Without freedom one will take rebirth again and again, without one second’s break, continuously, because one’s own aggregates are contaminated, full of delusion and karma. Because of that they are in the nature of suffering, and so you will have to experience suffering again and again continuously. You are always caught in this, from life to life. Actually, this is the most terrifying prison.
What ordinary people call prison, where you are, is actually similar to the place where hermits live in retreat, like those ancient yogis, great holy beings of the past and present, and also future ones. They spend their whole life or many years in isolated places, caves, and hermitages, sometimes in extremely poor conditions, disciplining their body, speech, and mind, and living in virtue. They create the cause for happiness, not only temporal happiness but ultimate happiness, and it causes them to be liberated from all sufferings and their causes, and to achieve enlightenment and liberate numberless sentient beings.
Even if you are not alone but are locked in a room with many people, then also this situation should persuade you and remind you that you should never waste your life, that you have a most precious human body, and you should use it to practice and to develop your mind towards enlightenment.
When one sincerely practices being kind to others and one wants to give every single cause of happiness to others, then naturally the result is, even if you don’t expect it, that everybody becomes kind to you and is happy with you, listens to you, etc. In this way, you can help others, you can talk to them about the path, how to get out of the most terrifying prison—samsara, and achieve everlasting happiness and total liberation.
Also, every day, if you can, practice having a good heart as much as possible. It doesn’t matter where you are, whether you are at home or in prison, alone or with people, by practicing a good heart it makes your life unbelievably meaningful, so satisfying and fulfilled, and it doesn’t matter where you are, even in the hell realms. By practicing a good heart, experiencing the suffering and difficulties for other sentient beings, it makes everything so much better. You have so much more happiness and you enjoy so much.
To devote your life to achieving happiness for others is the best way to achieve happiness and the best result. You become like the sun rising, illuminating all. In this way, you achieve happiness now, every day, every hour, and every minute. By continuing to live your life like this, then you go from happiness to happiness, from life to life, and when you pass away, at the end of your life, you have so much happiness and no regrets, not the slightest fear of or worry about dying, and incredible enjoyment. Then, you can even die for others, to cause happiness for all living beings, temporarily and ultimately—enlightenment, and free all living beings from all suffering and its causes.
You can see that all the people, even though they are not in prison, in reality are in the heaviest, most frightening prison. It is like living in a solid iron box that is very hard to get out of. They are trapped inside the iron box of ignorance.
As long as you are practicing Dharma, then you are not in prison. When you practice renouncing attachment and stop clinging to this life and future lives, samsaric happiness, and practice the right view, emptiness, the very nature of phenomena, and especially, bodhicitta, you are liberating yourself from prison and bringing yourself to liberation and enlightenment. On the basis of right view and bodhicitta, you can also practice tantra, which is the quickest path.
By having this realization then you are no longer in prison, as you become free from all wrong views and concepts, you become the liberator, and you are no longer the prisoner. Even if ordinary people call you a prisoner, because you are in these physical conditions, in reality you are not. Every day that you practice virtue you are creating the cause of happiness, to be free from those emotional, negative thoughts and negative karma, so you are actually not a prisoner, and you are not putting yourself in prison. Whenever non-virtuous thoughts arise and you follow them, you are putting yourself in prison.
