In the list of ten fetters, the higher the number, the more subtle the fetter. The more subtle a fetter is, the less seriously we take it.
So when we read what the sixth fetter is, we say: “Oh, that’s not so bad. I can break that fetter easily.”
The sixth fetter is the desire to remain in the world of form.
The world of form is more subtle than the world we live in. It is the second of the three worlds.
As taught by the Buddha in the Pali canon, the three worlds are:
1. The world of desire, which is the one we live in, together with 1) hell dwellers, 2) hungry ghosts, 3) animals, 4) asuras, 5) other humans, and 6) the gods of the world of desire. Confusingly enough, the world of desire is also called the six worlds or the lower six worlds. And in the Mahayana arrangement of the six worlds, humans are below the asuras. The Pali Canon lists the realm of asuras as one of the evil realms. That’s the arrangement we use.
2. The world of form, which we visit when in the four jhanas, i.e., when our awareness has become more subtle than the awareness of the world of desire; and
3. The world of formlessness, which we visit when in the immaterial attainments, i.e., when our awareness has become more subtle than the awareness of the world of form.
The sixth fetter is thus the desire to remain in the four jhanas. Most of us, if we can visit the jhanas, are quite pleased when we do so. We gloat: “My practice is bearing fruit. I have been experiencing the jhanas!”
What? That’s sakkaya ditthi talking, as Ajahn Sumedho would say. If our practice is reinforcing our view of ourselves as an independent entity making progress, leaving behind the entities who are not experiencing the jhanas, then we haven’t even broken the first, the crudest of all the fetters, sakkaya ditthi, the wrong view of self.
So the sixth fetter is the desire for the bliss associated with the various stages of concentration on form. The sixth fetter arises when we become addicted to the joy or bliss associated with meditation in the four jhanas. It is like any other addiction; we like candy and ice cream so we want more candy and more ice cream.
The enjoyment is “our” enjoyment. It reinforces sakkaya ditthi, the belief that our body and mind is our self. It takes an “I” to say: “I enjoy ice cream. I also enjoy meditation. I get into blissful mind states and I wish I never had to get up and leave the zendo and go back to the office to do mundane work.”
So we have to let go of our attachment to the mental pleasures of meditation. That does not mean that we renounce bliss and tranquility if they appear during a sitting. It just means we recognize it, understand that it is based on the wrong view of self, and allow it to pass without clinging to it. The Buddha tells us that there is something (nirvana) that is beyond mere bliss and tranquility, and that we have to drop our false sense of self in order to experience what lies beyond the sixth fetter of craving for the bliss and tranquility of the jhanas.
Most of us work hard to meditate deeply so that we can transcend the world of sense desire and enter into the higher world of form. But when our meditation is “successful,” and we enter into the jhanas, it is hard for us to understand that we need to say goodbye to that.
We have to understand that the bliss of the jhanas is a stage of awareness. And that our teacher, the Buddha, taught that we have to let go of that delight if we are to break free of the sixth fetter. A fetter ties us to a level of awareness and increased awareness requires loosening and then breaking of that fetter, even if it seems to bring us great joy.
Speaking of ice cream and of breaking a fetter than brings us great delight, I am reminded of a summer picnic in Brooklyn’s McCarron park (between Williamsburg to the south and Greenpoint to the north) about three summers ago. An ice cream peddler was pushing a two-wheeled ice cream cart through the park and our three or four year old granddaughter began asking for ice cream. Her Mom explained to her that the sun was going down and it was time to go home and have a real dinner and therefore it was not a good time for ice cream.
Little Penelope exploded and yelled: If I can’t have ice cream now, I will NEVER have ice cream! The shock on her face when she realized what she had said was hilarious. She gasped, held up one finger, and said: “Actually…I will…”
And she thoroughly enjoyed the real vegetarian dinner at home. When we let go of what we momentarily believe is the very best thing in the world, we discover that even more delightful things lie ahead. Every fetter that we cut is one less chain to hold us in prison. The problem is that most of us rather enjoy the prison we are in and are too stupid to know what freedom from desire really is.
And if we can’t say goodbye to the realm of desire, how in blazes will we ever be able to say goodbye to the bliss of the jhanas? And there are four more fetters even more subtle than that?
My wife once observed that most of the American Zen practitioners that she has met are generally optimistic. They boast that their practice is strong and that they expect to attainment enlightenment in this lifetime. On the other hand, the Asian practitioners that she has met are quite pessimistic and say that their practice is weak and that they are many, many lifetimes away from enlightenment.
I think the difference in outlook is caused by knowledge on one hand and ignorance on the other. The Asians are well-versed in the ten fetters and know what a struggle it can be to overcome any of them. The Americans as a rule have not even heard of the ten fetters and as a result are optimistic to a fault, i.e., they are clueless.
The extremes of pessimism and optimism are just two more extremes to avoid. We take the middle path between them, knowing that the work is hard, but doable.
For a very brief summary of the ten fetters, see The Ten Fetters.
