How did Gautama Buddha reach Enlightenment (Nirvana)?

reply to post by Itisnowagain


The presence is neither the seeker nor not the seeker.

Originally posted by smithjustinb
reply to post by Itisnowagain

 

The presence is neither the seeker nor not the seeker.

Presence is all there is.
And words appear in presence that decieve you into thinking there is more than this. The words make believe there is a separate person, that separate person seeks presence. When the presence is realized the seeker vanishes into thin air. The person is seen for what it is - an illusion, an image created that seems to live in time.

You are seeking the end of you. Your absence is the presence.

reply to post by MeesterB


eheheh, the middle path still is the wrong way.

Originally posted by Angle
reply to post by MeesterB

 

eheheh, the middle path still is the wrong way.

What path do you believe in?

reply to post by Itisnowagain


Thank you. But isn't it true that ultimately, the end of me will truly only happen when I die and until then, some illusory content will remain?

reply to post by Itisnowagain


path of teaching, way of the Eternal.

ed/ Philosophy is nice (personal conviction today)

Originally posted by smithjustinb
reply to post by Itisnowagain

 

Thank you. But isn't it true that ultimately, the end of me will truly only happen when I die and until then, some illusory content will remain?

Yes, the you that is seeking must die. The seeker is the me that is seeking this. When this is realized then you (the seeker) vanishes (dies).
The illusion is that there is a you that is separate - there is not.

The me does not realize that this is all there is so seeks elsewhere to complete itself.

Originally posted by Angle
reply to post by Itisnowagain

 

path of teaching, way of the Eternal.

ed/ Philosophy is nice (personal conviction today)

edit on 8-12-2012 by Angle because: (no reason given)

There is no path to 'this' that is eternal.
All paths lead you away from the truth.

Originally posted by TauNorthwolf

According to the scriptures Gotama Buddha reached enlightenment after 49 days below the pipal tree. Before him there had been endless Buddhas and after him will be endless Buddhas. Everybody can develop the Buddha nature and become a Buddha after a certain time. What do you think about enlightenmend? Is it attainable? Or will it be like in the scriptures where it has been said that there will be as many lifes as leaves on a tree till freedom found? Siddhis are mystical powers but Buddha said they shouldn't be seeked for, still people try to attain them. Ego trip? Mara was apparently no real Demon like many people want to believe, but the final stance of the ego in the own mind. What are your thoughts?

Enlightenment

Even If the ego is temporarily lost and knowledge that nonduality is the true natue of everything the ego:s of otheres and imperfection/disharmony of what surround will build more or less build up the ego again but slightly altered.

Altered states of mind and bodies are tools to reach understanding but not understanding itself. I would say do what you feel is right for you. Listening to chakra medative sounds does something to me and changes both body/mind/spirit. Some experiance a fear overload where they are ready to give up everything this life has to offer (amagydala fear overload). That is a painful thing to go thru and should not be sought but just happens when the student and teacher needs it. An instant opened crown chakra and third eye.

In the christian garden of eden story the humans ate of the fruit of duality and thought themselves capable to understand and judge right from wrong. The lost the connection to the Oneness/nondual reality(god).

You are not the wisest just because you are EN-LIGHT-ENED. You can be the wisest most harmonious being that exist without being EN-LIGHT-ENED. Are you wise because you have been able to turn on a lightswitch in a dark room? You might be able to see more in the room than others but still others might know about the room even if you can see it.

Originally posted by sdcigarpig
After many years of study and discussions from several llamas, nuns and monks, it is possible to achieve enlightenment. But the one question still echos, as it takes many years of work and dedication, what does one do after achieving enlightenment?

Push energy and love? Up to the person who gets the tool?

After reading many responses, please understand it is what you surrender to no longer dwell within instead of what works you have been told will result in some cross-over. Ones own bravery to transcend by achieving constant communion, or not, is the sticking point. There is no going back, nor is there any off switch, if you choose this. Every single thing of this world fades to illusion. Everything you have, worked for, dreamed of becomes worthless because an infinitely greater seated replacement.

