neither does self-deception, or pretending that the situation dose not exist. It is best to accept situations without vexation, and deal with them calmly. Of course this is difficult to do. But even though we are nowhere near ultimate nirvana, we can still adopt the ways and attitudes of a buddha.

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