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So, does a modern Buddhist still aspire to become enlightened?
Do you as a modern Buddhists still aspire into becoming enlightenment? If not, then why do you follow Buddhism... 
I would like to hear your views on the subject...
I would like to hear your views on the subject... 0
Comments
To the extent that I aspire to anything, it's common sense. Buddhism as a practice strikes me as seriously common-sensical.
Aspiring for "enlightenment" goes without saying. That is, liberation from the cycle of suffering. I think all Buddhists practice for that reason.
The Buddha has disciples of various types and levels. There are people who wanted to practice the Eightfold Path in full to experience their full potential in this very life. There are many people who want to practice various aspects of the teaching to a certain degree to improve the quality of their daily life.
Practices such as abandoning negative words, thoughts, action, and doing good deeds contribute to the world we live in and is beneficial oneself as well . It serves as a cause for positive effects to come about.
Practices such as being fully in the moment, appreciating what is without the interference of thought can increase contentment in every moment of our daily life.
Practicing meditation can promote physical , mental, and emotional well-being.
I am not attached to enlightenment and just practice for the benefits that can be experienced here and now. But when we just focus on developing the cause and conditions for enlightenment, it is likely to unfold on its own due to cause and effect:
"For a person endowed with virtue, consummate in virtue, there is no need for an act of will, 'May freedom from remorse arise in me.' It is in the nature of things that freedom from remorse arises in a person endowed with virtue, consummate in virtue.
"For a person free from remorse, there is no need for an act of will, 'May joy arise in me.' It is in the nature of things that joy arises in a person free from remorse.
"For a joyful person, there is no need for an act of will, 'May rapture arise in me.' It is in the nature of things that rapture arises in a joyful person.
"For a rapturous person, there is no need for an act of will, 'May my body be serene.' It is in the nature of things that a rapturous person grows serene in body.
"For a person serene in body, there is no need for an act of will, 'May I experience pleasure.' It is in the nature of things that a person serene in body experiences pleasure.
"For a person experiencing pleasure, there is no need for an act of will, 'May my mind grow concentrated.' It is in the nature of things that the mind of a person experiencing pleasure grows concentrated.
"For a person whose mind is concentrated, there is no need for an act of will, 'May I know & see things as they actually are.' It is in the nature of things that a person whose mind is concentrated knows & sees things as they actually are.
"For a person who knows & sees things as they actually are, there is no need for an act of will, 'May I feel disenchantment.' It is in the nature of things that a person who knows & sees things as they actually are feels disenchantment.
"For a person who feels disenchantment, there is no need for an act of will, 'May I grow dispassionate.' It is in the nature of things that a person who feels disenchantment grows dispassionate.
"For a dispassionate person, there is no need for an act of will, 'May I realize the knowledge & vision of release.' It is in the nature of things that a dispassionate person realizes the knowledge & vision of release.
"In this way, dispassion has knowledge & vision of release as its purpose, knowledge & vision of release as its reward. Disenchantment has dispassion as its purpose, dispassion as its reward. Knowledge & vision of things as they actually are has disenchantment as its purpose, disenchantment as its reward. Concentration has knowledge & vision of things as they actually are as its purpose, knowledge & vision of things as they actually are as its reward. Pleasure has concentration as its purpose, concentration as its reward. Serenity has pleasure as its purpose, pleasure as its reward. Rapture has serenity as its purpose, serenity as its reward. Joy has rapture as its purpose, rapture as its reward. Freedom from remorse has joy as its purpose, joy as its reward. Skillful virtues have freedom from remorse as their purpose, freedom from remorse as their reward.
"In this way, mental qualities lead on to mental qualities, mental qualities bring mental qualities to their consummation, for the sake of going from the near to the Further Shore." - Cetana Sutta: An Act of Will (AN 11.2)
With metta,
But I don't focus on it-- I try more to focus on practise without any goal in mind, and I let the path take me where it will. Otherwise enlightenment becomes just another attachment (hence all those strange Zen paradoxes about to attaining the way is to lose it, etc.)
Dogen wrote (more than once) that practise IS enlightenment. Maybe one day I'll realise just what he meant.
Cessation of suffering is the Goal.
The Buddha taught:
I come to teach the origin of suffering and the cessation of suffering.
Enlightenment is a possible result and a bonus.
But its not an aspiration.
It is a consequence.
Personally as I said I would fall under the first category.
Keeping in mind we already are our true nature. All enlightenment is about is experiential knowledge of this.
The trick is you cannot get it by grasping for it. You get it by letting go.
All that said, I'm not Soto Zen really, though that is where I started.
I am Jodo Shinshu and we do not aspire for enlightenment in this life, but believe we are assured attaining nirvana at the end of this life.
It is best we are accutely aware of suffering or unsatisfactoriness we need to cure in our lives.
Otherwise, to aspire for enlightenment & other glittering things like jhanas will not lead far, if anywhere.
Just like department stores fill their cash registers with $$$ by selling glittering things, there are Buddhist teachers who fill alms bowls & monastery coffers by selling glittering things.
Take care
That wanting to know is part of my suffering. The end of this suffering is one thing to have some small interest in.
Yeah, but no, but yeah, but no.
Mundane enlightenment is the idea that nibanna is merely complete dis-attachment and the path to this is important, practical, methodological but not in any sense "out of this world."
This is what I believe, that maybe many buddhists are enlightened or close to it, but, because they expect supramundane enlightenment, they don't see that they are.
It is not an idea that is well accepted it seems, I was wondering why that was.
Right now our minds are based on tanha/thirst and we're driven by this thirst; enlightenment is a mind based purely on knowing, with the tanha cut off, and so it's foreign to our thinking. It's certainly not just understanding the teachings and saying "Yup, that's how it is.", it's an actual transformation that leads the mind to ultimate peace. If there's not that ultimate peace, it's not the Buddha's type of enlightenment. Enlightenment is here and now, it is clarity of vision and release, regardless of what one thinks it changes about death (no longer being literally reborn etc.).
>>>The only point I'd bring up is if you think you're not led around by tanha/thirst, you don't understand how subtle and pervasive it is.
I disagree, based on my experience and understanding.
>>>>Everything you do is based on it, or almost everything (just as dukkha is very subtle as well). This thirst, conditioned by and then supported by ignorance, continues to drive us; we are never truly still.
Maybe that is how it is for you, it is not that way with me. My issues with dharma theory and practice are many, but they are not do with the subdjugation of tanha. Sure, I let it hook me often, but it certainly does not drive me, though it used to.
I found that when I understood emptiness, impermanence and interdependence in a simple and uncluttered way then Tanha as a motivator became easy extinguish. Then it remains, but as a mere annoyance.