I think enlightenment is an abstract concept. There's a Zen proverb that says, "Before enlightenment, chop wood carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood carry water." The non-Buddhist Western world-- America especially (see religious demographics here)-- is concerned with the end results of everything. It's almost as if the Christian ideal of eternal salvation has been adapted to pop-Buddhism to mean enlightenment.
Enlightenment isn't heaven. Really, it's hard to pin down. I'm going to go out on a limb and argue that enlightenment itself is the ultimate letting go of the need or desire to pin anything down, even the idea of enlightenment itself. This is not me saying, "Look at me! I'm enlightened!" Because I don't think I am. To claim so would seem to go against the idea itself, though I may be wrong.
The point of this post is to address people who are just getting into Zen and think it's anything like doctrine-based philosophies. There are many reasons that only <1% of the American population describes themselves as Buddhist (even fewer in the Zen sub-category).
One of them is that it's a tough philosophy to grasp at first. Life is suffering? There's no God? You are the master of your own actions, life, enlightenment, etc? No pie-in-the-sky rewards after death? That's heavy stuff to cope with if you've spent your life thinking in terms of absolutes.
From what I can gather, enlightenment is seeing past all these things in a pure way. It's letting go of attachments and living deliberately in the present. While remarkably liberating if understood realistically, it's also an incredibly easy concept to abuse and misunderstand.
I don't write this to intimidate anyone or turn you off to the subject matter of The Daily Zen; I just want to try to inspire you to learn more about Zen (and about philosophy and self-improvement in general) from an intelligent, skeptical viewpoint, rather than one of pop-Buddhism or New Age nonsense.
Keep questioning; even Buddha implored his ardent followers to question everything he said and only put it into practice if it was harmonious with the individual's true nature. Only you can know what works for you.
If something you read here sounds incorrect or charlatan-esque, call me out on my BS. This is a learning process for me as much as it is for you, and I'm glad more people are subscribing daily because it gives me a tangible incentive to learn more and provide you with more valuable and accurate content. Ideally, the site will eventually turn into a dialogue rather than a monologue. I'm still figuring out how to do this independent from the boring typical comment-at-the-bottom-of-the-page formula. It'll happen.
That tangent aside, I guess we could say enlightenment is a sort-of detached skepticism-- an essence one can claim to have but will not need to claim ownership of if one actually 'gets' it. It's an elusive, malleable, abstract concept that we try to treat as a thing, but isn't a thing at all. It's both achievable and impossible. It is an expression of personal wisdom. And by personal I mean completely personal. It's your true unadulterated self and nothing more.
Writing about it only dilutes the idea, but it can't hurt to try.
Thanks for reading.
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