Levels of Enlightenment
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Although enlightenment or awakening is characteristic of a Buddha, others who
follow the Buddhist Path can attain enlightenment of different degrees or
qualities (e.g., the bodhisattva).
The highest level is that of perfect, full awakening (samyak-sambodhi), which
is attained by perfect, full Buddhas (samyak-sambuddha), such as Sakyamuni.
Four other paths and fruits of Buddhist practice lead to an awakening into the
nature and cause of suffering: the paths and fruits of entering the stream, of
returning once to human birth, of not returning to human birth, and of perfect
sainthood (the condition of an arhat).
Mahayana texts describe enlightenment as a process of personal growth in which
one attains insight of increasing depths. Thus, the Ta-chih-tu-lun attributed
to the third-century Indian philosopher Nagarjuna recognizes five degrees of
enlightenment:
the first intuition arising when the bodhisattva makes the solemn determination
to follow the quest of enlightenment (bodhicittotpada);
the insight that accompanies training in the Path and purifying the mind;
the insight resulting from the bodhisattva's service and training under the
myriad Buddhas of the universe, by which one begins to see beyond the
afflictions;
the attainment of an insight free from even the most subtle afflictions
(enlightenment proper);
and the perfect, unsurpassable enlightenment (anuttara-samyak-sambodhi) of a
perfect Buddha.
KWinters
11/20/2000 5:15 PM 8 out of 19
Mahayana also makes a general distinction between the enlightenment of
disciples (sravaka), that of solitary or self-made Buddhas (pratyeka-buddha),
and that of perfect Buddhas.
The enlightenment of the first two is a vision freeing one from sorrow. The
second group, in addition, has full insight into dependent origination. But
only full Buddhas have omniscience.
Mahayana Concepts of Enlightenment
Mahayana Buddhist apologetics exalt the ideal follower of the Mahayana, the
bodhisattva, and reject the nirvana (liberation) of arhats and
pratyeka-buddhas.
The bodhisattva gives rise to the determination to attain the enlightenment of
a perfect Buddha, so as to gain possession of the marvelous saving powers of
Buddhas, and seeks an enlightenment that is motivated by "great compassion."
In Mahayana texts, enlightenment (bodhi), is identified with the wisdom that
perceives ultimate reality, the wisdom of emptiness, the knowledge of all
things (omniscience), and the marvelous powers that allow Buddhas to come to
the aid of those who invoke them. According to some scholastic treatises, this
knowledge is reserved to perfect Buddhas: Bodhisattvas do not possess full
enlightenment; but the bulk of Mahayana literature presents the Bodhisattva as
virtually a Buddha, perhaps lacking in omniscience but possessing the wisdom
and insight that gives Buddhas their freedom and power.
Bodhisattvas, in fact, go through all but the last stage in the path to
Buddhahood. They gain the full insight into emptiness that characterizes
Buddhas and attain skillful means (upaya) and the knowledges or supernal skills
(jnana) used by Buddhas to rescue living beings.
Bodhisattvas also possess the insight into emptiness or "suchness" that,
according to Mahayana apologetics, separates full Buddhas from arhats and
pratyeka-buddhas. This is the knowledge that all things are empty of
self-existence. The state of enlightenment and its object are both defined by
the epithets that, according to Mahayana, describe the ultimate reality of all
things: inconceivable, ungraspable, without defining characteristics, luminous,
and serene. Since the same can be said of all things, including enlightenment
and nirvana, the sphere of liberation is not something separate from the world
of rebirth and suffering (samsara): samsara is nirvana, and nirvana is samsara.
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