1. belief in a self (Pali: sakkāya-diṭṭhi)
2. doubt or uncertainty, especially about the Buddha Dharma (vicikicchā)
3. attachment to rites and rituals (sīlabbata-parāmāsa)
4. sensual desire (kāmacchando)
5. ill will (vyāpādo or byāpādo)
6. lust for material existence, lust for material rebirth (rūparāgo)
7. lust for immaterial existence, lust for rebirth in a formless realm (arūparāgo)
8. conceit (māna)
9. restlessness (uddhacca)
10. ignorance (avijjā)
We often let these fetters lead our nose to form our actions, thoughts and speech; because of these invisible chains, we are not free.
In the year 2000 I started learning Buddhism. My husband was against with the idea of me going to the temple. I was very depressed and unhappy. I started to see these fetters in my life. This took me a whole year to work out how to get out from these invisible chains.
These invisible chains are only present in our mind when we think about them. The thought of these chains are the chains themselves. Although we are bound to sickness, old aged and death because of this body, but for other bondages we can come out of it if we truly understand its origin. Where is the root of these bondage?
Behind all these bondages there is ego (’I’); because of this ego there is desire and crave from the outside world. The outside world consists of six external objects: visible forms, sounds, odours, tastes, tactile and mental objects.
For example: I see a rose.
‘I’ = Self
See = External six senses: eye, ear, nose, tongue, skin and mind
Internal six senses: see, hear, smell, taste, touch and thought
Rose = one of the six external objects (visible objects, sound, odor, taste, touch and mental objects).
In the Satipatthana Sutta Buddha taught us when our six senses meet the six external objects, we understand how the arising of the non-arisen fetters comes to be; we understand how the abandoning of the arisen six internal senses come to be; and we understand how the non-arising in the future of the abandoned the six internal senses come to be.
A technique from Thien Tanh Khong is ‘Don’t Talk’. ‘Don’t Talk’ doesn’t mean verbal speech, this means no mental dialogue. ‘Don’t Talk’ is a complete silent in our mind, no judging, no comment and no self-talk. By using this technique we can have our six senses as six senses and external objects as external objects. There isn’t a connection between six senses and six external objects.
Without this connection we are free. We are free from our six internal senses; we are free from the six external objects and we are free from these ten fetters. Thus we see the world in an objective way. Without this ‘I’ and without this connection between senses and objects, we are truly free from all these bondages.
To be free or not to be free, it is in your own hands. No one can free you! It is you who bind yourself to all these fetters. It is you, who are the master of yourself not these fetters.
