Gaining Enlightenment in 10 sentences or less

[thelerner]

Let's see how the greatest minds on the Dao Bums do with this one.

 

How do you gain enlightenment?

in 10 sentences or less.

 

 

 

I'll start. 

2 good books, one desert island, 5 years. 

 

Boom baby, that was one sentence, beat that. 

[thelerner]

Be good enough at perceiving the imperceptible that you don't interfere with enlightenment when it decides to posses you.

elegant and to the point.

[Brian]

Whistle while you work.

[Taoist Texts]

 

2 good books 

 

 

 

The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Of York, Mariner: Who lived Eight and Twenty Years, all alone in an un-inhabited Island on the Coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, wherein all the Men perished but himself. With An Account how he was at last as strangely deliver'd by Pyrates.

[Jeff]

Here it is in 5...

 

This body of ours is fleeting, like a leaf blowing free in a strong wind.

This mind of ours is empty and clear, like the depth of open space.

Relax in that natural state, free of any attempted support.
When mind is without any fabrication, that is the primordial.

Becoming familiar with this, merging your mind with it—that is Enlightenment.

[doc benway]

Let's see how the greatest minds on the Dao Bums do with this one.

 

How do you gain enlightenment?

in 10 sentences or less.

 

 

 

I'll start. 

2 good books, one desert island, 5 years. 

 

Boom baby, that was one sentence, beat that. 

 

Not sure that I qualify for this game but I'll play anyway.

 

You don't.

Enlightenment is not something to be gained, it is more closely related to wrong views being lost.

[words]

gaining? 

 

enlightenment happens.

[liminal_luke]

breathe in, breathe out...repeat

Edited January 17, 2017 by liminal_luke

[thelerner]

For those picky linguists, a change in verbage

How do you achieve enlightenment..?

[liminal_luke]

For those picky linguists, a change in verbage

How do you achieve enlightenment..?

 

This whole problem of wording would quickly be solved if only those linguists would get enlightened themselves.  From the point of view of the absolute, there is nobody -- no separate self -- to object to words liked "gained", like "achieved." Our seeming misunderstanding of ultimate reality is but a dream.

Edited January 17, 2017 by liminal_luke

[Aetherous]

1) Be totally honest with yourself about everything. If you're not, you won't attain enlightenment.

2) If you ever experience a negative emotion, you're still unenlightened...unequivocally. Also, refer back to rule 1 for those times that you think you have no negative emotions. Give it a minute and you'll soon realize that you are truly unenlightened.

3) Don't stop seeking until you've found the true way, and don't stop walking the path once you have. Avoid pitfalls that sound like true ways.

4) Enlightenment, your goal, needs a clear definition of what it is and what it isn't. While you can't personally define it due to having no experience of it, if you've found a true way, the teachers can provide its definition. To some extent, all definitions are inadequate, because it's only experiential knowledge that matters here. Beware of following false definitions, and spreading them.

5) You have to care more about achieving that than about anything else in your life. So now that you know what it is, and you know the true way of how to go about achieving it, it's simply a matter of following through and not being overly distracted by other cares.

Edited January 17, 2017 by Aetherous

[liminal_luke]

 

2) If you ever experience a negative emotion, you're still unenlightened...unequivocally. Also, refer back to rule 1 for those times that you think you have no negative emotions. Give it a minute and you'll soon realize that you are truly unenlightened.

 

 

I`m wondering what counts as negative.  Is sadness out?  I hope not, because I love sadness.  There`s a beautiful kind of melancholy that I`ve felt sitting in a cozy armchair on a rainy day, reading a book and sipping a cup of tea.  

 

What about anger?  I was bullied in school as a kid, and it made me really angry.  I hated the idea of fighting, but one day I could stand it no more and I hit my bully as hard as I could.  Later that afternoon, I looked at my bruised face in the bathroom mirror and felt so proud: I knew I was someone worth standing up for.  Not sure I could of gotten there without anger.

Edited January 17, 2017 by liminal_luke

[Aetherous]

I`m wondering what counts as negative.  Is sadness out?  I hope not, because I love sadness.  There`s a beautiful kind of melancholy that I`ve felt sitting in a cozy armchair on a rainy day, reading a book and sipping a cup of tea.  

 

What about anger?  I was bullied in school as a kid, and it made me really angry.  I hated the idea of fighting, but one day I could stand it no more and I hit my bully as hard as I could.  Later that afternoon, I looked at my bruised face in the bathroom mirror and felt so proud: I knew I was someone worth standing up for.  Not sure I could of gotten there without the anger.