Originally posted by Wolvo
reply to post by sdcigarpig

 

What more is there? What more can one ask for? when you reach that level and unlock the powers, become a preacher like the rest, become a teacher. If your soul intention of meditation and enlightening yourself is the powers and mystic abilities, it will be impossie to attain true enlightenment

edit on 7-12-2012 by Wolvo because: (no reason given)

edit on 7-12-2012 by Wolvo because: (no reason given)

Please separate the physical change of being in the LIGHT and mystical tools (opened crown chakra or whatever you wanna call it), with the wisdom/understanding that can be achived. They can be linked but I have a feeling they do not have to be.

Not all enlightened people are harmonious all the time or even egoless. And sometimes they build an ego back to be able to be like their surrounding and not feel to different.

It is easy to be nondualistic and caring and loving when everybody else around you are nondualistic and caring and loving. It is harder when people around you create duality in the self with their dualistic views.

If you on this level have the will to even achive neutrality and not create karma then you will probably be a master of love surrounded by pure love/oneness. One small step at a time. The mark of an angel/buddha is not that they are perfect and they fall all the time both intentionally or unintentionally. The mark of an angel/buddha is that they continue on however many times they fall.

reply to post by TauNorthwolf

The Secret to Enlightenment. Better Light.

Posted on November 13, 2012 by manykapao
So what is enlightenment?

It seems to some like a secret that you have to wear fancy wardrobe and perform magical ceremonies to understand it. That ancient traditions passed down by fraternities, sororities, schools of thought, and so on are so veiled in secrecy that you have to be given a code book to unlock its secrets.

Really the truth could not be more simple. The fact is we see it as such a big deal because we do not understand certain concepts that these groups deal with. It is not that it is secret so much as you have to be ready to understand to see what is hidden. Hidden to the mind’s eye by its own preconceptions of reality and truth.

If you have time, read Plato´s allegory of the cave. It tells of how our limited world sometimes leads us to see shadow, the perception of form by the impressions those forms make under false light.

It is our desire to leave that familiar cave and venture out into the unknown. We do so to unravel the truth that reveals the secrets to our true selves and reality itself your once blinded mind held a veil over.

In short, it is not that things are being hidden form you, but that you do not understand them. You do not see them for what they really are so showing you their truth is impossible, not secret. You will not eat when not hungry. You will not know to ask for something you need if you do not realize you need it.

So therein lies the problem. We have this familiar mind we have spent our lives living with. The preconceptions it has formed from in its limited view have imprisoned us in a “cave” as Plato implied.

Allegory is the key to the transmission of these concepts. Plato was a master of this form of teaching.

There is another bread crumb. Allegory. We look to the interpretations certain groups have had by religious institutions throughout history that thought that any variation from dogma was not only flawed but morally challengeable as heresy. An assault on God himself. They did not worship the devil. That concept of a singular arch enemy to God is entirely Christian.

The thing is you can still believe the “standard” interpretation of stories like the ones we receive in the bible, AND see it as an allegorical opportunity to transmit concepts that religion is supposed to give us anyways.

If we look at the result of the persecution schools of thought received and their response by “coding” their concepts into the very belief systems of the institutions that gave them chase, we see the irony in their last word.

They have used a stagnant and linear story and the prescribed interpretation of it the “officials” of those institutions have made absolute, to transmit the transcendental concepts of “enlightenment” through them. Just brilliant. It was easy also. These concepts were in their foundation.

The reality is that those stories always were deeply allegorical as well and the skill to extrapolate meaning from them is necessary to weigh them in any form of institutionalized faith. It is not that these “enlightened” folk wished to replace God. They wished to delve deeper into the understanding of IT.

Take for example the Cabala. Jewish mysticism. It is meant to accompany the torah. It is a companion work to it. Cabalists make very clear their vision of God by their explanation of the first few lines of Genesis. They do not say “God” made the universe, but that IT, the universe, made God. Huge concept when you weigh the possible meanings. Opens up God in new ways doesn’t it?

That he is not an unreachable “identity” that we cannot understand and learn from. They see God as the very vehicle to contemplate the universe. Their aim, is to reach a higher level of understanding of the universe itself. Nothing more admirable for intellectual pursuit In my opinion.

To do so they use language and numbers to establish a coordinate system of sorts to map creation. They believe that creation was made through language. The fact is the actual letters are not important. It is all a method of deconstructing our mind and its preconceptions so as to be able to perceive alternate mind sets and alternative paths of thought.

