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The following talk was given at the

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Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California.

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Please visit our website at audioderma.org. So,

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suffering in the end of suffering, freedom

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from fixed views, the

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natural functioning of our life

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flowing freely through

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us, sometimes

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taking the form of love or

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care or compassion, all

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leading to or supporting or

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pointing to liberation

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and the path to liberation, a

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path that liberates us

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from suffering, brings out the end

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of suffering. So

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these are the foundations of the

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core teachings that I believe

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I base my teachings on and

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my practice on, my life on. And

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so today the topic is liberation

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and the path to liberation. And

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what's delightful in this tradition is

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that, is

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the principle that before

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liberation there is

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practice. And

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after liberation there is practice. That

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the practice moves continuously

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through us. Even the Buddha,

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after he was fully awakened, would

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go in the forest to practice. that

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that's the goal, that

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the means to that goal should

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have some of the qualities of

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the goal in itself. It

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doesn't mean that we can just wipe away the ways

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that we're attached, but

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it does mean that we can begin finding

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a way to be mindful, a way

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to be aware, a way

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to bring our attention to what's

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difficult in us, to our attachments,

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that that way of attending is

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free of attachment, free

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of being caught to

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some degree. And

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even just to some degree, if it

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contains part of the goal, that's

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enough. To begin seeing a

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sliver, seeing a little hint, oh,

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this is what it's like to

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be present without any attachment,

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without any resistance, without

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any shutting down or

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any holding on or any

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self-preoccupation. This

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is what it's like to be free of preoccupation.

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And we start forgetting little senses of

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it, and then to be guided by that, oh,

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this is good, this is the

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way forward, this is

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what the path is about. And

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to have some confidence that you can find that in

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yourself, in how you're mindful, in

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how you're aware and caring

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for your practice. And

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so then slowly, one

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way of understanding what practice is, is

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that that little sliver of

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freedom that you begin to recognize

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in how you're aware begins

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to grow, begins to spread, becomes

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bigger and bigger. And

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so rather than focusing on having

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some deep insight or getting concentrated,

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or like having, you know,

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aiming towards something, Exactly.

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It's still the same practice, but

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it's also kind of behind

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it or in the very

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mode in which we're engaging the

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practice. Something is growing

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and something is growing and getting

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bigger and bigger until it fills us, until

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it kind of really shows

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us deeply, the experience

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of freedom that's possible. And

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in the Theravān tradition, the emphasis

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of doing this is by talking directly

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about recognizing what

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greed, hate, and delusion is like and attachment

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is like. So we can find a way

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to practice without that. In

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some other schools of Buddhism, they

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point to a different possibility. They

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have some way of pointing

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the practitioner to the

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place of non-clinging and

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just to abide in it the

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best they can. And then over

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years that grows and develops until

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the sense of non-clinging becomes much more

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pervasive in who they are. But

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this is the growth of freedom. And

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so well

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before awakening, there

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is small awakenings, small sense

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of being awake. And

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I love this metaphor of being

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awake for this

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liberation from clinging, liberation from

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suffering, because I don't

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know if it's true for everyone, but I

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don't know what the conditions are for people

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that might interfere with this. But

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some of us maybe have this experience of waking

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up from a good sleep, a good nap.

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Maybe it's even maybe having a nice cup

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of coffee for some people, where

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there's a sense of feeling wake, wakefulness

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that... that is independent of

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what we're aware of. If

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we're tired and grumpy

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and things are challenging

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and difficult, then it's almost like everything

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the eyes set their gaze

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upon is just difficult and

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challenging and everything is kind of seen

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as a difficult thing. And even

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our awareness, our knowing and thinking

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about it is just not, it

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doesn't feel good. But

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when we're waking up from

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a really good nap or

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sitting on a park bench on a day that

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we don't have any work or any responsibilities and

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just sitting there with nowhere

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to go, nothing to do, no one

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to be, just looking at maybe children

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playing or the squirrels

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running around or the wind in the

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trees, there's a feeling

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of contentment, just being alive is

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enough. There's a feeling

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that it's independent of what we

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know, what we're aware of. You

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feel this beautiful feeling of just being

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awake, it feels so clear and crisp

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and content like it's kind of

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like it's a clarity that's expansive

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without edges. And then

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we go into the kitchen and there's a mess in

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the kitchen sink. And it's

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like, wow, okay, this is just,

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there's no reactivity to the mess

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in the kitchen sink. It's just

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like this too is happening in

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the clarity. So

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if you have an experience

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like this in a park bench waking

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up from a nap or something, this is

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now beginning to be a guide where you

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start getting a sense of what this is,

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what freedom is like. This

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is what's possible. And there

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might be other things in your life that has given you this

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kind of foretaste of

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what freedom liberation is. And

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then to... So

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we're growing that, we're developing it. After

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a very clear, when that becomes

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really clear, some definitive experience of

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awakening, of freedom, radical

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freedom from all suffering, that

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registers deep, deep in our consciousness,

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in our hearts, in such a

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way that now there's a reference point for

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living free. And

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now the challenge is, we still

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want to practice, still that's the

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dedication, but now we know

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something we don't want to compromise. We

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don't want to give in to forces of harm,

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of hatred, of fear, because

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that interferes with this capacity

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of freedom that is

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the channel, which is the open door

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for the wholesome goodness of

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our hearts, for our

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capacity for love and compassion,

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generosity, our compassion to

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be of service for others and for

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this world to care. And

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so after some experience

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of liberation, there's

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a kind of, for a while, there could be

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a debate going on inside of us between

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do I get angry

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at the condition of the world? Do

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I get dismayed? Do I get afraid?

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Or is it okay to stay in this

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place of freedom? Is it okay to stay

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without clinging, without attachment, without

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preoccupation? And inevitably,

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if you do this practice well, freedom

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wins in the debate. Greed,

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hate and delusion doesn't win. Fear

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does not win. Dismay does

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not win. Because if we

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do that, it diminishes us. We lose

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something, we harm ourselves, and

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we see.