In commentaries on the Third Noble Truth, words like liberation and emancipation come up frequently. This begs the question, who is being liberated from what?
Possible answers (assuming we're going with a subject and object here) -- the mind liberated from delusion; the being liberated from suffering. Somewhere there's a Zen teacher saying that liberation is liberated from liberation; or, at least, from all thought of a self being liberated and all concepts of liberation.
There's a Zen chant called "Verse of the Kesa" that calls the monks' kashaya robe (and its mini version, the rakusu) a "robe of liberation." Here's the version I know best --
Great robe of liberation,
Field far beyond form and emptiness
Wrapping ourselves in Buddha's teaching,
We save all beings.
The verse doesn't deal with subject and object of liberation, notice, except for a vow to save (or liberate) all beings.
I've noticed that commentaries by Theravada Buddhist teachers often emphasize liberation from the skandhas -- bodily form, senses, ideas, dispositions, awareness. This also means being liberation from samsara, the cycle of rebirth. However, it's not clear to me (from a Theravada perspective) who or what is liberated from the skandhas. If anyone can help me with that, I'd appreciate it.
What does "liberation" mean to you?
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