Welcome to Gaia! ::

From a Zen standpoint, we've never been not enlightened. Seeking enlightenment takes you further away, because it isn't you becoming anything. Enlightenment is nothing outside your own body and practice.

How do you know you're enlightened? I have a few people I could ask... but I have a feeling that it's anecdotal.

I met one of the three ordained teachers of the premier Rinzai Master in the US. The man exuded loving kindness - but he was very stoic and very aloof. I enjoyed talking with him but it was quite odd.

And anyone that becomes enlightened is a Buddha. But since we're all already enlightened, we're all already Buddhas. It's just a matter of stripping down the delusion and the ego, not building up the enlightenment.

Hey i really enjoy this topic.......and I really luv the zen view on this topic I am thinking that maybe that is the buddhist way I will go.....but I am not sure yet

Yes. And No.
The reality is that you and I don't exist in the way we see each other or the ways that we see ourselves. That self is impermanent, and transient and illusionary.

Enlightenment just is, and it also isn't.

There is a koan associated with it... What is enlightenment?

Enlightenment is problematic because of its meaning in English, but in a strictly buddhist context, Enlightenment isn't a destination as you've pointed out. It's a constant state of being, it's a natural state. All things are enlightened, but that enlightenment is obscured by the three poisons.

It helps to think of enlightenment (or "buddha-nature") as a blank canvas. The canvas is the natural state of the canvas. When you cover it with paint, no matter how horrible or beautiful the painting (the qualities of samsara) it's still resting on the foundation of the natural state.

To "become" enlightened would be to strip the paint away to reveal that natural state once again. Which was never really lost, because it's always been there.


In non-self you can more easily abide in the enlightened state. Selfishness, whether fiercely egocentric or subtle self-introspection, tends to give the mind the power to obsess over the past, or the possibilities, or the future.

I find myself catching my mind all the time thinking about what has happened and what could happen. The most common story being "if I do this, then everything will be fine" or "if only this would happen, I could be happy." This sort of thinking is focusing on the self and is a failure to focus on the present moment.

That probably made no sense.

Definitely read Siddhartha. It's impossible to understand what elightenment IS without being enlightened. That's how I understand it, anyway.

You have found the 1 fundimental flaw in The Buddha's teaching.... sorry....