Three gateways to liberation

The three gateways to liberation (Tib. རྣམ་ཐར་སྒོ་གསུམ་, nam tar go sum, Wyl. rnam thar sgo gsum) are features of all phenomena which provide a means to realize their absolute nature. They are:

1. emptiness (Skt. śūnyatā; Tib. སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་, tongpa nyi, Wyl. stong pa nyid)
2. absence of characteristics or attributes (Skt. animitta; Tib. མཚན་ཉིད་མེད་པ་, tsen nyi mépa, Wyl. mtshan nyid med pa)
3. wishlessness, absence of expectancy (Skt. apraṇihita; Tib. སྨོན་པ་མེད་པ་, mönpa mépa, Wyl. smon pa med pa)

Quotations

ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་ནི་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་ཀྱི་རང་བཞིན་ཅན་དམིགས་པ་དང་བྲལ་བའོ།

།ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་ནི་མཚན་མ་མེད་པའི་རང་བཞིན་ཅན་ཏེ་རྣམ་པར་རྟོག་པ་དང་བྲལ་བའོ།

།ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་ནི་སྨོན་པ་མེད་པའི་རང་བཞིན་ཅན་ཏེ་བླང་བ་དང་དོར་བ་མེད་པའོ།

All phenomena have the nature of emptiness, beyond conceptual reference.
All phenomena have the nature of characterlessness, beyond conceptual thought.
All phenomena have the nature of wishlessness, beyond acceptance and rejection.

Buddha Shakyamuni, Sutra of the Questions of Brahma

Alternative Translations

• three gates of emancipation
• three doors of deliverance
• three approaches to liberation (Dorje & Kapstein)
• three avenues/doorways to liberation
• three doors of perfect liberation (Padmakara in Treasury of Precious Qualities)

Further Reading

• Kangyur Rinpoche, Treasury of Precious Qualities (Boston: Shambhala, 2001), Appendix 10, pp. 347-8

External Links

• The Excellent Path of the Great Vehicle: How to Meditate on the Three Gateways to Liberation According to the Mahayana by Rongtön Sheja Kunrig