My Path to Freedom (sutra)

Michael Olds (translator) "A Little Spell of Emptiness"; edited by Wisdom Quarterly
(Don Gissel/Flickr)

I, Ananda, live
In the fullness of freedom
Free of empty habits
Not an empty Abiding

The Path to Freedom

I hear tell: Once upon a time, the Lucky Man [Tathagata, the Buddha], in Savatthi-town, East Park, in the House of Migara’s Mother came visiting.

At this time, Ananda, just emerging from his afternoon’s sit down practice, went to the Teacher, greeted him, and sat down to one side. There he said:

Sir, at one time, the Lucky Man was residing among the Sakyans [the Buddha's extended family clan] in the market town of Nagaraka. And I also was there. In that place I recall having heard, learned, studied, grasped, face-to-face with the Lucky Man, this statement made by him:

"At this time, Ananda, I reside in the fullness of emptiness." Did I hear this correctly?

Yes, Ananda, you heard, learned, studied, and grasped this correctly. Previously, as well as now, I reside in the fullness of freedom.

In the same way, Ananda, as this House of Migara’s Mother is free of the disturbances of the city: free of elephants, cows, horses, donkeys; free of dealings with gold and silver; free of groups of men and women, and there is only this that remains to disturb the peace, that is, the vibration emanating off the recluses here.

In the same way, a recluse, paying no attention to the disturbances of the city, paying no attention to human beings, pays attention only to the vibration emanating off the forest. One takes to paying attention only to perception of the forest. And one cleans out, tidies up, and liberates the mind.

One understands, "This way there is no disturbance emanating from perception of the city. This way there is no disturbance emanating from perception of human beings. This way there is only that disturbance which emanates off perception of the forest."

Thus, "This way is free of disturbance emanating from perception of the city. This way is free of disturbance emanating from perception of human beings. This way there is only this that disturbs the peace, that is, the vibration which emanates off perception of the forest."

In this way one regards that which is present as free of that which is not present. And with regard to what remains, one understands, "That being; this is."

Thus, Ananda, there is in this case a sitting-down-to-clear-out that results in surpassing purity.

And again, Ananda, deeper than that, paying no attention to human beings, paying no attention to the forest, one takes to paying attention only to perception of earth, and cleans out, tidies up, and liberates the mind.

In the same way as one would regard a bull’s hide, stretched out to cure, held down by a hundred pegs, its life gone, when one pays attention to Earth, one does not think about anything on Earth such as dry land or rivers or swamps or marshes with plants with branches and thorns or mountains or plains. One only pays attention to the vibration which emanates off perception of Earth.

One takes to paying attention only to perception of Earth. And one cleans out, tidies up, and liberates the mind....

In this way one regards that which is present as free of that which is not present. And with regard to what remains, one understands, "That being, this is."...

And again, Ananda, deeper than that, paying no attention to the forest, paying no attention to Earth, one takes to paying attention only to perception of the Sphere of Unlimited Space. And one cleans out, tidies up, and liberates the mind.

One understands, "This way there is no disturbance emanating from perception of the forest. This way there is no disturbance emanating from perception of Earth."

Thus, "This way is free of disturbance emanating from perception of the forest. This way is free of disturbance emanating from perception of Earth. This way there is only this that disturbs the peace, that is, the vibration which emanates off perception of the Sphere of Unlimited Space."

In this way one regards that which is present as free of that which is not present. And with regard to what remains, one understands, "That being, this is."

Thus, Ananda, there is in this case, a sitting-down-to-clear-out that results in surpassing purity.

And again, Ananda, deeper than that, paying no attention to Earth, paying no attention to the Sphere of Unlimited Space, takes to paying attention only to perception of the Sphere of Unlimited Consciousness. And one cleans out, tidies, up and liberates the mind.

One understands, "This way there is no disturbance emanating from perception of Earth. This way there is no disturbance emanating from perception of the Sphere of Unlimited Space."

Thus, "This way is free of disturbance emanating from perception of Earth. This way is free of disturbance emanating from perception of the Sphere of Unlimited Space. This way there is only this that disturbs the peace, that is, the vibration which emanates off perception of the Sphere of Unlimited Consciousness."

...[O]ne takes to paying attention only to perception of the Sphere Where No Thing is There. And one cleans out, tidies up, and liberates the mind....

And again, Ananda, deeper than that, paying no attention to the Sphere of Unlimited Consciousness, paying no attention to the Sphere Where No Thing is There, one takes to paying attention only to perception of the Sphere of Neither Perception Nor Non Perception. And one cleans out, tidies up, and liberates the mind....

And again, Ananda, deeper than that, paying no attention to the Sphere Where No Thing is There, paying no attention to the Sphere of Neither Perception Nor Non Perception, one takes to paying attention only to the mental High-Getting that is Sign-less. And one cleans out, tidies up, and liberates the mind....

This way is free of disturbance emanating from perception of the Sphere of Neither Perception Nor Non Perception. This way there is only this that disturbs the peace, that is, the six sense-realms bound to this body reacting to life."

In this way one regards that which is present as free of that which is not present. And with regard to what remains, one understands, "That being, this is."

One understands, "This Mental High-Getting that is Sign-less is something that has been constructed, thought out. Whatever has been constructed and thought out is subject to change and coming to an end."

Knowing and seeing this, one's heart is free from the grip of sense pleasures. One's heart is freed from the grip of illusory existence. One's mind is free from the grip of blindness. In Freedom comes the knowledge of Freedom, and one knows:

"Left behind is Rebirth, lived is the Best of Lives, done is Duty’s Doing, crossed over am I; there is no more of this [suffering in rebirth] for me!"

One understands, "This way there is no disturbance emanating from the grip of sense pleasures. This way there is no disturbance emanating from the grip of illusory existence. This way there is no disturbance emanating from the grip of blindness."

Thus, "This way is free of the disturbance emanating from the grip of sense pleasures. This way is free of the disturbance emanating from the grip of illusory existence. This way is free of the disturbance emanating from the grip of blindness. This way there is only this that disturbs the peace, that is, the six sense-realms bound to this body reacting to life."

In this way one regards that which is present as free of that which is not present. And with regard to what remains, one understands, "That being, this is."

Thus, Ananda, there is in this case, a sitting-down-to-clear-out that results in surpassing purity.

And, Ananda, all those shamans [shramana, Buddhist monastics, wandering ascetics] or brahmins [brahmana, temple-bound priests] of the long distant past who attained [are attained or will attain] the highest surpassing purity of freedom and made it an abode, all of them did so by attaining this same highest surpassing purity of freedom and making it an abode....

Wherefore, Ananda, train yourself this way: "I will attain the highest surpassing purity of freedom and make an abode of that."