Enlightenment
[Buddhism] [Zen] the word used to translate the Sanskrit term bodhi (lit. “awakened”) and the Japanese satori or kenshō. A person awakens to a nowness of emptiness (Jap., ku; shūnyatā) which he himself is even as the entire universe is emptiness and which alone enables him to comprehend the true nature of things. Since enlightenment is repeatedly misunderstood as an experience of light and experiences of light wrongly understood as enlightenment, the term awakening is preferable, since it more accurately conveys the experience. The emptiness experienced here is no nihilistic emptiness; rather it is something unperceivable, unthinkable, unfeelable, and endless beyond existence and nonexistence. Emptiness is no object that could be experienced by a subject, since the subject itself is dissolved in the emptiness.
The perfect enlightenment of Shākyamuni Buddha is the beginning of the buddha-dharma, i.e., that which is known as Buddhism. Buddhism is basically a religion of enlightenment; without this experience there would be no Buddhism.
Although enlightenment (satori, kenshō) by its nature is always the same, nevertheless there are quite different degrees of this experience. If we compare the process to breaking through a wall, then the experience can vary between a tiny hole in the wall (a small kenshō) and the total annihilation of this wall as in the complete enlightenment of Shākyamuni Buddha and all the degrees in between. The differences in clarity and accuracy of insight are enormous, even though in both cases the same world is seen.
Although this example makes the differences clear, it falls short insofar as it makes the world of enlightenment seem like an object that one as subject perceives. It also awakens the false impression that the world of enlightenment, emptiness, is separate from the world of phenomena. But this is not the case. In a profound experience it becomes clear that emptiness and phenomena, absolute and relative, are entirely one. The experience of true reality is precisely the experience of this oneness. “Form is no other than emptiness, emptiness no other than form,” it is said in the Prajñāpāramitā-hridaya-sūtra (Heart Sūtra) there are not two worlds.
In profound enlightenment the ego is annihilated, it dies. Thus it is said in Zen, “You have to die on the cushion.” The results of this “dying,” of this “great death,” is “great life,” a life of freedom and peace.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion: Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Zen. Shambhala Publications, Inc.
Books on Enlightenment
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