Nirvana Is a State Without Self

Cheon Seong Gyeong 2106

We inherit in the name of heaven and by heaven’s command. We do not inherit democratically. This would lead to ruin. Seats in the national assembly and the ruling party are not decided by the power and influence of political parties alone. The tradition of the country should be established. It works based on commands, so we should be able to receive commands. This is the way society should be. (178-38, 1988.5.27)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 742

If you possess true love, you can join God’s party anytime. You will see thousands of ancestors and spirits because of being able to transcend time and space. Only those who have the heart of true love can manage and transcend all this. The only way to obtain the privilege of receiving the rights of inheritance from God is through love. If people of true love were to push past me, I would be very happy and would not react against them. Everyone would welcome them. Since the other world is like that, you must be trained here.

Emptiness–Nirvana

Emptiness, Nirvana–the ultimate state of inner peace in Buddhism—is a state without self, without passions, without desires. it is a state beyond thought, beyond words, beyond any intellectual attempt to grasp what it is. yet paradoxically, in this emptiness there is fullness, fearlessness and enlightenment. it is a marvelous, mystical state, almost impossible to describe.
Father Moon calls the state of emptiness the ‘zero point.’ he explains its mystical feeling as a resonant connection with God, who also dwells in emptiness when he creates the world. Father Moon also teaches an active way of self-emptying in the service of others. self-giving, living for others, giving even when it is difficult to give: these practices can lead to the zero point just as surely as meditation.

“All states are without self.” When one sees this in wisdom, then he becomes dispassionate towards the painful. This is the path to purity.
Dhammapada 279

The Man of the Way wins no fame,
The highest virtue wins no gain,
The Great Man has no self.
    Chuang Tzu 17 (Taoism)

Where egoism exists, Thou art not experienced,
Where Thou art, is not egoism.
    Adi Granth, Maru-ki-Var, M.1, p. 1092 (Sikhism)

Torah abides only with him who regards himself as nothing.
    Talmud, Sota 21b (Judaism)
 
The Plain of High Heaven is not a specific place localized here or there, but refers rather to a pure state without any anomaly or excess. In terms of the human body, it is a state within the human breast without thought, contemplation, or passions.
    Masamichi Imbe, Secret Oral Tradition of the Book of        the Divine Age(Shinto)
 
This is Peace, this is the excellent, namely the calm of all the impulses, the casting out of all ‘basis,’ the extinction of craving, dispassion, stopping, Nirvana.
    Anguttara Nikaya 5.322 (Buddhism)
 
When a man is free from all sense pleasures and depends on nothingness he is free in the supreme freedom from perception. He will stay there and not return again.
 
It is like a flame struck by a sudden gust of wind. In a flash it has gone out and nothing more can be known about it. It is the same with a wise man freed from mental existence: in a flash he has gone out and nothing more can be known about him.
 
When a person has gone out, then there is nothing by which you can measure him. That by which he can be talked about is no longer there for him; you cannot say that he does not exist. When all ways of being, all phenomena are removed, then all ways of description have also been removed.
    Sutta Nipata 1072-76 (Buddhism)
 
For him who has completed the journey, for him who is sorrowless, for him who from everything is wholly free, for him who has destroyed all ties, the fever of passion exists not.
 
He whose senses are subdued, like steeds well-trained by a charioteer, he whose pride is destroyed and is free from the corruptions—such a steadfast one even the gods hold dear.
 
Like the earth, a balanced and well-disciplined person resents not… He is like a pool, unsullied by mud; to such a balanced one, life’s wanderings do not arise.
 
Calm is his mind, calm is his speech, calm is his action, who, rightly knowing, is wholly freed [from defilements], perfectly peaceful and equipoised.
 
The man who is not credulous but truly understands the Uncreated (Nibbana), who has cut off the links, who has put an end to occasion [of good and evil], who has eschewed all desires, he indeed is a supreme man.
    Dhammapada 90, 94-97 (Buddhism)
 
Here, O Shariputra, form is emptiness, and the very emptiness is form; emptiness does not differ from form, form does not differ from emptiness; whatever is form, that is emptiness, whatever is emptiness, that is form. The same is true of feelings, perceptions, impulses, consciousness.
 
