What exactly is Enlightment

[rex]

In the Therevadan Buddhist sense an enlightened being is an arahant who due to cultivating quite specfic qualities is no longer subject to the cycle of death and rebirth.

 

In Mahayana Buddhism one term for a buddha is 'awakened one'. There are clear definitions of a buddha's qualities, here's one example (there are others):

Qualities of a Buddha's Omnisience.

[picnic]

Lau Tzu never spoke of enlightenment. Chuang Tzu spoke of the "real person". Both would say that to have life lived through you as you sit passively in wonder would be "The Way". Only when the Buddhists came to China from India with Buddhism did we get this situation where a Taoist could ask "what is Enlightenment?".

 

To unite solid and spirit as one, mind is matter, matter is mind. Knock Knock, Diiiiing! No duality, no question, no explanation. Just a love and deep sense of awe and wonder for every aspect of the whole, that is IS and you are that, shut up, enjoy. It Is wonderful.

[Aetherous]

Enlightenment is when your perception changes from assuming you're a self, to a more pure state of experience.

[Unconditioned]

thanks for you guys response, how could this be applied to life as we know it?

 

The benefits of enlightenment are essentially a life with no weights, complete freedom, complete happiness/fulfillment which would result in a peaceful world/life.

 

We could use enlightened masters to help stop violence, to promote further research in 'inner sciences', gradually end the suffering we see in the world today - from the subtle and individual struggles to global issues such as war, famine, etc.

 

An enlightened person still lives after they've come to realize Truth. They just live life in a much more complete/full/intense way.

 

Just my 2c.

 

Edit: we can describe the qualities of enlightenment but what it IS cannot be described. Words are just a knife that divide one into many.

Edited November 11, 2008 by Unconditioned