Search the Community

All descriptions i have come across in Buddhist canons have the same description, as follows; Every single person who became enlightened under Buddha, is described in this same way..... "they ask the recluse Gotama to allow them to go forth from the home life into homelessness, and he gives them the going forth." Is it possible that the description "he gives them the going forth" is actually meant to be the same as "the transmission from the master", that is described as the first step (of the 3 steps), in some other buddhist traditions ? Is it possible that we have mis-interpreted the words "he gives them the going forth", to the current world understanding of "simple conversion into becoming a monk" ? There is no description in Buddhist canons that i have read, where someone becomes "enlightened/a Arhant", without going through the step of "receiving the going forth", from Buddha or one of his senior disciples. So, this would naturally imply that "going forth" is a necessary requirement, in order to be completely/fully/highly enlightened. Not that this matters much to 99.99% of those who dwell on internet, because it would be rare to find a person here who is a monk already. So the opinions are likely to be prejudiced due to this factor, but i thought this would make for a good discussion.