    Here, O Shariputra, all dharmas are marked with emptiness; they are not produced or stopped, not defiled or immaculate, not deficient or complete.Therefore, O Shariputra, in emptiness there is no form, nor feeling, nor perception, nor impulse, nor consciousness…
    There is no suffering, no origination, no stopping, no path. There is no cognition, no attainment, and no non-attainment.
    Therefore, O Shariputra, it is because of his indifference to any kind of personal attainment that a bodhisattva, through having relied on the perfection of wisdom, dwells without thought-coverings. In the absence of thought coverings he has not been made to tremble, he has overcome what can upset, and in the end he attains to Nirvana.
    Heart Sutra (Buddhism)
 
Nan-po Tzu-k’uei said to the woman Nü Yü, “You are old, and yet your complexion is like that of a child. How is this?”
    Nü Yü replied, “I have learned Tao.”
    “Could I get Tao by studying it?” asked the other.
    “I fear not,” said Nü Yü. “You are not the sort of person. There was Pu-liang Yi. He had the qualifications of a sage… so I began teaching him. In three days, all distinctions of high and low, good and bad, had ceased to exist. Seven days more, and the external world had ceased to be. In nine more days, he became unconscious of his own existence. He first became ethereal, next possessed of perfect wisdom, then without past and present, and finally was able to enter where life and death are no more—where killing does not take away life, nor does giving birth add to it. In that state, there is nothing he does not welcome, nothing he does not send off, nothing he does not destroy, nothing he does not construct. This is to be at Peace in Strife. He who can be at peace in strife is on the way to perfection.”
    Chuang Tzu 6 (Taoism)
 
The Perfect Way is only difficult for those who pick and choose;
Do not like, do not dislike; all will then be clear.
Make a hairbreadth difference, and Heaven and Earth are set apart;
If you want the truth to stand clear before you,
never be for or against.
The struggle between ‘for’ and ‘against’ is the mind’s worst disease;
While the deep meaning is misunderstood, it is useless to meditate on Rest.
It [the Original Mind] is blank and featureless as space…
At the ultimate point, beyond which you cango no further,
You get to where there are no rules, no standards,
To where thought can accept Impartiality,
To where effect of action ceases,
Doubt is washed away, belief has no obstacle.
Nothing is left over, nothing remembered;
Space is bright, but self-illumined; no power of
mind is exerted.
Nor indeed could mere thought bring us to such a place.
Nor could sense or feeling comprehend it.
It is the Truly-so, the Transcendent Sphere,
where there is neither He nor I.
For swift converse with this sphere use the concept ‘Not Two’;
In the ‘Not Two’ are no separate things, yet all things are included.
The wise throughout the Ten Quarters have had access to this Primal Truth;
For it is not a thing with extension in Time or Space;
A moment and an aeon for it are one.
Whether we see it or fail to see it, it is manifest always and everywhere.
The very small is as the very large when boundaries are forgotten;
The very large is as the very small when its outlines are not seen.
Being is an aspect of Non-being; Non-being is an aspect of Being.
In climes of thought where it is not so the mind does ill to dwell.
The One is none other than the All, the All none other than the One.
Take your stand on this, and the rest will follow of its own accord;
To trust in the Heart is the Not Two, the Not
Two is to trust in the Heart.
I have spoken, but in vain; for what can words tell
Of things that have no yesterday, tomorrow, or today? 22
    Seng Ts’an, On Trust in the Heart (Buddhism)
 
 

 

The Liberation of the Self Is Based on the Unity of Your Mind and Body

Acts 10

The next day about noon these men were coming near Joppa. Peter went up on the roof of the house to pray 10 and became very hungry. While the food was being prepared, he fell sound asleep and had a vision. 11 He saw heaven open, and something came down like a huge sheet held up by its four corners. 12 In it were all kinds of animals, snakes, and birds. 13 A voice said to him, “Peter, get up! Kill these and eat them.”

14 But Peter said, “Lord, I can’t do that! I’ve never eaten anything that is unclean and not fit to eat.”[c]

15 The voice spoke to him again, “When God says that something can be used for food, don’t say it isn’t fit to eat.”

16 This happened three times before the sheet was suddenly taken back to heaven.

Amos 1

I will destroy the king of Ashdod
    and the ruler of Ashkelon.
I will strike down Ekron,
and that will be the end
    of the Philistines.
I, the Lord, have spoken!

Judgment on Phoenicia

The Lord said:

I will punish Phoenicia
for countless crimes,
    and I won’t change my mind.
They broke their treaty
and dragged off my people[r]
    from town after town
to sell them as slaves
    to the Edomites.
10 That’s why I will send flames
to burn down the city of Tyre
    along with its fortresses.

