Abstract
Even if enlightenment is in some ways “ineffable,” we are still obligated to make sense of it as best we can. This chapter explores some of the problems inherent in interpreting the competing Theravāda and Mahāyāna accounts of Buddhist enlightenment. The chapter compares and contrasts a Theravāda enlightenment account with a Mahāyāna enlightenment account, viewing the texts as literary creations that serve to emphasize and vivify the core teachings of each tradition. The chapter then distills these accounts into an eight-attribute enlightenment model that delineates six features common to each tradition and two features unique to the Mahāyāna tradition. Lastly, the chapter evaluates the compatibility of these attributes with modern Western beliefs concerning the continuity of life after death, the perfectibility of the human condition, and the nature of human well-being and flourishing.
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Notes
- 1.
Chipamong Chowdhury, “Did the Buddha speak Pāli? An investigation of The Buddha-Vacana and origins of Pāli,” The Dhaka University Journal of Linguistics 2, No. 4 (2009): 43–58.
- 2.
“Lakkhaṇa Sutta (The Marks of a Great Man),” The Long Discourses of the Buddha, translated by Maurice Walsh (Boston: Wisdom, 1995), 441–460.
- 3.
The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A New Translation of the SamyuttaNikaya, translated by Bhikkhu Bodhi (Boston: Wisdom, 2005).
- 4.
Mahāsaccaka Sutta (The Greater Discourse to Saccaka), The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha: A New Translation of the Majjhima Nikāya, translated by Bhikkhu Nanamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi (Boston: Wisdom, 1995), 341–343. All subsequent quotations from this sutta in this section are from the same source.
- 5.
The Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment, translated by Charles Muller, 2003, http://www.acmuller.net/bud-canon/sutra_of_perfect_enlightenment.html. All quotes from this sūtra are from the same source.
- 6.
I first heard the phrase “second-order non-duality” from Zen teacher Taigen Dan Leighton. I also came across it in Victor Sōgen Hori, “Kōan and Kenshō in the Rinzai Training Curriculum” in Steven Heine and Dale Wright, The Koan: Texts and Contexts in Zen Buddhism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 301. I’m not sure who originated the term.
- 7.
“Harmony of Difference and Equality (Sandōkai),” translated by the Soto Zen Text Project, Soto School Scriptures for Daily Services and Practice (Tokyo: Sotoshu Shumucho, 2001), 31.
- 8.
Shunryu Suzuki, Mel Weitzman, and Michael Wenger, Branching Streams Flow in the Darkness: Zen Talks on the Sandokai (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999), 10.
- 9.
Samuel Beckett, Watt (Paris: Olympia Press, 1953), 62.
- 10.
William Blake, “Auguries of Innocence,” The Laurel Poetry Series Blake (New York: Dell, 1960), 99.
- 11.
Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception (New York: Harper & Row, 1954), 5.
- 12.
This meaning of bodhisattva should not be confused with its other meaning, namely, cosmic beings who exemplify the qualities of Buddhahood.
- 13.
“Harmony of Difference and Equality (Sandōkai),” translated by the Soto Zen Text Project, Soto School Scriptures for Daily Services and Practice (Tokyo: Sotoshu Shumucho, 2001), 30.
- 14.
Hakuin Ekaku, Wild Ivy: The Spiritual Autobiography of Zen Master Hakuin, translated by Norman Wadell (Boston: Shambhala, 2010), 39.
- 15.
Jean Piaget and Barbel Inhelder, The Child’s Construction of Quantities: Conservation and Atomism (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1974).
- 16.
To be fair, the Buddhist tradition is diverse enough so that not every enlightenment account insists on this kind of completeness and permanency. Eihei Dōgen’s (1200–1253) concept of “practice-enlightenment” is a case in point. Dōgen’s enlightenment (1) occurs in the midst of ongoing delusion and (2) is only episodically realized through meditative practice, even though, in another sense, it (3) is, was, and always will be present in all sentient beings.
- 17.
Although note that there have been scientific attempts to explore the evidence for the validity of past lives experiences. For an excellent summary, see: Antonia Mills and Jim Tucker, “Past-Life Experiences,” in Etzel Cardeña, Steven Lynn, and Stanley Krippner, Varieties of Anomalous Experience: Examining the Scientific Evidence, Second Edition (Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association Press, 2014).
- 18.
See, for example, Stephen Ross, Anthony Bossis, Jeffrey Guss, et al., “Rapid and Sustained Symptom Reduction Following Psilocybin Treatment for Anxiety and Depression in Patients with Life-Threatening Cancer: A Randomized Controlled Trial,” Journal of Psychopharmacology 30, no. 12 (2016): 1165–1180.
References
Blake, William. “Auguries of Innocence.” The Laurel Poetry Series Blake New York: Dell, 1960.
Beckett, Samuel. Watt. Paris: Olympia Press, 1953.
Chowdhury, Chipamong. “Did the Buddha Speak Pāli? An Investigation of The Buddha-Vacana and Origins of Pāli,” The Dhaka University Journal of Linguistics 2, No. 4 (2009): 43–58.
Hakuin Ekaku. Wild Ivy: The Spiritual Autobiography of Zen Master Hakuin, translated by Wadell, Norman. Boston: Shambhala, 2010.
“Harmony of Difference and Equality (Sandōkai),” translated by the Soto Zen Text Project. Soto School Scriptures for Daily Services and Practice. Tokyo: Sotoshu Shumucho, 2001.
Hori, Victor. Kōan and Kenshō in the Rinzai Training Curriculum. In Heine, Steven and Dale Wright The Koan: Texts and Contexts in Zen Buddhism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Huxley, Aldous. The Doors of Perception. New York: Harper & Row, 1954.
“Lakkhaṇa Sutta (The Marks of a Great Man).” The Long Discourses of the Buddha, translated by Maurice Walsh. Boston: Wisdom, 1995, 441–460.
“Mahāsaccaka Sutta (The Greater Discourse to Saccaka).” The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha: A New Translation of the Majjhima Nikāya, translated by Bhikkhu Nanamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi. Boston: Wisdom, 1995, 333–343.
Mills, Antonia and Jim Tucker. Past-Life Experiences. In Cardeña, Etzel, Steven Lynn, and Stanley Krippner. Varieties of Anomalous Experience: Examining the Scientific Evidence, 2. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association Press, 2014, 283–314.
Piaget, Jean and Barbel Inhelder. The Child’s Construction of Quantities: Conservation and Atomism. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1974.
Ross, Stephen, Anthony Bossis, Jeffrey Guss, Gabrielle Agin-Liebes, Tara Malone, Barry Cohen, Sarah Mennenga, Alexander Belser, Krystallia Kalliontzi, James Babb, Zhe Su, Particia Corby, and Brian Schmidt. “Rapid and Sustained Symptom Reduction Following Psilocybin Treatment for Anxiety and Depression in Patients with Life-Threatening Cancer: A Randomized Controlled Trial,” Journal of Psychopharmacology 30, No. 12 (2016): 1165–1180.
The Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment, translated by Muller, Charles, 2003. http://www.acmuller.net/bud-canon/sutra_of_perfect_enlightenment.html
The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A New Translation of the Saṃyutta Nikāya, Vol. 1, translated by Bhikkhu Bodhi. Boston: Wisdom, 2000.
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Segall, S.Z. (2020). What Is Enlightenment?. In: Buddhism and Human Flourishing. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37027-5_2
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