Enlightenment. The Impossible Dream.

More questioning of my Buddhist beliefs.

In our Buddhist Triratna community folk often talk of aiming for enlightenment but despite years of practice and intense study nobody claims to be enlightened. Why is this? You don't have to read much Buddhist literature about the Buddha to find numerous examples of instant enlightenment.

Have modern Buddhists lost the plot? Have we somehow elevated enlightenment to something completely different from the original concept?

So what might be a definition closer to the understanding at the time of the Buddha? Could it just be a moment of transcendence in which we see everything more clearly, a moment when the mind is unaffected by the defilement's of greed, hatred and delusion? A moment when the separation of duality is absent? If so most of us could claim to have had moments of enlightenment. I am sure many people have had what are called ' Peak Moments ' Maybe the Zen idea of sudden realisation during ordinary activities is closer to the meaning the Buddha may have intended. It is the nature of peak moments that they can arise at any time and don't depend on any specific belief system.

If you believe as I do that Buddhism is not a religion then this makes sense. If then on the other hand you believe that Buddhism is a religion then it is the essence of religion to present some kind of doctrine which is either impossible to verify or only attainable for the chosen few. Heaven and enlightenment for example require blind faith to square the circle. The Buddha explicitly warned against blind faith!

However you define enlightenment there can be little doubt that meditation opens up and prepares the mind to be more receptive to moments of trancendence, however that state may be described.