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What is "enlightenment"
Whenever I talk about zen, Buddhism, and most of all "enlightenment" especially in my World religions class I always get this, deer caught in the head lights look from all the students that heard it, as if they'd never even heard about such a thing before. Recently this past week we were going over Buddhism/Confucianism/Taoism and the teacher shortly got onto enlightenment in the different sects of buddhism, somewhat of what it means to each sect, what it could mean to different leaders, all that. I have read one book and many, many pages, articles and insights about the subject of what is "enlightenment"?

A lot of the students in my class figure it as the same as reaching heaven, or just being really smart, knowing everything, some say it's knowing nothing, some say both. Now, don't take the wrong idea about my fellow students, they're a, for the most part, bright bunch, and I believe all their answers to the question are just as plausible as anyone else's, but here's what I think of it.

In my opinion enlightenment is a word without letters. I personally try to stray away from all that hibbledy bibbledy babble that zen buddhists tend to spew to ever continuously confuse the masses on what it actually is. I think there is a better way to get the idea across. A mountain is as high as a dark stone falls, is definately a confusing means of getting the idea to people. Enlightenment to me is, other than what I said above, too simple to be explained, I've heard it said that some zen buddhists don't even like to call it enlightenment because that word for it just doesn't serve the experience due justice, some say that there is no word in the human language that can explain it, I agree with this, and at the same time I don't.

There is no word that will get close enough to give a good idea of what the feeling is, I don't believe I've experienced it yet, actually I don't think I ever will, no one ever has, and no one will in the future, I will never know "enlightenment", only a process of thought that was difficult to put a label on, it's not something one can label, "enlightenment" isn't the wrong word for it, but certainly not the right, as a matter of fact, there is no right. If you didn't know I'm actually killing myself to put this thought of "purple" into a good explanation without even experiencing this "purple". See that there, that's what we call enlightenment, "purple" is the exact same thing, always has been, always will be, even before purple was a word, that's what it was, that thing.

How does one explain the nothing that the universe never knew and won't be that I'm feeling all the time and never? Is there a word for it, is "it" it, can I put it into a question? can it fit in a bread box? have many of you ever even seen a bread box, if you have would my process fit in it, get back to the world on that one.

YOU SEE! XD "enlightenment" can't be explained, just a bunch of gibberish, my gosh whats the big deal about the damn thing? blah blah blah dribble dribble babble babble babble! there, I just explained to you, "enlightenment".

I don't think it's even a thought, without it, it's non-existence is mighty and glorified. Back again to the thing I'm going over, I think...this feeling of enlightenment can, in all seriousness, be rightly explained as insanity without insanity.

I'll answer an ongoing question by a few questioning people. Why is there war? why hate? because enlightenment is there. It is the middle way but it's something that no one can achieve and even in war that's what were trying to achieve, the exact opposite idea of what enlightenment is (or is it?). Nothing is meant to be on the middle way, the middle way is a long red line on a pinhead in the middle of everything.


god. if anyone actually read that, I can go on but I'm dying slowly from the shear bass aackwardness of what I'm going on about. DON'T MEDITATE, IF YOU REACH FOR ENLIGHTENMENT, YOU REACH FOR HATE, LOVE IT.





 
 
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