Exemption from clinging

In the early 12th century in Tibet, the great master Sachen Künga Nyingpo was gifted with a vision of the wisdom of the Bodhisattva, who imparted to him an essential teaching containing four verses:

If you are attached to this life, then you are not a practitioner;

If you are attached to the three realms of samsara, then you lack renunciation;

If you are attached to your own interests, then you lack bodhichitta;

If attachment and conceptualization arise, then you lack insight.

As Chögyal Namkhai Norbu suggests, one cannot free oneself from clinging without remaining in a state of mindful presence or contemplation. It teaches us how to maintain this state in our daily life and at night during sleep. In doing so, it gives us both practical and historical insight into the full Buddhist path to self-liberation.