How do we know about enlightenment?
It is above all a person whom we associate with enlightenment. This is Shakyamuni of the Gautama family, who was later called Buddha, the fully enlightened one. He himself has given the world nothing in writing. His students gathered after his death and collected what they remembered. A lot came together that was passed on orally for a long time and later also recorded in writing. And then there were people in the following of Buddha who had exactly the same experience and reported on it.
Enlightenment is an experience.
Perhaps this experience is the goal of all human life. What was it like back then? One day 2.500 years ago, Sakyamuni settled under a poplar fig tree. In the night he saw how the creatures pass away and arise again. He realized the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the way leading to the cessation of suffering. He found the unborn, not aging, free from illness, pain and death, extinction. He rested in the realm that is without matter, without space, and without thought, in which there is nothing more, in which there is no differentiation and no non-differentiation, neither this world nor that world. There the eternal, unborn and uncreated is revealed. There is no standstill and no moving on.
Buddha’s Words on Enlightenment
These are the words that have been handed down from Buddha’s enlightenment:
“Profound, full of deep peace, completely pure, like radiant light, made of one piece, and like nectar, is the knowledge that has been bestowed upon me.”
Peace – Simplicity – Clarity.
Peace
Imagine the effort to achieve this unconditional will, liberation. He had tried everything, for many years, tirelessly. And finally, he almost gave up. He sits down under a tree and says, I’ll stay here until it happens. And then suddenly it’s there. This incredible relief. As if an incredible burden has fallen off. It’s just not there anymore. All effort is gone in one fell swoop. The goal has been achieved. There is nothing more to do. It’s almost like a black-out. There are no more thoughts, no will, no past, no future. All boundaries have been dissolved. There is only awareness. A layer of concrete has been broken through, exposing something that has always been there and now shines in all its incredible glory. There is nothing more to say or to do. Therefore: deepest peace and silence.
Simplicity
We imagine enlightenment to be bombastic. And it is. But not with a huge roar, as if an entire mountain flank were to collapse or a huge bomb exploded. The experience is simple. That means: It’s perfect the way it is. There is no need to add or subtract anything. It’s immediate, pure, natural, naked, and fresh. Like fresh vegetables that are not prepared, not cut, not cooked.
It is: Beyond thought, beyond our imagination, beyond concepts and conceptions, beyond good and bad, beyond habits, beyond description, beyond anything that can be grasped with the ordinary mind. It is also beyond our senses. It is a unified experience, an experience from one piece; it is not composed of parts. There is nothing separate, no meditation and no one who meditates. There is no difference between the one who experiences, the experience and the experienced. There is no duality. It is beyond this and that. There is no ego. It doesn’t matter to whom something happens. There is no longer this difference between me and you. There is no fear and no hope. There is no past and no future. There is only this present moment. Every moment is always new, unique and fresh.
Clarity
There is openness and boundless expanse. It is like heaven – empty, wide and pure from the beginning, free from causes and conditions. It is without beginning and without end. Not created, never born and not impermanent – unchanging. Clarity is equated with radiant light and the ability to know. Because there is no ordinary mind – no obstacle, no delusion, no distraction, everything is manifest, unveiled, clearly visible, immediately present. There is unrestricted clarity – clear insight. This means omniscience. Fully awake. Naked, unadulterated awareness. Only now, only being.
Buddha calls the state of enlightenment nectar-like. Nectar or Amrit is the elixir of liberation and the drink of life. The heart opens. Enlightenment brings boundless joy and compassion for all sentient beings.
