Without Clinging One Attains Nibbāna (Enlightenment)

Here, Ānanda, a Monk is practicing thus: If it were not, it would not be mine; it will not be and it will not be mine. What exists, what has come to be, that I am abandoning. Thus he obtains equanimity. He does not seek excitement in that equanimity, welcome it, or remain holding to it. Since he does not do so, his consciousness does not become dependent on it and does not cling to it.

A Monk, Ānanda, who is without clinging attains Nibbāna (Enlightenment).

(Reference: MN 106)

In this Teaching from Gotama Buddha, he shares how a Practitioner cannot even cling to the wholesome qualities of the mind or else one will not attain Enlightenment.

As a Practitioner progresses on The Path to Enlightenment, there will be multiple qualities of mind that will begin to permeate in the mind. Qualities such as loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, equanimity, mindfulness, and others will just always exist.

Once the mind is Enlightened, these qualities will not arise, change, or fade away, they are unconditioned.

These mental qualities and others are not based on any condition, so they are permanent.

As a Practitioner nears closer and closer to Enlightenment, the mind experiences glimpses of Enlightenment where one can experience a few minutes, hours, days, weeks, or months of no discontentedness and purely wholesome qualities filling the mind. This can be thought of like the light of Enlightenment is flickering but it is not yet fully lite. The mind is not yet fully experiencing Enlightenment but instead, just getting glimpses of what Enlightenment is as its making its way to Enlightenment.

As this is occurring, it is important to not allow the mind to have pleasant feelings due to the qualities of Enlightenment starting to permeate in the mind. A Practitioner needs to cut off and let go of any arising pleasant feelings associated with the mind filling with mental qualities of Enlightenment otherwise, the mind will not experience Enlightenment.

Allowing the mind to experience pleasant feelings associated with the mental qualities of Enlightenment is to continue to allow the mind to base its inner feelings on an impermanent condition. “He does not seek excitement in that equanimity, welcome it, or remain holding to it. Since he does not do so, his consciousness does not become dependent on it and does not cling to it”.

It is through the elimination of the unwholesome qualities of mind that are conditioning the mind to remain in the unEnlightened state that a Practitioner continues to experience discontentedness.

It is through the purification of mind to eliminate the unwholesome qualities that the mind moves to Enlightenment, experiencing the unconditioned mental qualities of the Enlightened mind.

As these wholesome qualities begin to fill the mind, a Practitioner will need to ensure they are not craving/desiring or clinging to them or else they will fade away. The mind needs to remain unaffected by the qualities of Enlightenment as they start to fill the mind.

The mental qualities experienced as the mind moves closer to Enlightenment are beyond pleasure and pain, something the mind has never experienced. It is easy to potentially allow the mind to indulge in these wholesome mental qualities craving/desiring and clinging to them “wanting” them to continue. Doing so would be to sabotage one’s progress on The Path to Enlightenment.

If there is any craving/desire or clinging in the mind, the mind will not experience Enlightenment. The mind needs to be trained to not even cling to the wholesome qualities of Enlightenment as one experiences increased benefits.

The Buddha explains not to cling to equanimity in this Teaching, however, one can apply this to all wholesome mental qualities experienced along The Path to Enlightenment.

If there is clinging, the mind will not experience Enlightenment. Even clinging to wholesome mental qualities will eventually produce discontentedness to include painful feelings.

“A Monk, Ānanda, who is without clinging attains Nibbāna (Enlightenment)”.