One Who is Engaged is Unliberated One Who is Disengaged is Liberated

Monks, one who is engaged is unliberated, one who is disengaged is liberated. Consciousness, Monks, while standing, might stand engaged with form; based upon form, established upon form, with a sprinkling of excitement, it might come to growth, increase, and expansion.

Or consciousness, while standing, might stand engaged with feeling; based upon feeling, established upon feeling, with a sprinkling of excitement, it might come to growth, increase, and expansion.

Or consciousness, while standing, might stand engaged with perception; based upon perception, established upon perception, with a sprinkling of excitement, it might come to growth, increase, and expansion.

Or consciousness, while standing, might stand engaged with volitional formations (choices/decisions); based upon volitional formations, established upon volitional formations, with a sprinkling of excitement, it might come to growth, increase, and expansion.

Monks, though someone might say: ‘Separated from form, separated from feeling, separated from perception, separated from volitional formations, I will make known the coming and going of consciousness, its passing away and rebirth, its growth, increase, and expansion — is impossible.’

Monks, if a Monk has abandoned desire for the form aggregate, with the abandoning of craving the basis is cut off: there is no support for the establishing of consciousness. If he has abandoned desire for the feeling aggregate, for the perception aggregate, for the volitional formations (choices/decisions) aggregate, for the consciousness aggregate, with the abandoning of craving the basis is cut off, there is no support for the establishing of consciousness.

When that consciousness is unestablished, not coming to growth, non-generative, the mind is liberated.

By being liberated, the mind is steady;

by being steady, the mind is content;

by being content, one is not agitated;

Being unagitated, one personally attains Nibbāna (Enlightenment).

One understands: Destroyed is birth,

the holy life has been lived,

what had to be done has been done,

there is no more for this state of existence.

(Reference: SN 22.53)

In this Teaching from Gotama Buddha, he shares how one who is engaged is unliberated and one who is unengaged is liberated.

To be liberated is to have attained Enlightenment. The mind is liberated, or experiencing freedom, from strong feelings. The mind is liberated, or experiencing freedom, from discontentedness.

Here, The Buddha interchanges the word craving/desire/attachment with “engaged”. So, when he shares that “one who is engaged is unliberated, one who is disengaged is liberated” another way to say this is “one who has craving/desire/attachment is unliberated; one who has eliminated craving/desire/attachment is liberated”.

Where you see the word engaged, substitute the word craving/desire/attachment.

Where you see the word disengaged, substitute the word non-craving, non-desire, or non-attachment.

The Buddha then goes further to mention that a being who is “engaged” with The Five Aggregates of form, feelings, perceptions, volitional formations (choices/decisions), and consciousness will have “a sprinkling of excitement” or pleasant feelings.

Pleasant feelings are part of a discontent mind.

So, if one has craving/desire/attachment to The Five Aggregates, they will experience pleasant feelings and thus, will also experience painful feelings and feelings that are neither painful-nor-pleasant. The mind is unliberated or unEnlightened.

If the mind is craving/desiring/attached to form, feelings, perceptions, volitional formations (choices/decisions), or consciousness, the mind is unliberated and will continue to experience discontentedness along with rebirth in The Cycle of Rebirth.

The Buddha then shares “Monks, though someone might say: ‘Separated from form, separated from feeling, separated from perception, separated from volitional formations, I will make known the coming and going of consciousness, its passing away and rebirth, its growth, increase, and expansion — is impossible”. It is not just merely separating the mind from a certain object that it will experience liberation. Thus, The Buddha explains that separation from form, feelings, perceptions, volitional formations, and consciousness will not lead to liberation as this “is impossible”.

Instead, he shares that abandoning desire (i.e. craving) for form, feelings, perceptions, volitional formations (choices/decisions), and consciousness is what leads to liberation of the mind.

Craving/Desire/Attachment/Wants/Expectations/Grasping/Holding/Clinging: a mental longing for something with a strong eagerness. The mind pulling in a direction for objects of its affection.

A craving/desire/attachment is not the object itself but instead, the mental longing, yearning, and pulling in the direction of the object. A Practitioner needs to eliminate the mental longing, not the object itself necessarily.

Separating the mind from the actual object of its affection can be helpful in eliminating cravings/desires/attachments but through the separation of the being from the object does not necessarily eliminate the craving/desire/attachment.

It is only when the mind is trained to “cut off” craving/desire/attachment that the mind is liberated from that craving/desire/attachment no longer experiencing discontentedness related to that specific craving/desire/attachment.

Once all craving/desire/attachment is eliminated from the mind, it will be liberated. In other words, once the mind is disengaged it is then liberated.

Once craving/desire/attachment has been eliminated, or cut off, there is no more basis or support for renewed consciousness. The mind is liberated from discontentedness in this life and is liberated from The Cycle of Rebirth. The “consciousness is unestablished, not coming to growth, non-generative, the mind is liberated”.

When the mind has eliminated craving then it is “liberated, the mind is steady”, “the mind is content”, “not agitated”, and “one personally attains Nibbāna (Enlightenment)”.

Having attained Enlightenment, a Practitioner understands “destroyed is birth”, “the holy life has been lived”, “what had to be done has been done”, “there is no more for this state of existence” and there will no longer be any more rebirth in The Cycle of Rebirth.

With an Enlightened mind experiencing such peace, calmness, serenity, and contentedness with joy, a Practitioner knows and can observe this for themselves. They will know that this path has led exactly where Gotama Buddha said it would, to complete liberation and freedom from discontentedness. You will also know that there is no more rebirth to be experienced because the mind has attained Enlightenment.

As has been shared in the other Teachings within this book series, a Practitioner should never convince themselves that the mind is Enlightened as that can be dangerous to the mind. But instead, with humbleness a Practitioner will know the mind is liberated when it has not experienced any discontentedness for a few years.

As the discontentedness in the mind gradually decreases, life only gets better and better as the brilliance and brightness of the Enlightened mind shines through.