Liberation

2. Universal Liberation

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Liberation means that all hazardous conditions in our world are transformed into harmonious relationships. Our world becomes unified, without any sharp edges, where up and down, right and left, and front and rear have equal value.
    Once liberation comes, grandfathers and grandmothers will like it, quarreling husbands and nagging wives will be satisfied, children and grandchildren will be glad. The multitudes will rejoice, and people of all nations will cheer. (341:161-62, January 1, 2001)
 
Before trying to liberate North Korea, you should ask yourself whether you are liberated. The liberation of the self is based on the unity of your body and mind. The liberation of the nation is the fifth level after the liberation of the individual, family, tribe and people.18 (187:126, February 5, 1989)
 
All things that were supposed to be united into one were shattered into pieces. They were turned upside down throughout humanity’s fragmented history, because countless indemnity courses blocked heaven and earth and passed each other in all directions. Therefore God has been leading a course of re-creation. To walk that course, True Parents came to the earth.
    Heavenly Father, we know how hard Thou hast striven throughout history, in Thy providence of recreation which Thou hast conducted through our forbearers, to reconnect all the divisions in the mineral world, the world of microscopic organisms, the plant kingdom, the animal kingdom, the human world, and even in the heavenly world…
    Therefore, centering on the love that is proper to God’s ideal of creation, we should restore back what was lost in the world of minerals, the world of microscopic organisms, the plant kingdom, the animal kingdom, the human world, and the heavenly world. Thou, Heavenly Father, and we, True Parents, should create the realm of oneness… I sincerely hope and ask Thee to guide us to create one unified world, joining the heavenly world and earthly world. (May 4, 2003)
 
Throughout history, human beings have been searching for their own liberation and salvation, but who has been concerned about God’s situation? Does God dwell in blissful joy for eternity, not in need of liberation? God is the Parent who has been mourning over human beings as they suffered in sin and evil throughout history. How, then, can God rejoice with a liberated heart? It is impossible. Depending on the degree of earthly liberation, God’s heart can also be liberated. Only when God is liberated can human beings be liberated, be free to enjoy a family life of true love, and bring liberation to the creation. Furthermore, only when God is liberated can the beings in the spirit world be liberated and released. (April 30, 2004)
 
The ultimate goal of God’s providence of salvation goes beyond the individual; it is to liberate and save the family, tribe, nation, physical world and the spirit world including hell. Until this is done, God Himself is not liberated. When the purpose of God’s providence of salvation is fully attained, in other words, when even hell and all the spirit world are liberated, on that day, God will declare the completion of His ideal, proclaiming, “My will is done! Hallelujah! March forward into one world, under the dominion of my love.” (114:78, May 17, 1981)
 
 
 

The Creation Waits With Eager Longing for the Revealing of the Sons of God

Cheon Seong Gyeong 478

God exists in the dual characteristics of plus and minus. When this is manifested as a plus, it is Adam, and when it is manifested as a minus, it is Eve. (32-238, 1970.7.19)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 788

This universe grew in size from a small point in this way: through partners coming into existence, unceasing motion occurred and the universe came into existence. The universe has been engaged in endless motion by the power of inertia that transpires in the dimension of space.

Liberation

2. Universal Liberation

And [Jesus] came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and he went to the synagogue, as his custom was, on the sabbath day. And he stood up to read; and there was given to him the book of the prophet Isaiah. He opened the book and found the place where it was written,

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to preach
good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind.
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Luke 4.16-21

