“…the path of practice is a dis-intoxication, a dis-enchantment from false views.”
One of the German words for “clean” is sauber, which is related to the English word “sober”. Buddhism has embedded metaphors of purification and “cleaning up.” Purifying primarily refers to scrubbing away the defilements or impurities of afflictions and delusions that cause negative emotions, erroneous views and our clinging and grasping.
Sober, of course, means “not intoxicated” in English. In some recovery circles people talk about being “clean,” meaning consistently sober.
And in fact the Buddhist view is that the path of practice is a dis-intoxication, a dis-enchantment from false views. So purification means to become sober, clear-minded, cleansed of the impurities in our vision, our ways of experiencing.
With love and gratitude,
Henry