Enlightenment? what is it and how is it achevied?

ok so what is enlightenment? my own understanding of it would be complete understanding and harmony with everything.

also how does one become enlightend? and how would i know if i am or not?
thanks
arnar

 

as much as i could write about this, that would only further distract you from the point. there is no way in which it is acheived, it is beyond cause and effect. there are methods that assist in training and centering the mind, but liberation comes when one stops his/her striving and lets go of desires, including the desire to become enlightened. you will know when you are enlightened, for you will have no need to classify yourself as "enlightened", you will simply be.

 

Enlightenment is not something one can desire. "You" cannot desire it because "you" will die. Enlightenment is the death of all desires and desiring. If it comes slowly it may feel like physical death, you are conscious that you are about to die. If it comes suddenly (a relative term) it may be very, very painful; you may feel your whole body on fire, your brain exploding.

If you're enlightened, you'll know. But that may also is the last vistage of the mind fooling you, making you think that you are enlightened when you are not. If you are enlightened those around you will feel it.

Forget about enlightenement, just be aware of your thoughts at all times, see it always working when you first wake up, as you do everyday mundane things, as you go to sleep, as you dream. If you dream - you have desires. It isn't a matter of not being able to remember dreaming but rather knowing, being aware all the time that one does not dream or that one ignores the dreams consciously.

 

you are already enlightened. The trick is to realize it.

 

So... What I gather is, you must have no desire, even the desire to have no desires... that you can not know if you are enlightened, and if you do think you are enlightened it is probably your ego (ego being the part of the brain that says "I") possible fooling you, and that goal is to simply be, don't try, don't strive, just be... It makes me think of a quote" If you meet the buddha, kill the buddha" -- something like that.

 

ok ok... we're supposed to be goalless, desireless... but were not even supposed to supposed to.. because to attempt to be "supposed to" rule would really be a goal.

 

Just be what you are, man, while you're it. If you're angry, be angry, if your happy, be happy. Don't try to not be angry, and don't try to be happy. Just be you.

 

That's what I thought it was about, but I always like to convince myself that it more "mystical" than that.

 

Man can lie, the universe cannot. To agree with the universe is oviously the truth.

 

Supposedly it isn't a matter of having no desires, it is a matter of transcending desire. It is not repression, it is not suppression. It is understanding. The understanding is existential, not mental.

One most certaintly can. But usually one goes to a master for verification. Part of it will be that people will flock to you and feel your Buddha energy field. If you can turn off your mind you most certaintly will be able to tell. When you can produce the sinking feeling into one's stomach, when you can become one with the Void, you'll feel it as well others. When others look into your eyes they'll feel it.

1:
One day a monk called Ta-mei went to Ma Tzu. He asked the master, "What is the Buddha?"

Ma Tzu said, "It is the present mind."

On hearing this, Ta-mei attained full enlightenment. Years later Ma Tzu sent a monk to test him. The monk asked Ta-mei, "When you once saw Ma Tzu, by what word did you become enlightened?"

T-mei replied, "By Ma Tzu saying, 'The present mind is the buddha.'"

"Now his way is another," the monk told Ta-mei. "What is it then?," asked Ta-mei.

"Ma Tzu now says that this mind which is buddha is neither mind nor buddha," replied the monk.

"That old fellow!" said Ta-mei. "When will he cease to confuse the minds of men? Let him go with his 'neither mind nor buddha.' I will stick to 'this present mind itself is buddha.'"

When the monk told Ma Tzu his exchange, Ma Tzu said, "The fruit of the plum has ripened."

2:
Hyakujo said to Isan, "With your mouth and lips closed, how would you say it?"
Isan: "I would ask you to say it."
Hyakujo: "I could say it, but if I did so I fear I would have no successors."

Hyakujo asked Goho the same question.
Goho: "Master, you should shut up!"
Hyakujo: "In the distant land where no one stirs, I shall shade my eyes with my hand and watch for you."

Hyakujo asked Ungan the same question.
Ungan: "Master, do you have them or not?"

Hyakujo said, "My successors will be missing."