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The East
Without a doubt, the first religion that comes to mind when the word "enlightenment" is heard would be Buddhism. What most of us in the Western world don't realize is that the idea of enlightenment is common all over the Eastern Hemisphere.

Enlightenment is defined here as reaching a mental state of clarity and understanding. Some go as far as to say "being united with God." Major religions that believe in the concept of enlightenment include Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism. In Buddhism, enlightenment can be reached through meditation, sometimes with the help of meditative aids such as koans (thought invoking phrases) or mandalas (symbolic patterns). In Hinduism, Moksha (the Hindu word for enlightenment) is achieved through yoga, mantras (reciting syllabic words) or various kinds of self-deprivation.

The West
In the western world there are several spiritual traditions that take a different path to the same goal. Occultism, including Thelema, Hermeticism and Alchemy each refer to the enlightened state as "Adepthood." In Occult Traditions, this goal is reached by using magic and the power of the Gods to cleans and purify oneself until the mind is clear enough to "connect" with God.

In the Western Occult Tradition, there is a group of enlightened persons from the past known as the Ascended Masters. These are people who attained enlightenment in life and stuck around in spirit to teach and help others attain enlightenment. (Buddhism calls this state bodhisattva.) Some Western Occultists include in this list Jesus, Confucius, Kwan Yin, the alchemist Comte de Saint-Germain, and Vaivasvata Manu, the Hindu mythological figure. Upon death, those who have reached enlightenment can choose to "pass through the veil" into the beyond or become an Ascended Master.

Elder Worship
There are several religions, both in the East and the West, where deceased ancestors are revered, almost to the point of being gods. Ancestor worship is still commonplace in the Asia and Africa, and was been practiced by the Native Americans.

A colorful modern example is Vodun, more commonly known as Voodoo. When someone dies, they become a spirit known as a loa. The more worshippers a loa has, the more powerful it becomes. There are thousands of different loas, but a few have risen to the top and are revered by all Vodun practitioners. The loa sticks around, acting as a god as long as it has followers. When a loa has no followers, it leaves this world to reside with God on a far off island beyond the great ocean. Loas can leave this world upon death, but most stay to lend power to their children.

This concept is very similar to the Buddhist idea of bodhisattvas, with some minor differences. Has anyone made any other similar connections between different religions, pertaining to enlightenment or the like?

This is true, both in the East and the West, though Occultists will claim there is a point where Adepthood is reached. From there, one continues to improve as an Adept. I'm not sure if it's the same in Buddhism.


Funny... this fits Judaism as well... God breathed the Breath of Life into Adam to give him life. In ancient Jewish law, life is measured by breathing, and not heartbeat or brain patterns. I'm sure there's other religions that believe similarly.


That's very neat... I'd like to learn more about that. Got any good reading links?


That's also similar to the Hindu idea that Brahman manifests himself to humans as the many different Hindu deities. 3nodding

Occultists believe in a distant power called "the All" which can be seen as God. The All is literally everything. There are archetypical ideas in the spirit world that take the form of various angels and gods from different religions to communicate with humans on behalf of the All, taking the form that best fits the person's belief.

Oh yes. In Buddhism there are many levels or stages of enlightenment from that of an Arhat, to the ten stages of the Bodhisattva, to the Buddha. There are also Dharmapalas ("Dharma Protectors"), Yidams (Celestial Bodhisattvas - Gods who attained enlightenment), Ascended Teachers (Human beings who reached nirvana and were reborn outside of samsara), et cetera.

The quality and degree of their enlightenment varies, with Buddha being considered the pinacle potential of enlightenment.


That is fascinating! Especially because in the yoga sutras, it's said that a person is born only with so many breaths and once you use them all up, you die. So there's emphasis on relaxing and controlling your breathing rather than hyperventilating all the time because of stress. I did not know that about Jewish law before! heart


Unfortunately I can't seem to find many good links online for information about the various Pure Lands or Realms. I get most of my information out of books, but I did find the following through Google:




Ah yes! Very much so! biggrin


Ah yes, and in Occultism there sometimes are things called servitors or egregores, yes? In Tibetan Buddhism there are entities called tulpa, which is a thought form created through willpower. The way you can tell if you've created one successfully is if a realized lama can see it, because only those who have attained enough realizations to clear away the mental obscurations preventing clear-seeing can perceive such beings, or so it is generally said. xd