 

If we're talking about Buddhist enlightenment, yes. Enlightenment is liberation from these things...peace.

[3bob]

if such could be gained it could also be lost,  and if such could happen then it could also un-happen,

 

it's a trick of and on the mind.

[Spotless]

Drop your story

Drop your positions

You will lose nothing and gain everything.

[3bob]

Solomon brought up the state of, "Vanity of vanities"...this is important on the way of reaching the state that follows it but soul or heart crushing if not. 

[words]

@thelerner , is not about picking on language (i can see tho how it can come across as that).

 

is just that to me 'gaining enlightenment' sounds a bit like 'gaining an adult body' would. I wouldn't know what to answer, if the question is worded in that way.

 

I understand that for others, 'gaining enlightenment' might sound more like 'gaining wisdom' would, so is possible for them to answer the question.

 

@aetherous, about the second point you make in that list. it's true and not true at the same time, depending on your angle. 

 

you do still experience the entire range of emotions, is just that there is no concept of negative anymore, no urge to 'fix' how you feel, no holding on, no trying to get away from it or raise a shield.

 

from where i am looking, i see all emotions as different expressions of love, customized to the moment. (looking at liminal_luke's example, anger can be seen as love for the self, for instance. it kicks in to protect the self)

 

about the fifth point...that's true. and at the same time, is not really one's choice. isn't like one can force themselves to care about something, or care about it more than anything. if there's a sense that nothing else matters as much as it, that sense is just there. like hunger, or thirst. i can't make myself hungry/hungrier than i naturally am, you know what i mean? 

 

what i mean to say is that general lines about enlightenment are true in a sense, and at the same time they can also mislead, because one might tend to look for something that fits those lines, as they understand them. and there's always bias in understanding something.

 

(like you know what you want to express when you say something, but i understand what i can from it, someone else understands what they can, and you can only assume what we've understood, based on our feed-back)

 

and so, one might end up seeking something that only exists in their imagination, what they think they are looking for, what they think it is (like), while overlooking the very thing they are seeking, over and over, because it doesn't fit what they envisioned.

 

that's why the forth point in your list -a clear definition of what it is- to me, is more like a hindrance, or limitation for a seeker. if you can fit it in a box and define it, that's not it. 

 

on the other hand, all the steps one makes are necessary for them and one's understanding keeps changing and morphing during one's journey naturally, sometimes subtle, sometimes in leaps, so there's no right or wrong way to think or to approach/seek it, all roads lead to rome eventually. every experience, every moment, is a step towards it.

 

a dimension that i see often being neglected, is the depth. as in a line in a book can bring more understanding than a shelf of books, if one really looks into it and gets it's essence. or a moment of fully allowed feeling can bring about an inner switch greater than an adventurous year of seeking might. 

 

sorry for the long post. got lost in a typing mood. forgot where i was going with it, so i'll stop.

[thelerner]

I know he already answered but I'm going to jot down these 12 thought provoking sentences from another thread anyway.

 

What you seek is simply a shift away. Basic practice is the way. Everything you need for this to take place you already possess.
The alternative that you live is based in fear - which you will wink at in acknowledgement - but you are faking it - you are completely enthralled by fear - it is all of you - the you that will fall away upon Awakening. Your entire you is built upon it. It is the source of all suffering - it glues you to everything that is termed grasping.

"You" think you own your positions - they own you.

"You" may be positioned in victimhood and believe you need fixing - must be healed.
Everyone is in victimhood - that is the cause of all suffering. Those that do not believe they are in victimhood "have to bear the stupidity of the sniveling masses" - they are victims of having to bear their superior superiorness.

Everyone loves their victimhood - they hold it up as their light to the world - and speak of exit strategies until they no longer do and then they speak about aches and pains.

Stillness / Neutrality / positionlessness - these are words that point the way.

Those words may not contain the total answer, but I can't help but think that get one on the proper path.

[Everything]

Naka shuuka buuka luuka maakaayhaamuufiika.

Which means that I have to make music for someone who needs this permission to use my music in adverts. A suitable piece of music.

[dwai]

Be still and silent and know that which you truly are is already enlightened.

[子泰]

It took Lu Dong Bin 20!

[neti neti]

Enlightenment is neither a journey nor a destination, but a series of endless departures.