The Three Doors of Liberation

Week of Oct 24, 2004 – The Three Doors of Liberation

We know the three aspects of the Truth are Body (Essence), Appearance (Attributes) and Purpose (Function), but how does it tie in with our practice?

For the preliminary practice, the three bases are Understanding, Practice and Vows. The Body is Understanding, the Appearance is Practice and the Purpose is Vows.

But for the actual practice, the Body is Emptiness, the Appearance is Signlessness and the Purpose is Aimlessness.

Emptiness, Signlessness and Aimlessness are the three doors of liberation.

Emptiness... - the path between existence and non-existence
- all things are devoid of a self

Signlessness… - looking beyond how objects appear
- there are no objects to be perceived by the sense-organs

Aimlessness… - no purpose other than this moment
- no wish of any kind whatsoever remains in the practitioner’s mind, for he no longer needs to strive for anything

Liberation is possible only through these three realizations. Thus, we should practice with the Understanding of Emptiness, do Practice diligently with Signlessness in mind and have a great Vow with Aimlessness as the ultimate goal.

These are the skeletons of Buddhism Practice. I hope this outline will give you the basic idea to start on the long journey of searching out your own Path. Again, keep on practicing!

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