The word "enlightenment" in a Buddhist context has been used so frequently and in so many ways, many people may not realize that this use of the word began fairly recently, and has a complex cultural and literary history.
Though 19th century translators of Buddhist texts sometimes used the word "enlightenment" to refer to Gautama's moment of spiritual awakening on seeing the morning star, the first time a large number of general English readers saw the word used as a spiritual term was with the publication Essays on Zen Buddhism First Series by D.T. Suzuki in the 1930s. Before that time the word referred to the 18th century rationalist movement in Europe that strove to understand the world using logic and reason.
D.T. Suzuki used the word "enlightenment" to translate the Japanese term satori¸ and his recounting of the enlightenment stories from the Zen koan literature made quite a splash among intellectual elites at the time. From that time forward, the idea of a sudden transformative spiritual experience became embedded in Western cultural imagination. It is worth nothing that D.T. Suzuki paid relatively little attention in his writings to the Buddhist practices of precepts, mindfulness, meditation, and the monastic life.
The best-selling books of Alan Watts in the 1950s, and Philip Kapleau's The Three Pillars of Zen in the 1960s, filled in some of D.T. Suzuki's omissions (Kapleau's book had good instruction about how to meditate, for example). But it was not until the arrival of Asian teachers in the late 1960s, that students began to understand that Buddhism was about much more than a single epiphany; it was a lifelong path of spiritual development which included both sudden and gradual transformations.
It was Shunryu Suzuki (not D.T. Suzuki), who said in the 1960s, when asked directly about satori, "Satori is not the part of Zen that needs to be stressed." (This was quoted in the introduction to the paperback edition of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind). In other words, he did not deny the reality or importance of satori; he just pointed out that satori, when separated from rest of Buddhist practice, has a tendency to devolve into just another object of desire, something the ego wants for itself.
"Satori" is the Japanese reading of the Chinese character "wu," which is in turn a Chinese translation of the Sanskrit "bodhi," which does indeed mean spiritual insight or awakening. We see this root term in words such as "bodhisattva" (literally enlightenment-being) or "bodhicitta" (the thought of enlightenment). Some Buddhist scholars (Edward Conze, for example) have felt that the Zen emphasis on satori as the sine qua non of Buddhist experience is somewhat outside the mainstream of Buddhist tradition. The Buddha himself taught an eight-fold path with many facets, all of them important. The Tibetan and Vipassana approaches each have detailed descriptions of the gradual stages of spiritual development. Even within Zen, there were various schools and approaches; not all of them emphasized satori as primary.
During the psychedelic revolution of the 1960s the sudden alteration of consciousness brought on by LSD and other drugs dovetailed neatly into the satori stories of Zen. Many veterans of psychedelics sought out Buddhist teachers to see if meditation could reproduce those altered states. Many Buddhist teachers and writers worked to counteract that view. That may have been the context of Shunyru Suzuki's remark about satori. Lama Anagarika Govinda, a German-born Buddhist teacher popular at the time, likened the psychedelic experience to a deep rut in the center of a wide road. Once you have carved that rut, he said, all your other spiritual experiences tend to roll down into it.
In the 1960s book Conversations Christian and Buddhist by Catholic priest Aelred Graham, he recounts the time Yamada Mumon Roshi, an eminent Japanese Zen Master at the time, took LSD. Mumon Roshi's comment about the experience was, "This is form is emptiness, but this is not emptiness is form."
Shunryu Suzuki had his own teaching on this point. He said, "'Form is emptiness' is relatively easy to understand; 'emptiness is form' takes a lifetime."
It will be interesting to see how the next generation of Buddhist teachers and practitioners deal with the cultural history (and baggage) of the word "enlightenment." Maybe they will bypass it; maybe they will change it. I have a feeling that whatever they do they will come up with their own rather different understanding (and possibly mis-understanding) of this deep matter.
I myself have had forty years to ponder Shunryu Suzuki's comment, "Satori is not the part of Zen that needs to be stressed." As I see it, it is a little like standing on a hilltop with a good friend at dawn, watching the sun rise and saying, "Look, the sun is rising." It's not really necessary to say so. It is obvious; that is why you are there. It's best to just stick with it, watch closely and see what happens.
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This state of consciousness (and those that follow it) gives rise to all the qualities that Buddhism associates with "enlightenment" as side-effects of the existence of the physiological state.
If so, seems would be a great tool to use in presidential races (though wtf to do if, say, a Sarah Palen EEG said she was only candidate enlightened?).
