Freedom and Religion

Introduction

By 1969, Kris Kristofferson had nothing left to lose. Four years earlier, the son of a two-star general had built a life that personified the American dream. Kristofferson was an army captain and a veteran of the elite Airborne Rangers who had trained as a parachute jumper and helicopter pilot. He was a Rhodes scholar, a graduate of Oxford University and an authority on the English romantic poets, especially William Blake. He was a Golden Gloves boxer who had lettered in football and soccer in college. He'd married his beautiful high-school sweetheart. He had two healthy, bright kids. And, just after turning 29 years old, he'd been appointed the esteemed post of literature professor at the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Freedom and Buddhism

One of Buddhism's three principles is the liberation from samsara through the attainment of wisdom. Wisdom is the realization that the cycle of desire and self-interest brings about suffering, that the “I” is not solid but dependent on causes and conditions, and that all beings seek the same happiness and are interconnected in a state of mutual dependence. Buddhists strive to evade the confusion of the ignorant mind that is bound in samsara and achieve a precious rebirth as a human being. Only a human being has the ability to learn and grow and achieve freedom from suffering and samsara.

Nirvana

Nirvana is freedom from samsara. It is said to be a state of bliss arising from the perception of wisdom—the realization of true reality. Nirvana is attained when the practitioner realizes the ultimate truth that all beings depend on conditions and that existence is marked by impermanence, dissatisfaction or suffering, and the nonexistence of an independent self. The practitioner who attains a state of nirvana is known as an arhat.

Of course, the term nirvana is itself a label or concept that is created by minds that are fundamentally deluded. The Sanskrit term suggests a state of coolness and peacefulness. This state of mind is not touched by suffering or vicissitudes of desire, aversion, attraction, and ignorance. It is said to be indescribable and unknowable by a mind that clings to concepts.

Nirvana is not a state of nothingness. It is called emptiness, but it is not completely empty; it is marked by love and compassion and empty of clinging and the habit of establishing identity, boundary, and separation. It is difficult to put a label on a state of mind that sees labels as relative and dependent. Nirvana is not a place or emotion, but a state of mind marked by clarity of perception and freedom from delusions such as anger, ignorance, and attachment. It is an experience that transcends awareness and simple labels.

Rebirth

Just as existence involves the combination of mind and matter, death involves the separation of mind and matter. Rebirth is the recreation of mind and matter in a new form after death. The exact form of rebirth is determined by one's accumulated karma at the time of death. A sufficient quantity of positive karma ...