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Why does it take such a long time?
All religions say practices must be done over and over, and finally you will be enlightened. Buddhism is no exception. My question is why. Why does it have to take such a long time? Why can't it happen instantly? Even in zen (which is about immediate awakening), the practice goes on for a while. I can see physical activities taking time, but why should something psychological or spiritual take time - whether it is the working out of karma or destroying habits? When we think or imagine, it is instant. It doesn't take time. Why can't it be the same for awakening?
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It's the same reason why, though matter is (in physics) empty, you can walk across a bridge of stone.
Frustrating zen sounding answer: time isn't time.
Final answer: I haven't a clue
p.s. Also, it may not take very long. The thought of having to face a long, gruelling process of awakening may cause a long gruelling process of awakening.
There are no short cuts, but that doesn't mean there's any distance to travel.
- Most people don't actually want to do it, most of the time. Everybody wants to get to heaven, but nobody wants to die.
- Certain skills and capacities need to be developed. Stable attention in the midst of emotional disturbance is hard. Attending to all aspects of a complex experience is hard. The more concentrated time you devote to developing these skills, the faster they come along, but this interacts with issue 1 in an unfortunate way.
- Even when those skills are adequate, there is an enormous amount of karma/conditioning still largely running the show, and it takes time for that to run down.
The flip side is, if you practice hard and honestly, you will make fast progress.Enlightenment can be problematic when spoken of as something that can be acquired like a possession.
It would be more easily understood if thought of as WITHOUT ATTACHMENT..
The second difficulty with speaking of it is thinking that there is an individual, separate from others, who experiences it.
And finally... about tying it to linear time..
What do YOU think the Buddhas words of "I was, am and always will be enlightened simultaneously with existence" really meant?
http://www.enlightennext.org/magazine/j24/phipps.asp
Cheers
http://blogs.hbr.org/schwartz/2010/08/six-keys-to-being-excellent-at.html
Attachments and afflictions
We need to let these go for any chance to move forward
Here is a site I just found -
http://www.angelfire.com/electronic/awakening101/sudgrad2.html
Have a good one!
I agree that he is not special in his potential, since he says most people can achieve awakening with the right training.
But I think he is special in many other ways. Here's my list. He:
- Renounced his princely life for his spiritual pursuit
- Discovered the path to liberation
- Achieved liberation, and did so without a teacher or an institution to take care of his basic needs.
- Created the first Buddhist monkhood in the days before Buddhists were born into Buddhism, or before it was "cool" to be Buddhist.
- Is one of the great teachers of the path, and in a variety of teaching styles: As a mentor ("Instructions to Rahula"), as a debater (e.g., "Akkosa Sutta"), as a lecturer (e.g., "Satipatthana Sutta") and as an orator (e.g., "Fire Sermon").
- Was (essentially) the author of the majority of the discourses in the Pali Cannon
Each of those things, individually, are significant undertakings or achievements. All of them together are heroic.
In a way, the Buddha is like Isaac Newton: While in modern times, thousands of undergraduate engineers and scientists routinely use Newton's calculus and physics, very few of them have what it takes to have invented it on their own.
Of course, some say the Buddha's life story has been exaggerated or fabricated, but that's a different question.
At times they aren't entirely consistent, however, and they include extreme misogynist views. This is probably not down to the Buddha himself, however.
There is no limit to our spiritual development it is progressive and infinite. We may experience epiphanies, insights, realizations, and that light bulb going on over our head from time to time, but there is not a point where we suddenly can say this is it for if we do it will slip through our fingers.
I like the description of "tightening" here.
Always makes me think of this topic.