To rephrase the rest of my message: The simple practice of alternating deep rest during TM with activity eventually gives rise to a state where the practitioner never loses pure consciousness, neither during waking, dreaming nor sleeping.
This state, according to TM theory, includes the qualities that Buddhists consider enlightenment, simply because that is the nature of the state.
The state is natural. The same EEG patterns found during TM show up more and more outside of TM over the years. In general, the pattern is less pronounced in the general population, but recent studies on world champion athletes, professional classic musicians and high-functioning business managers, show that the most successful people in these fields tend to show EEG patterns similar to people who have practiced TM for 7 years while their less successful comrades show more average EEG patterns.
knowing americans there has to be a new flavor of the month new age buzz word.
There is a saying from the old Masters of the East. "Buddhism is easy to understand but difficult to practice; the opposite of Taoism". I onlly have compassion for you, not make fun of you it is only your ego thst got hurt. may you be well and happy and may you experience the Four Noble Truth through practice. By the way this is for your personal attention you might as well not post it as you have deleted the earlier replies it will embaress your ego.
What else comes out in HuffPo on Buddhism nowadays?
funny how that works is it not?
The interaction of substance, which is ethic in nature, vitality, and also what might best be described as divine intelligence (not to be confused with intellectualism) gives rise to form. Now form appears as emptiness as it is ethic in nature.
It needs to be stated that emptiness is not nothingness, as some westerns believe about Buddhist teachings. Also vitality (i.e. synonym for life) is a better term than energy to describe these attributes of Infinite Mind.
As Mind, Spirit, God, Isness, Absolute, Infinite, expresses its dynamic potential of vitality and intelligence this gives rise to form which we view as a material universe.
Form is not an illusion as some teach but it is temporal and transient. Now the appearance of form is not reality as all appearances have an underlying reality. This “might†be called the illusion of appearances.
We cannot state that all is an illusion as all appearances are a manifestation of the Real so therefore they are Real but temporal and transient which gives the impression of being an illusion. All experiences must be serial experiences and therefore time is a necessity and not an illusion as some teach.
When we are able to see these illusions of appearances or the underlying reality of appearances, no rebirth is necessary, unless on a “mission†to help others awaken to their own potential. Hope this helps. :-)
this quote is very well stated. a realization is a sudden transformation that removes all doubt. gradual transformations might be called discoveries and in sights etc.
realizations are rare one can live an entire life and never experience a realization. but with many lives then indeed realizations occur.
doubters get defensive. many comments on huff post are personal attacks and defensive. this is doubt trying to look like certainity.
(Shunryu Suzuki had his own teaching on this point. He said, "'Form is emptiness' is relatively easy to understand; 'emptiness is form' takes a lifetime." )
Below is an interesting poem on emptiness is form. emptiness to form may take many lifetimes to understand, if ever.
"Who really knows?
Who will here proclaim it?
Whence was it produced?
Whence is this creation?
The gods came afterwards, with the creation of this universe.
Who then knows whence it has arisen?†veda.
Always look forward to reading your articles. well written and easy to follow.
IT IS a Spiritual Reality we really live in, but thru Mind Consciousness and Thought, these divine gifts, the Physical world appears real to us. It is an illusion, but we can enjoy this illusion, make it better by the thoughts we have. The truth is out now, sorry. Even if you do not print this, too many of us know the ultimate truth and we do not call attention to ourselves.
be careful with that word illusion.
phenomena as serial experiences that give us time are real as they are manifestations of the real but they are temporal and transient.
One of the great pitfalls on the so called "spiritual" path and one the ego will jump to grab on to in order to slow down time is the perceived prize in the word "Enlightenment". It is not the experience of enlightenment that brings about great wisdom, rather it is the desire for great wisdom that brings about the experience of enlightenment. The irony is that by searching for enlightenment one puts another obstacle on the road to great wisdom.
In my experience the process of experiencing great wisdom comes from the ability to ask questions based on right where you are in life, and then be very present to what happens on your journey. How badly do you want to know? How intent are you asking for this wisdom? Are you really read for the answers? These are the important questions related to your quest. Then watch were you end up putting your attention as the world brings you the information you so dearly craved in every one of your self-created experiences. Can you see the meaning in what surrounds you in each moment. No moment is wasted in this process. Not even this one right now ;)
loved your last sentence. nothing is lost. perfection is always. :-)
Again, that has nothing whatsoever to do with how "enlightenment" is understood in Buddhism.