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. Romans 8.19-23

The holy sparks that fell when God built and destroyed worlds, man shall raise and purify upward from stone to plant, from plant to animal, from animal to speaking being, purify the holy sparks that are imprisoned in the world of shells (kelippot) That is the basic meaning of the service of each one in Israel.
It is known that each spark that dwells in a stone or plant or another creature has a complete figure with the full number of limbs and sinews and, when it dwells in the stone or plant, it is in prison, cannot stretch out its hands and feet and cannot speak, but its head lies on its knees. And who with the good strength of his spirit is able to raise the holy spark from stone to plant, from plant to animal, from animal to speaking being, he leads it into freedom, and no setting free of captives is greater than this. It is as when a king’s son is rescued from captivity and brought to his father.
All that a man owns, his servant, his animals, his tools, all conceal sparks that belong to the roots of his soul and wish to be raised by him to their origin.
All things of this world that belong to him desire with all their might to draw near him in order that the sparks of holiness that are in them should be raised by him.
Man eats them, man drinks them, man uses them; these are the sparks that dwell in the things. Therefore, one should have mercy on his tools and all his possessions for the sake of the sparks that are in them; one should have mercy on the holy sparks.
Take care that all you do for God’s sake be itself service of God. Thus eating: do not say that the intention of eating shall be that you gain strength for the service of God. That is also a good intention, for course; but the true perfection only exists where the deed itself happens to heaven, that is where the holy sparks are raised.
In all that is in this world dwell holy sparks, no thing is empty of them. In the actions of men also, indeed even in the sins that a man does, dwell holy sparks of the glory of God. And what is it that the sparks await that dwell in the sins? It is the turning [repentance]. In the hour where you turn on account of sins, you raise to the higher world the sparks that were in it.
Israel Baal Shem Tov (Judaism)

The Interminable Struggle Between Mind and Body Will Completely Disappear

Hebrews 8

What I mean is that we have a high priest who sits at the right side of God’s great throne in heaven. He also serves as the priest in the most holy place inside the real tent there in heaven. This tent of worship was set up by the Lord, not by humans.

Since all priests must offer gifts and sacrifices, Christ also needed to have something to offer. If he were here on earth, he would not be a priest at all, because here the Law appoints other priests to offer sacrifices. But the tent where they serve is just a copy and a shadow of the real one in heaven. Before Moses made the tent, he was told, “Be sure to make it exactly like the pattern you were shown on the mountain!” Now Christ has been appointed to serve as a priest in a much better way, and he has given us much assurance of a better agreement.

Psalm 21

He asked to live a long time,
    and you promised him life
    that never ends.

The king is highly honored.
You have let him win victories
    that have made him famous.
You have given him blessings
    that will last forever,
    and you have made him glad
    by being so near to him.
Lord Most High,
    the king trusts you,
    and your kindness
    keeps him from defeat.

Enlightenment

1. The State of Inner Freedom

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

According to the perspective of religion, humanity does not dwell in a liberated state. People today do not live in the realm of God’s freedom; rather they are constrained within the fallen world under Satan’s control. In other words, the world is in bondage. Christians in the established churches and we Unification Church members have the same understanding: we are in bondage.

This bondage is manifest as the persistent struggle between our mind and body. If human beings were made from the beginning with their minds and bodies in conflict, it would be absolutely impossible for them to perfect their character or attain liberation. In fact however, humans were created with harmonious internal elements, by which they could have attained the ideal state of liberation. They only fell into bondage during the course of their growth, when as a result of the Fall they were driven into a state of disorder, where we remain to this day. Therefore, it is entirely possible to be liberated from bondage and attain the ideal state. (85:227, March 3, 1976)

What does it feel like to experience the being of God? The interminable struggle between your mind and the body, which formerly plagued your self-centered life when you put yourself as number one in everything you did, will completely disappear. Instead, you will live the life that God wants you to live: living for the sake of others and giving yourself for the whole. Then, true love will continue forever, and God’s joy will be displayed in the spirit world. You will experience such satisfaction and happiness as you have never felt before, because it will be connected to the whole. Thus, you will discover yourself in the state of liberation. (329:301-02, August 11, 2000)

The body has a limit, but the mind is infinite. The world of the mind is beyond form, beyond any philosophy or viewpoint. Still greater than the mind is the world of the heart. It has no restrictions. The world of the mind has certain restraints, conditioned by its relationships. Yet nothing can restrain the world of the heart. What could ever restrain a parent’s love for his or her children? Even a barrier as daunting as a huge mountain cannot block the way. (7:246, September 20, 1959)

It is written in the Bible, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” (2 Cor. 3.17) The Father is a Spirit of freedom, liberation and unification. How, then, can the spirit of freedom, which transcends any trials, be instilled in your hearts? How can you find the point of liberation where you overcome all the walls of suffering? When will you experience that peaceful moment of total unification, which is your ultimate hope?
     In thinking about these important questions, consider that God is not free. Since God is not free, liberated and unified, the freedom people pursue today is not true freedom. The liberation people are proclaiming is not complete liberation, and the unification people are promoting is not complete unification…
     God created us. Therefore, the complete freedom, liberation and unification that we desire can be realized only when God is free and becomes the master of liberation and unification. God’s freedom, liberation and unification are the standards for humanity’s freedom, liberation and unification; that is only logical. (4:314-15, October 12, 1958)

