Enlightned for one day?

sadsoul

Is it possible to be enlightned for a temporary period. I remember two days in my life three years ago, each happening three months apart. Most bizarre experience in my life. Everything was clear my heart felt pure i was warm and reflective. and people came up to me said i seemed different.i was giving off a radiance only i could feel. It felt like love. When i walked home people would smile at me even Kids said hello to me! How i wish i could be in that state Again.

Cloud

Enlightenment isn't a feeling of radiance; it could be said you experienced ecstasy for a temporary period. That's just a feeling. Enlightenment has to deal with the eradication if ignorance and the arising of wisdom of the nature of mind and all phenomena in its place.

formermonkJohn

it is possible to have short tastes of enlightenment or insight, the good news is with continued devotion to truth and following the path, these short periods become longer and more sustained, until at the top of the path enlightenment is all encompassing, i too have times just like you; i think we are on to something good, sincerely john

cloud, youre raining on our parade!!

Cloud

Not trying to. Feeling the way the OP described is a great thing, but if we get confused about what enlightenment is then we'll have trouble aiming for it, sorta like people get sucked into the bliss of jhana and choose to progress no further, becoming jhana-junkies.

Also the desire to attain states again (as mentioned in the OP) can be a cause for suffering... we may never be able to find such states by pure will/desire alone and may suffer from the continual desire without fulfillment. Rather if we work on cultivating wisdom, the state of the mind will clear and lead to a peaceful abiding as result. This is the only sure way to end suffering, by the eradication if ignorance / arising of wisdom of phenomena.

formermonkJohn

but good feelings, ecstasy and peace full loving feelings are part of enlightenment, too, just not the whole thing as you point out

Cloud

Good feelings are ultimately also an attachment to be left behind. Nirvana is beyond pain and pleasure, seeking neither extreme, abiding in the in-between and not craving or clinging. If our aim is to attain pleasant feelings, then we are aiming for pleasant feelings and not enlightenment (yet). Wisdom brings clarity, and clarity brings peace. Initially we may find pleasure from our practice, but that pleasure does not necessarily equate with non-suffering, and can in fact be a source of suffering if we attach to it. That's all.

formermonkJohn

one of the main symptoms of a peaceful mind is not thinking all the time, taking increasingly longer breaks between thoughts, a mind racing 300 miles an hour would be hell to me, but thats exactly what my mind did before i started meditating. oh and did i mention life was hell to me back then.

Cloud

Yeah, that's one fruit of the meditative practice!

newtech

Hello.

No, it is not possible to be enlightned for a short period.
Thats just your best day of the year ..reasons can be many.

Much Metta.

formermonkJohn

i disagree

Jeffrey

I think you agree but you two mean something different about enlightenment. Just being argumentative here haha!

sadsoul

Surely once your enlighetened you have to work to remain enlightened? Or is that it? Cloud i matched closely to your description of enlightened ...I probably wasn't enlightened but for that single day the umiverse the cosmo aligned itself to me, i felt interdependent. but you guys are right it was 3 years ago so best not get attached.

Jeffrey

It could have been a glimpse that can inspire you but they are right that getting attached can just make you out of touch.

Nidish

Even I have had such flashes... But for me, these have not been for as long as a day
It will be very brief, but I would enjoy them immensely - not because I feel good or something, but, I don't know - i just can't explain... It is bliss in every manner... Every idea in my mind will be crystal clear and I won't have any doubt... I can't remember how long the "states" persisted.. Maybe a half to one and a half hours... But I can tell that it was not as long as a day...


And also I would like to ask whether a real enlightened person can "return" back into samsara - start suffering?

Jeffrey

Its hard to have the idea when bliss is mentioned what experience someone is talking about. Just feeling continuously good seems like it would be missing something like in my situation I have a loved one grieving. I am a more distant relationship from the one they lost, and so I feel like I am missing something and don't know what to do. Like I am lost in a different way from the one grieving. Anyways thats what I thought of.

So then what would bliss be like when you were surrounded by suffering? When I become a little more aware my reaction is to fear that I am doing something wrong or that something bad is going to happen to "me".

sadsoul

Bliss is a great word that probably wraps up how I felt. But dont get me wrong it was not a "perfect day". I worked I went home I ate and slept. Nothing "major" occured. Someone made a negative comment which I remember I took it in my stride. I am sure that day I could help anyone, although at the time I did'nt feel obliged too. Back then I knew 0 about buddhism. It can not be enlightment because I never meditated, but it could have been an awakening/inspiration for me. Would be interested to know if once your enlightened you can go back to Samsara as Nidish questioned.

chanratt

i had a short period of feeling nothing but stillness and oneness. it happened on my drive home from work one day listening to a dharma talk from william nyogen roshi. it lasted for only 15 mins and was just like a meditative state, which i believe was a small glimpse of enlightenment

Simonthepilgrim

These moments of bliss are useful. They remind us of the possibility when times get really hard - and they will. Discouragement is an integral part of the 'road', just as in any learning experience. They are not to be chased after, particularly as they tend to arise unbidden, nor clung to because they melt away then like morning dew. The memory of them may sustain us and give us cause, once again, to return to a grateful mind.

MarkMe

These experiences remind me of an experience I had, but who knows? Well, I was having some very unusual experiences - I thought I was enlightened, only maybe a little different - a little sense of hallucination in there, but also having some clear and peaceful and blissful aspects to it - an altogether strange experience. I interpreted it as enlightenment.

I got on the phone and called a friend, because I wanted to get some kind of second opinion or confirmation about this. I thought it was somehow queer but also enlightened, and this is what I said to one or two people. I ended up driving to a not-too-distant ashram to see someone and check further on the matter there.

Looking back, I would say there was one thing I might have asked myself about it - was there a me experiencing it? Looking back, I would say there was. In thinking about these things today, it occurs to me that the ego has to destroy itself, and this could lead to dreaming of one's own demise as a positive track, and then maybe even developing a positive attitude about one's own demise.

Put another way, that perhaps the ego can dawn the outfit of an enlightened being, because it wants to be enlightened, too. But there is no one there. There is no "me" in this condition.

Nidish

But what if you don't remember whether the ego existed or not?? For I don't... I just can't make out how or what it was that I was feeling... But it sure did seem good...

MarkMe

Hi Nidish,
Good days provide evidence of what they're like. Or good half-hours. Perhaps the satisfaction is what the experience is about.

[DeletedUser]

A short moment of experience is possible and would not lead you to doubt. A real enlightened person has no samsara or enlightenment in every moment. If for one day, you would never fall back on dualism, and there would be no samsara or enlightenment in every moment thereon.