Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.
There is no path to enlightenment! That's good news!
@Jeffrey said:
The path is to not harm others and take care of your loved ones. And enjoy and study etc...
This path is called life, and we all are walking it. Some just think that they must harm others to care for their loved ones, or take something that is not theirs to enjoy and study
@Jeffrey said:
The path is to not harm others and take care of your loved ones. And enjoy and study etc...
Could we say the path is to enjoy life, do not harm self or others, help others when able, take care of your (our) loved ones, show compassion to family, friends and strangers and study...?
I think it was expressed once as: 'Love thyself; love others as if thyself.'
Peace to all
0
DavidA human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First NationsVeteran
If enlightenment is seen as a life-changing event, then couldn't it ONLY be sudden? In the sense that suddenly some insight could change your life and your thought patterns upside down and make u see things differently. How could such a thing be a slow gradual process?
Enlightenment is a process. The manifestation of which may be sudden or an emergence. It is not dissipation of self per se. It is more the dissipation of the illusion of self as separate from other(s). As long as we have cognition, we have 'self'. It is the relationship of 'self' to all else that changes. When speaking of 'nothingness', it is the nothingness of the wall separating self from other or from all else. The wall is a delusion of separateness. We are individual and we are interconnected, interdependent with each and all.
Another thread referred to the separateness as 'bubbles' - that we all are within our own bubble. In the awakening that the bubble is a perceptual illusion, we begin the awakening to the reality - the awakening of the Buddha nature - Enlightenment. The awakening to the awareness of the bubble as an illusion is the awakening of the self-awareness that in turn enables us to open the door(s) of the path to go beyond self-awareness to the greater path of the Bodhisattva to aid others and awaken our Buddha.
Yes enlightenment is life-changing. It is so because the process to attaining enlightenment is itself life changing.
Peace to all
5
silverIn the beginning there was nothing, and then it exploded.USA, Left coast.Veteran
@Lionduck - what you said about it makes more sense than anything I've ever read - I know I've read too much on other forums where there's tons of contention so I've been very confused about it. Even though I don't fully get the big picture, I think it's coming into focus better for what you wrote about it.
The word 'emptiness' is often better than 'nothingness' which sometimes seems to confuse with its absolute nature.
Of course it is life changing.
@how said:
If that process of dissipation started with your birth and finished with enlightenment,** who **would call that process fast?
Tee hee.
As an outed Nirvanic I can talk from personal experience:
The moment itself was seconds, probably less then a minute. It felt like a relaxing or as often described a lotus/rose blooming. It was completely unexpected.
The next week was quite intense as many things turned from intellectual to experiental knowing
The next years involved effort to understand that it could not be 'this simple'. It is inherently nothing of any consequence as well as everything. It is during this time that the dangers of ego become very apparant.
What may be surprising is not that it is 'the end' but rather a good beginning ...
Comments
This path is called life, and we all are walking it. Some just think that they must harm others to care for their loved ones, or take something that is not theirs to enjoy and study
Could we say the path is to enjoy life, do not harm self or others, help others when able, take care of your (our) loved ones, show compassion to family, friends and strangers and study...?
I think it was expressed once as: 'Love thyself; love others as if thyself.'
Peace to all
I think any path worth following ends up with some version of the Golden Rule at its core.
Pretty much
If enlightenment is seen as a life-changing event, then couldn't it ONLY be sudden? In the sense that suddenly some insight could change your life and your thought patterns upside down and make u see things differently. How could such a thing be a slow gradual process?
@techie
To say enlightenment is a life changing event, is simply you stating that it's sudden.
Enlightenment is actually just the dissipation of the "you" that would say such a thing.
If that process of dissipation started with your birth and finished with enlightenment,** who **would call that process fast?
Could you provide the basis for this statement?
From what I've heard enlightenment can be an atomic explosion realisation or the gradual falling away of belief. .Until not even nothing remains.
How can there be a dissipation of a self that's changing all the time?
Isn't dissipation, 'change'...?
Enlightenment is a process. The manifestation of which may be sudden or an emergence. It is not dissipation of self per se. It is more the dissipation of the illusion of self as separate from other(s). As long as we have cognition, we have 'self'. It is the relationship of 'self' to all else that changes. When speaking of 'nothingness', it is the nothingness of the wall separating self from other or from all else. The wall is a delusion of separateness. We are individual and we are interconnected, interdependent with each and all.
Another thread referred to the separateness as 'bubbles' - that we all are within our own bubble. In the awakening that the bubble is a perceptual illusion, we begin the awakening to the reality - the awakening of the Buddha nature - Enlightenment. The awakening to the awareness of the bubble as an illusion is the awakening of the self-awareness that in turn enables us to open the door(s) of the path to go beyond self-awareness to the greater path of the Bodhisattva to aid others and awaken our Buddha.
Yes enlightenment is life-changing. It is so because the process to attaining enlightenment is itself life changing.
Peace to all
@Lionduck - what you said about it makes more sense than anything I've ever read - I know I've read too much on other forums where there's tons of contention so I've been very confused about it. Even though I don't fully get the big picture, I think it's coming into focus better for what you wrote about it.
Enlightenment is just a sign pointing towards selflessness and sufferings cessation.
Often seen on the path surrounded by practitioners more interested in the examination of that sign than in simply continuing on where it's pointing.
Agree with @silver. Very well said @Lionduck
The word 'emptiness' is often better than 'nothingness' which sometimes seems to confuse with its absolute nature.
Of course it is life changing.
Tee hee.
As an outed Nirvanic I can talk from personal experience:
What may be surprising is not that it is 'the end' but rather a good beginning ...