According to Sutra there are three gateways to liberation, whereas according to Vajrayana there are four gateways (Tib.<big> རྣམ་པར་ཐར་པའི་སྒོ་བཞི་</big>, Wyl. rnam par thar pa’i sgo bzhi) or four types of understanding through which one can approach realization and hence liberation. They are:

1. emptiness (Skt. śūnyatā; Tib. <big> སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་</big>, Wyl. stong pa nyid)
2. absence of characteristics or attributes; signlessness (Skt. animitta; Tib.<big> མཚན་ཉིད་མེད་པ་</big>, Wyl. mtshan nyid med pa)
3. wishlessness; absence of expectancy in terms of result (Skt. apraṇihita; Tib.<big> སྨོན་པ་མེད་པ་</big>, Wyl. smon pa med pa)
4. the ultimate emptiness or lack of composition of all phenomena.

In terms of symbolism the four doors of a traditional Tibetan temple are said to symbolize the four gateways to liberation <ref>*Robert Beer, The Handbook of Tibetan Symbols, Serindia Publications.</ref> and act as a reminder that if we want to attain permanent liberation from suffering we need to enter the path that leads to liberation.

References