It seems to me, personally, that too much is being 'technically' pinned down about 'enlightenment'. How can one even begin to approach saying what enlightenment or nirvana is? It is not a particular sound or a grouping of letters, really.
When I first began to be interested in Buddhism, I was quite caught up on ideas of enlightenment. I wanted to get it. And yet, as time went on, I began to realize that I was turning enlightenment into just one more wordly attachment...I was too caught up in trying to get to some vastly different state of conciousness to ever realize nirvana.
I think that nobody has mentioned a very important note of Buddhism which expresses that:
We are all Buddhas.
I recall a particular story in Zen Buddhism:
One master, enjoying the beautiful scenery of the mountains, exclaimed." How beautiful it is, that the mountains and the waters are all manifestations of the Buddha body!" The other Master replied," Indeed, they are, but it is a pity to say so."
After all, the great skill that a Master (a teacher) develops comes from years of developing amazing techniques for teaching his monks. A masters job is very difficult, in that he is not actually teaching the monk anything, but rather coaxing him into seeing how perfect the world is without his constant superficial involvement in it, and that he is buddha regardless of what he tries to do. Alan Watts wrote," Buddhism, is a dialogue between a buddha and an ordinary man, or rather, between a buddha and another buddha who insists on defining himself as an ordinary man, thereby creating a problem. There is a saying that goes 'anybody who goes to a psychologist ought to have his head examined.'" It is said, after all, that enlightenment is like the sound emerging from two hands coming together...that 'clap'...it comes totally spontaneously.
Enlightenment is not something that should be sought after as an 'end'...that is to say, if one insists on contempleting enlightenment, it is best thought of as something that you can never actually get, but merely talk about.
The Buddha described Buddhism as the raft, used to get across the river. He mentioned that once a man has cleared the river, he would be a fool to carry the boat around on his back. In the same way, realizing enlightenment comes when we realize that there is no special enlightenment to be had. When Dr. D.T. Suzuki was asked what it was like to be enlightened, he responded," It's just like everyday life, except about two inches off the ground."
Enlightenment, in the way we speak about it, is reminiscent of the same gross religious pride that we find in many sects of Christianity (not because Christianity is prone to this, but because its just the most common religion in many of our home countries, so we get to see it more often).
Heh, I'm even reminded of a line by Tupac (yes, a rapper) that went something like: "Am I really less holy, because I choose to drink with my homies?" All joking aside, what do we expect would be so amazingly different about enlightenment in comparison to what we have now? What are going to get?
A View of the One?
No fear of death?
Infinite Understanding?
Undiscriminating virtue?
These are all just ideas! They are characterizations and they are, in no way, 'enlightenment'.
Finally, I am reminded of the words of Shunryu Suzuki, a Master that established the first Dogen Zen schools in America in the twentieth century. In his book, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, he noted that "there is not any particular being to which enlightenment can be attached." In other words, in terms of enlightenment, if you still think that you're going to GET IT, then you 'just don't get it', so to speak. The Buddha asked that we explore the Oneness of it all...the 'no self' perspective...and yet here we are trying to pin down technicalities of personal enlightenment. There is nothing wrong, of course, with speaking about personal enlightenment. It is, after all, immensely fun...but when it starts to sound like a technical manual, I think we've gotten off course.