To think inter-dimensionally about time and space, instead of linearly and 2 or 3 dimensionally, and so on.

This is extremely beneficial in accessing our minds intuition into pattern recognition for every aspect of life. This in turn leads to greater innovation, advancement in all areas, and just progress in general. It makes you appreciate life more as well. The little things.

Cabalists, as my going example of a group searching for greater enlightenment, have a deep understanding of the universe by having a system of mapping “Gods body”, so to speak. This system is not unlike the I-ching(Chinese book of changes). Goes to show you how ancient knowledge had a way of being universally accepted for its high quality and beneficial manifestations in society. Really this knowledge in its many forms is the basis for all civilization. Our ancestors had a very well thought out social order because of their belief that harmony in people, doing good things and so on, made a healthy happy God. I am simplifying things extremely for the sake of conversation. They believed in social harmony and social responsibility in light of a sort of collective hive mind and collective communal body.

Another pretty amazing concept of cabala is the thought that our state of being produces a response in “heaven” and vice versa. (Their idea of heaven being a whole new subject I wish to avoid for now).That searching for harmony would lead you to a balance with God and with yourself personally enough so to reach a higher plain of thought.

So looking from the outside in, you might say that a fundamentalist Christian might be at odds by seeing the concept cabalist’s have of the creation of God BY the universe, instead of God creating the universe and consequently they could interpret it as an insult and heresy to their dogmatic Christian view of God. The cave would be the institutionalized view of a linear God concept. No one is replacing God, just thinking more about it all.

So the “shadow” we see as hiding truth in this situation is not hiding an underlying secret to enlightenment. It is offering us to leave the cave, and deconstruct the cave (preconceptions of our mind) and the shadows being cast in the dim light of fallacy upon forms we do not understand. Blindness of getting accustomed to the light of the brilliant and blazing sun of truth once we exit the cave might be seemingly worse since the comfort of the cave’s dim light of fallacy is almost preferable to weak eyes(minds).

It all passes though and thereafter when we see beyond our blindness. We find the truth of true light. We see form for true form, and not simply by the shadow it casts.

and so on.

manykapao.wordpress.com...

Originally posted by LittleByLittle

.Not all enlightened people are harmonious all the time or even egoless. And sometimes they build an ego back to be able to be like their surrounding and not feel to different.

There are no enlightened 'people' (people is plural).
Enlightenment is the realization of oneness.

reply to post by Itisnowagain


that is just silly. He is referring to "an enlightened person" in a plural sense. You know, more than one.

Unless you are saying that they become like the Borg and develop a hive mind, like some sort of mindless drone.
They don´t become like the blob.

He is right. You need to survive in a crap world, so you do like the crappy Romans.

Originally posted by zedVSzardoz
reply to post by Itisnowagain

 

that is just silly. he is referring to people in plural sense.

Unless you are saying that they become like the Borg and develop a hive mind, like some sort of mindless drones.

He is right. You need to survive in a crap world, so you do like the crappy Romans.

When oneness is realized it is seen that it is one.
Until oneness is realized there is a belief that there is more than one.

reply to post by Itisnowagain


no its not.

Separate bodies and separate minds are not "ONE". Oneness has nothing to do with that.

It is a state of harmony not a lie of no individuality.

A true self by harmony with all, not a single identity

Originally posted by antar
Forgot to add that Siddartha did everything humanly possible to attain, for millions of lives he continued to leave no stone unturned until in his final lifetime there was nothing more to do, no moon no water in the moon (reflection). It is possibly one of the most beautiful stories about the morning he attained to the ultimate. Sitting doing nothing eyes closed, as the sun rose he opened his eyes and was reborn.

Seem like we have a few Buddhas around here nowdays:













And these are the ones who are supposed to been noticed .

Originally posted by zedVSzardoz
reply to post by Itisnowagain

 

no its not.

Separate bodies and separate minds are not "ONE". Oneness has nothing to do with that.

It is a state of harmony not a lie of no individuality.

Until oneness is realized there appears to be separation.
Nothing is separate but the words the mind speaks delude one into thinking so.

yeah, I don't think so.

That is just more mumbo jumbo meant to keep people in a mental limbo.

We lack nothing.