Okay I am not sure if anyone can make any sense of this but I have a question.

younggoldenboy

I went with my brother to temple and they were reading a book. It was a very good book and I wish I remembered the name of it. I know the first name of the writer was Dogzchen but they were talking about how once you reach enlightenment that you went to a final place like a world of Enlightenment. Like Heaven but not I am really confused.

Sile

younggoldenboy, it's a complicated issue, since there are so many ways to understand it, I think.

But this is my understanding: there isn't a physical heaven "place" like in Christianity; instead, your mind finally understands how things really are, and you become enlightened.

So what changes is not your physical location, but your understanding of all of reality. When you achieve this enlightenment, you do experience, I think, the same basic things a Christian talks about experiencing in heaven--total happiness, total understanding, total peace, etc.

One notable thing in certain kinds of Buddhism is that, instead of choosing to just stay "enlightened" and remain in bliss, you can choose to "come back" to help others. You can be reborn as a human or any other form, and use that form to help others reach enlightenment.

I hope this helps, and if you can remember the name of the book, that might help us shed some light on what you heard that day, too!

I'm sure others here will have a better description - I'm still wrestling with it