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A question on Enlightenment...
johnathan
Canada Veteran
I was folding laundry and mulling over Buddhist stuff in my head and I came to start wondering; Did Buddha grow to see everything clearly which resulted in his Enlightenment or did he see just about everything clearly, enough so that suddenly enlightenment hit and then everything else became clear?
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Comments
But it's a bit 'chicken and egg'.....
Is it possible that one might reach "enlightenment not "seeing the truth of" certain aspects of Buddhism and at the point of enlightenment "see the truth" and know that what they thought was false is actually true...
And if it is the other way around then perhaps they will eventually see the truth of things in its time, not now simply because other Buddhists say it is necessary to believe it to reach enlightenment... But when more of the puzzle is solved, with only a few pieces remaining it is easier to see the whole picture and thus easier to place those last few pieces...
I don't know, I guess I've just read to many threads lately that sound like absolutism and fear mongering (if you don't believe this about Buddhism you'll never reach Enlightenment" type stuff...
Two things - First, the chicken/egg question is too easy: Dinosaurs were laying eggs long before chickens came to be.
Second, after 29 years, in my experience Buddhism is not nearly as much about what you know, as it is about what you do (practice). It doesn't even seem to matter hugely what practice you do, so long as you do your practice. This is my own opinion, of course; YMMV.
If you can explain the difference between these two states of mind then you've answered your own question. And you will also have reached Enlightenment yourself.
It is my understanding of Zen that, in the Soto Zen tradition, you'd be answered by a shrug or just silence by the Master until you figured it out yourself. In the Rinzai Zen tradition, you'd be pushed into a water puddle or have some other similarly abrupt and rather bizarre response- something like the question "Does the person working in the factory that made that piece of clothing you were folding have Buddha-nature?" Or if you were folding the clothing with a Master the answer would be something like: "Hand me that hanger, will you?".
So much intellectualizing over such small and obscure points.
Be that as it may, my response to your original question stands. If the shoe fits, wear it. If it doesn't, don't.
I suggest that you use your original question as posted as your own personal koan until you yourself reach enlightenment.
And I myself am just some jerk on an internet bulletin board. No big thing.
At least you know who you are...
I resemble that!