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Do you think the authors who write about 'how to become enlighened' *are* enlightened themselves?
Both. Many are enlightened and many do give their 'interpretation" and "method" towards enlightenment.
Enlightenment by my definition is seeing reality without the conditioned mind. In that sense everyone is enlightened and is unenlightening themselves constantly.
Some of those respected people have answered so many questions from people in their lifetime. It's pure devotion to me. Yes of course I think some of them are for sure. Even the students who followed them are easily influencing others.
I havent stated that any have claimed to be..but many have written books on *how* to become enlightened. So my question is do you think *they* are enlightened themselves?
The Dalai Lama is one. Ive seen an interview which he states he isnt enlightened and yet he has a book called 'becoming enlightened'
He also has a book called 'the art of happiness' But again in an interview he has stated that he isnt always happy. He gets down like most people in life.
Ive often think that if the dalai lama struggles on the Buddhist path then what chance have us Lay people got?
you're seeing it wrong. happiness isn't conditional. meaning from the buddhas point of view happiness is always a reality even when the buddha is sad.
enlightenment brings an ability to let go of all things, thus totally embracing and accepting it all. meaning a buddha can be extremely loving but the buddha doesn't attach to such love. like a fire it burns and burns until it disappears. same with sadness. again burns and burns until it disappears. see how it works?
enlightenment is as simple as that because we are all already buddha. we just need to awaken to that fact.
I think its like we can try to be kind to people even though we are a little bit selfish ourselves. Thanks for clarifying. They are trying to share their wisdom in reflection of what they learned during their life and study.
"The Dalai Lama is one. I've seen an interview which he states he isn't enlightened and yet he has a book called 'becoming enlightened' "
It's against the Vinaya rules for a monk to proclaim to lay persons that they are enlightened. Hence the Dalai Lama's statement. I haven't read this book, but no doubt it is based on traditional Tibetan Buddhist teachings on enlightenment, not a how-to based on his own experience.
Or is it just their oppinion on what they *think* would bring enlightenment?
First-class question, buddhacoe. The only way to know if someone is "enlightened" is to be "enlightened." Everything else is wishful thinking. Maybe an author is "enlightened," maybe not. Maybe a monk is "enlightened," maybe not. But the only way to be sure is to realize and actualize what we claim to be so all-fired sure about.
In other words, don't get side-tracked: Keep up a determined and constant practice.
Depends on the author, we can't say all of them are or all of them aren't. Sometimes it's not even the person that writes anything but transcriptions of what they teach to their students and to lay practitioners, i.e. Ajahn Chah of the Thai Forest tradition.
It says: “Therefore, in emptiness,…. no suffering, accumulation, cessation, or path; no wisdom and no attainment. With nothing to attain,bodhisattvas rely on prajna-paramita, and their minds are without hindrance.”
Prajna-paramita is eliminating conceptually imagined forms.
So we can either talk about enlightenment and try to pin it down somewhere, but it will be like we are chasing a mirage in a dream. Or we can follow prajna-paramita and eliminate words, concepts and preferences. There’s not much to explain about it. The questions fall away.
A good guide is that anyone who claims to be enlightened probably isn't. This is particularly the case in my opnion if they are selling books,tapes,courses and other goods.
A good guide is that anyone who claims to be enlightened probably isn't. This is particularly the case in my opnion if they are selling books,tapes,courses and other goods.
At the other hand: anyone who claims not to be enlightened is missing the point in a similar way.
The way you put the question, it's hard to answer because the only people I know who go around claiming Enlightenment are cultish gurus, who have written books that are not so much a "how to" as a "look how special I am". Gurus don't teach enlightenment. If you could learn it, then they wouldn't be so special. So they spend all their time making sure you realize how special they are.
For Buddhists, there are books by various Masters expounding and explaining the Dharma and meant to be teaching aids. They are presenting the particular Master's understanding in his own words. I do believe all of them are honest statements of his or her understanding. Beyond that, we get into an entirely different discussion of what Enlightenment means to various Buddhists.
Also, is an "enlightened" person as enlightened as the Buddha was/is? Can we reach that stage or can there be only one? Maybe what I'm asking is, can we be AS enlightened as Buddha since we all have buddha nature?
if the buddha was merely a human being prior to his enlightenment, then yes anyone can attain such realization. the buddha just awoke to the realization of reality. he did not attain anything. since he did not attain anything and it is merely a realization, we all have the potential to have the same realization as the buddha did.
if such potential or buddha nature did not exist within us, then it would be impossible for us to realize what the buddha realized.
Buddha Gotama is enlightened but if he would to seal his mouth, you dun have the aptitude to realize bodhi. So, he has to enjoy delivering 49 years of enlightenment ingredients that liberated uncountable beings :thumbsup:
Coaches who train olympic athletes might not be olympians themselves, but they know the path. They know what skills must be developed. It's not a perfect analogy but it was the first one that came to mind.
Comments
Enlightenment by my definition is seeing reality without the conditioned mind. In that sense everyone is enlightened and is unenlightening themselves constantly.
Metta.
metta
The Dalai Lama is one. Ive seen an interview which he states he isnt enlightened and yet he has a book called 'becoming enlightened'
Ive often think that if the dalai lama struggles on the Buddhist path then what chance have us Lay people got?
enlightenment brings an ability to let go of all things, thus totally embracing and accepting it all. meaning a buddha can be extremely loving but the buddha doesn't attach to such love. like a fire it burns and burns until it disappears. same with sadness. again burns and burns until it disappears. see how it works?
enlightenment is as simple as that because we are all already buddha. we just need to awaken to that fact.
It's against the Vinaya rules for a monk to proclaim to lay persons that they are enlightened. Hence the Dalai Lama's statement. I haven't read this book, but no doubt it is based on traditional Tibetan Buddhist teachings on enlightenment, not a how-to based on his own experience.
In other words, don't get side-tracked: Keep up a determined and constant practice.
Just my two cents.
The nearest thing to an answer, I think, is in the Heart Sutra:
http://www.zen.ie/heartsutra.html
It says:
“Therefore, in emptiness,….
no suffering, accumulation, cessation, or path;
no wisdom and no attainment.
With nothing to attain,bodhisattvas rely on prajna-paramita,
and their minds are without hindrance.”
Prajna-paramita is eliminating conceptually imagined forms.
So we can either talk about enlightenment and try to pin it down somewhere, but it will be like we are chasing a mirage in a dream.
Or we can follow prajna-paramita and eliminate words, concepts and preferences.
There’s not much to explain about it.
The questions fall away.
For Buddhists, there are books by various Masters expounding and explaining the Dharma and meant to be teaching aids. They are presenting the particular Master's understanding in his own words. I do believe all of them are honest statements of his or her understanding. Beyond that, we get into an entirely different discussion of what Enlightenment means to various Buddhists.
if such potential or buddha nature did not exist within us, then it would be impossible for us to realize what the buddha realized.