Where the Spirit of the Lord Is, There Is Freedom

Cheon Seong Gyeong 2045

Is it a difficult thing or an easy thing to digest this centering on the leaders of the tong and ban? If you form a structure, will it be easy or difficult? This is why I am telling you to have confidence. This is something anyone, even a mere child, would not have a problem with. In fact, it’s not a problem. If you can just properly set up the leaders of tong and ban, then it will not take long. (165-323, 1987.5.27)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1257

From the viewpoint of the positions represented, the grandfather and grandmother represent God, and the parents act on behalf of God. From the vertical point of view, God settles down in a family centering on the first, second and third generations. The first generation on the horizontal level is your grandfather, the second generation your father, and the third generation is yourself. Therefore, the blood line of the royal family can be passed on and will continue forever through your sons and daughters. (218-255, 1991.8.19)

Liberation

The spiritual freedom experienced by people who are released from the fetters of desires and attachments to worldly things is called Liberation (moksha). It is an inner experience of freedom that can arise regardless of the person’s external circumstances: the saint is free even in prison, while people living in comfort and affluence may be caught in dire bondage to runaway desires, addictions, and bad relationships. the Christian scriptures speak of a comparable experience of Christian liberty.
Yet liberation goes beyond the individual. Jesus spoke about liberating the prisoners and a Kingdom of freedom. When people live in the spirit of love and self-giving, they can be very free with one another. if everyone in a family or society enjoyed the inner freedom of a God-centered life, they then could live and act in freedom. therefore, Father Moon teaches, liberating others also expands our own realm of liberation. that liberation should expand to encompass societies, nations, the entire world, and beyond to the realm of God. Jewish Kabbalistic doctrine describes the task of liberating of the “divine sparks” residing in each thing, that they may rise up and rejoin the divine unity. God’s liberation is contingent upon human liberation, teaches Father Moon, because human suffering and oppression binds God in fetters of grief and pain. Liberating humanity also liberates God, and when God is liberated, humanity can be truly free.


1. The State of Inner Freedom

That disciplined man with joy and light within,
Becomes one with God and reaches the freedom that is God’s.
    Bhagavad-Gita 5.24 (Hinduism)

Desire is a chain, shackled to the world, and it is a difficult one to break. But once that is done, there is no more grief and no more longing; the stream has been cut off and there are no more chains.
    Sutta Nipata 948 (Buddhism)

The fetters of the heart are broken, all doubts are resolved, and all works cease to bear fruit [of karma], when He is beheld who is both high and low.
    Mundaka Upanishad 2.2.8 (Hinduism)

Yea, happily he lives, the brahmin set free,
Whom lusts defile not, who is cooled and loosed from bonds,
Who has all barriers burst, restraining his heart’s pain.
Happy the calm one lives who wins peace of mind.
Anguttara Nikaya 1.137 (Buddhism)

Open yourself, create free space;
release the bound one from his bonds!
Like a newborn child, freed from the womb,
be free to move on every path!
Atharva Veda 6.121.4 (Hinduism)

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
2 Corinthians 3.17

Immediately after attaining release from all karmas, the soul goes up to the end of the universe. Previously driven [by karmas], the soul is free from the bonds of attachment, the chains have been snapped, and it is its nature to dart upwards. The liberated self, in the absence of the karmas which had led it to wander in different directions in different states of existence, darts upwards as its nature is to go up.
Ratnakarandasravakacara 10 (Jainism)

The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes; so it is with every one who is born of the Spirit.
John 3.8

He whose corruptions are destroyed, he who is not attached to food, he who has Deliverance, which is void and signless, as his object—his path, like that of birds in the air, cannot be traced.
Dhammapada 93 (Buddhism)

One that the Lord’s command in mind cherishes,
Is truly to be called Jivan-mukta (liberated whileliving).
To such a one are joy and sorrow alike;
Ever in joy, never feels he sorrow.
Gold and a clod of earth to him are alike,
As also nectar and foul-tasting poison.
To him are honor and dishonor alike;
Alike also pauper and prince.
One that such a way practices,
Says Nanak, a Jivan-mukta may be called.
Adi Granth, Gauri Sukhmani 9, M.5, p. 275 (Sikhism)