Liberating Our Mind: Untying Knots, the Ten Fetters | Thich Nhat Hanh (short teaching video)

In the Buddhist tradition,
we speak of the 10 kinds of "fetters"

the 10 kinds of bonds that...

that deprive us of our freedom.

And "to liberate" means
to liberate from these ten fetters.

They bind us.
They're called "samyojana."

In Chinese it is translated as 結使.

結 means to to bind,

and 使 means
they push you...

...to do and to say things
that you don't want to do and to say.

They are very powerful.

We have to practice concentration
to be able to untie this kind of fetters.

And the first is...

the first saṃyojana is
craving (貪).

There is the danger of craving...

because we believe that the object 
of our craving is what we really want...

...is what can really bring us happiness.

But we don't really see the danger
of running after the object of our craving.

With craving in us,
we are not in peace anymore.

We are not satisfied
with what we are, who we are.

We are not satisfied
with our situation.

We cannot feel that we're happy
in the here and the now.

The teaching of the Buddha about
living happily right here and now...

is based on the fact that
if we practice looking deeply,

we see that we have enough conditions
to be happy in the here and the now.

But if there is the flame of craving
that is inside,

we don't have the capacity 
to do that anymore.

We believe that without that object of craving
we cannot be really happy.

So we lose all our peace, we lose our capacity
of being happy in the here and the now.

That is one of the 10 fetters
we have to undo.

Later on there will be
an exercise on how...

to look at the objects of our craving
in order to see the danger of...

running after the objects of our craving.

The Buddha used so many images.

One of the images is 
someone holding a torch...

and going against the wind

so the torch and the fire
will burn his hand.

So that is...

the danger of craving.

The second image the Buddha proposed
is of a dog...

running after a piece of bone.

That is only a bone.

Even if the dog has the bone

and try everything
he could with the bone,

he will never be satisfied.

Because in the bone
there is no meat or juice left.

This is just a bone.

And sometimes it's just a bone
made of plastic!

The object of craving is like that.
It can never satisfy us.

This image of a bone caught by a dog is
the second image the Buddha proposed.

And the third image is
the image of a hook...

that the fishermen use
to catch the fish.

You have a very appealing bait,
and...

And the hook brings the bait...

and the hook is thrown 
into the river.

When the fish saw the bait,
it's so appealing.

And he wants to bite.

But the fish does not know that
inside of the bait there is a hook.

So the object of our craving is like that.

The danger hidden
in the object of our craving.

And sometimes the bait is
made of plastic the fish cannot eat,

but it's very appealing.

So you have to look deeply to see
the true nature of the object of craving.

And if we see clearly,

it is not appealing, not attractive
anymore, and we are free.

Looking deeply, we see
the danger of the object of craving.

So craving is the first
of the Ten Fetters.

The second is...

violence... anger (瞋).

The flame of anger destroys
as much as the flame of craving.

When anger inhabits us,
we have no peace;

we have no capacity of being happy
in the here and the now.

And that is why we have to practice
looking deeply to practice concentration

in order to see that anger has been born
from ignorance, from wrong views, and so on.

Understanding the First Noble Truth
and the Second one,

we'll be able to overcome our anger

and untie the knots of anger.

In fact, "samyojana" can be
translated as "knots."

If a practitioner feels that
anger is in him in her,

she has to practice in such a way
that she can untie...

the knot of anger in her.

And that brings liberation -
liberating the mind.

And the third is ignorance.

Ignorance (癡) is wrong perceptions.

We are confused.
We don't know where to go...

and what to do and what not to do.
We are confused.

And we do the wrong things,
we say the wrong things,

because we are ignorant.

We don't know what is right
and what is wrong.

That is the third kind of fetter
we have to undo.

The fourth is complex.

Complex (慢) of superiority,
of inferiority, and of equality.

That is because
we have a notion of self.

We compare that self with other self.
That is why...

the three complexes will arise.

We suffer because of these
three kinds of complexes.

And the fifth is doubt.

Doubt (疑).

Suspicion and doubt.

When we have that suspicion doubting us,
we are not in peace.

We are not free.

Our suspicion or doubt can 
also come from our ignorance.

And...

next are views (見).

Of course, the views here
are wrong views.

Not Right Views.

And there are five kinds of views
that could be...

termed as wrong view.

The first view is that you believe 
that this body is yourself.

Thân kiến (Vietnamese).

You simply believe
that you are this body.

If you believe like that,
it means that...

with the disintegration of this body
you no longer exist.

And you believe that before the formation
of this body, you did not exist.

So there are many...

many effects that come
from that kind of wrong view.

The second is to believe in
pairs of opposites.

You believe that the right is totally
other than the left;

There is birth, there is death;

There is inside, there is outside;

There is being, there is non-being;

There is sameness,
there is otherness -

All these concepts that form
pairs of opposites.

If you are caught in it,
that is wrong view.

The teaching of the Buddha helps us
transcend the pairs of opposites

in order for us to be free from all views:
That is the Middle Way.

The Middle Way is the way
transcending all pairs of opposites,

including being and non-being,

birth and death,

inside and outside,
object and subject.

This is a very deep and
very wonderful teaching.

This is called
"thân kiến," body as a self,

and "biên kiến,"
believing in extreme.

And then the next is
"kiến thủ kiến," attachment to views.

You learn something.

You have a notion.

You are caught by that notion.

That is the end of the progress
on your spiritual path.

Whatever you have learned,

whatever you have heard,
you should be careful.

You shouldn't consider it
to be the absolute truth.

You should be able to let it go

in order for you to be able
to come to a higher truth.

It's like in science.
If you have discovered something,

and if you believe that
to be the ultimate truth,

and you don't search anymore,
then you are not a true scientist.

In order to progress
in our path,

we have to be ready
to release our view,

release our understanding.

It's like climbing a ladder.

If you have come up
to the fourth step,

and if you think
that you are the highest,

then there is no more climbing.

You have to abandon, release the forth
in order to get to the fifth.

And when you have got to the fifth,

you should be ready to release the fifth
in order to come to the sixth.

Knowledge as
an obstacle for knowledge.

If you see something,
understand something,

be sure that it's something
you can release in the future

in order to get to a higher kind of truth.

That is the teaching on
non-attachment to views.

I think that's very scientific.

"Tà kiến," perverted views.

Suppose you believe that
things just happen by chance;

there is no cause and effect.

That is a kind of perverted view...

wrong view.

The law is that when you sow
the seed of the beans you will...

you will harvest the beans.

When you sow the seed of anger,
you harvest anger.

But you don't believe in the law
of cause and effect.

You think that
everything is just by chance.

When you observe one thing deeply,
you see that...

that thing manifests because of
many conditions coming together.

But you believe that you don't need many things,
that you need only one cause.

That is a kind of view that is perverted.

You don't believe in
the Four Noble Truths

that suffering has come
from a way of living

that is full of wrong perceptions and
wrong thinking, wrong speech, wrong action.

You believe that suffering
just comes without any cause.

So that is a wrong view.

And the last one is
"giới cấm thủ."

Giới cấm thủ kiến.

That is attachment
to taboos and to rituals.

You believe that
performing a certain ritual,

you can get liberation, salvation.

You are caught by the rituals.

You believe that you can eat 
every kind of meat except beef

because eating beef will 
prevent you from being saved.

You believe that you can eat 
every kind of meat except pork.

That is the kind of taboo,
that kind of precepts,

the kind of rituals
that you can get caught in.

The fact is that with understanding
you can liberate,

it's not by performing rituals

or by observing taboos
that you can get liberation.

So these are
the ten kinds of fetters

that we should be liberated from

in order for us to be free and happy.