Is enlightenment over-rated?

Is enlightenment over-rated?

Find-out from Puppetji!

De-mystifying Enlightenment!

Enlightenment is Overrated: Jonathan is not afraid to admit that he has “reached” Enlightenment. He is passionate about bringing "clarity", especially to enlightenment.

Read it all here.

In his opinion:

The great Enlightened masters
(Christ, Buddha, Moses, Lao Tzu, and many others),
did not become Enlightened and retreat into a cave.
They did not merely transcend their egos.
They became great big egos.
They engaged life completely and fearlessly
and shook the earth from its very foundation.
They did not seek Enlightenment
as an escape from life,
but as a means to live more completely.

Then:

In reality, enlightenment brings you into a deeper,
more intimate relationship with life.
Rather, Enlightenment means
dropping into your body more completely.
It means living life more fully, passionately and fearlessly.

So, are you enlightened? If yes, do you agree?

What is a Bodhisattva?

A bodhisattva seeks to attain enlightenment in order to work towards the liberation of ALL beings.

The bodhisattva attains buddhahood but chooses NOT to pass into complete Nirvana until he may enlightenment of all beings with him.

The traditional form of practice for bodhisattvas in Mahayana Buddhism is known as the six paramitas or spiritual perfections.

Phase #1: Dana - Perfection of generosity and the readiness to give oneself up to the service of others - charity in the broadest sense.
Phase #2: Shila - Perfection of moral virtue and discipline.
Phase #3: Kshanti - Perfection of patience and forbearance.
Phase #4: Virya - Perfection of effort, vigour, heroism and strength.
Phase #5 :Dhyana - Perfection of contemplation.
Phase #6: Prajna - Perfection of wisdom - the culmination and synthesis of all the other paramitas.

The Master Stroke

The Great Way is not difficult
for those who have no preferences.
When love and hate are both absent
everything becomes clear and undisguised.
Make the smallest distinction however
and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart.
If you wish to see the truth
then hold no opinions for or against anything.

...

The Way is perfect like vast space
where nothing is lacking and nothing is in excess.
Indeed, it is due to our choosing to accept or reject
that we do not see the true nature of things.
Live neither in the entanglements of outer things,
nor in inner feelings of emptiness.
Be serene in the oneness of things and such
erroneous views will disappear by themselves.

....

When the mind exists undisturbed in the Way,
nothing in the world can offend,
and when a thing can no longer offend,
it ceases to exist in the old way.

When no discriminating thoughts arise,
the old mind ceases to exist.

...

Just let things be in their own way and
there will be neither coming nor going.

.....

If the eye never sleeps,
all dreams will naturally cease.
If the mind makes no discriminations,
the ten thousand things are as they
are, of single essence.
To understand the mystery of this One essence
is to be released from all entanglements.
When all things are seen equally
the timeless Self-essence is reached.
No comparisons or analogies are possible
in this causeless, relationless state.

Consider movement stationary
and the stationary in motion,
both movement and rest disappear.
When such dualities cease to exist
Oneness itself cannot exist.
To this ultimate finality
no law or description applies.

For the unified mind is accord with the Way
All self-centered striving ceases.
Doubts and irresolutions vanish
and life in true faith is possible.
With a single stroke we are free from bondage;
nothing clings to us and we hold to nothing.
All is empty, clear, self-illuminating,
with no exertion of the mind's power.
Here thought, feeling, knowledge, and
imagination are of no value.
In this world of Suchness
there is neither self nor other-than-self.

To come directly into harmony with this reality
just simply say when doubt arises, "Not two."
In this "not two" nothing is separate,
nothing is excluded.
No matter when or where,
enlightenment means entering this truth.
And this truth is beyond extension or
diminution in time or space:
in it a single thought is ten thousand years.

Emptiness here, Emptiness there,
but the infinite universe stands
always before your eyes.
Infinitely large and infinitely small;
no difference, for definitions have vanished
and no boundaries are seen.
So too with Being and non-Being.
Don't waste time in doubts and arguments
that have nothing to do with this.

~Verses on the Faith Mind
by Seng-Tsan, the third Zen patriarch, translated by Richard B. Clarke