The language of enlightenment

Anonymous asked you:

Is there a difference in Buddhism between the concepts of “enlightenment” and “awakening”? Thank you.

I think it would depend entirely on to whom you ask the question. From my perspective, the two words probably in most cases are pointing to the same thing, but because of their particular connotations in English, each affects the one hearing or reading the word in a different way.

I prefer the concept of awakening, primarily because it’s a gerund - implying it is something that is ongoing, in movement, a process. Enlightenment, on the other hand, suggests an event or experience that happens (ostensibly, once) in time. The latter for me then, often results in an effort-orientation and/or pride that is actually counter to the spiritual path.

Etymologically speaking, when we see the words enlightenment or awakening, they are deriving from the verbal root budhi, which means to awaken, to understand. There are many words formed from this root. Two that may be informing our use of the words are anubodha which refers to awakening, perception, recognition, understanding and sambodha which is translated as enlightenment or highest wisdom.

You can search on the two terms, awakening and enlightenment in this Tumblr blog for greater perspective on the semantical question you raise. Also, you may find my previous response to the question: “What is the fastest way to achieve satori in the present lifetime?” of interest.

Dharma has several connotations in South Asian religions, but in Buddhism it has two basic, interrelated meanings: dharma as ‘teaching’ as found in the expression Buddha Dharma, and dharma as ‘reality-as-is’ (abhigama-dharma). The teaching is a verbal expression of reality-as-is that consists of two aspects—the subject that realizes and the object that is realized. Together they constitute ‘reality-as-is;’ if either aspect is lacking, it is not reality-as-is. This sense of dharma or reality-as-is is also called suchness (tathata) or thatness (tattva) in Buddhism.

Taitetsu Unno, River of Fire, River of Water

My once answer to the question: What is dhamma?

Notes on the meaning of the word “meditation” (for your reflection)

The English word meditation traditionally refers to:

    ⁃    A written or spoken discourse expressing considered thoughts on a subject
    ⁃    Continuous and profound contemplation or musing on a subject of a religious or philosophical nature
    ⁃    To reflect deeply on a subject
    ⁃    A devotional exercise of, or leading to contemplation
    ⁃    To contemplate; to keep the mind fixed upon

Bhavana (Sanskrit/Pali)

lit: calling into existence, producing
» cultivation «
meditation
contemplation
mind/heart development or training

In Jain texts: “right conception/notion” or “the moral of a fable”

As opposed to jhana > dhyana > ch’an > zen > seon > thin > samten which, at least in the original, implies concentrated or single-pointed attention; absorption; samadhi.

The quality we are cultivating, or bringing into existence is most generally:

Sati (Pali, Skt: smṛti)

lit: that which is remembered
» remembering / not forgetting (the skillful) «
mindfulness
self awareness
(-sampajañña) clear comprehension

Jon Kabat-Zinn’s popular definition of mindfulness (the English word sati is most often translated to) is: “Paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, and non judgmentally.”

Three teachers on atammayata (non-fashioning)

Buddhadasa Bhikkhu:

Literally, atammayata may be translated as “the state of not being made up by, or made up from, that (thing or condition).” A mind that relies upon things is fabricated or concocted by those things [is a slave to those things]. Human beings instinctually feel and perceive all experience as either positive or negative. This leads to evaluating and judging those experiences, which turns into liking and disliking those experiences, which in turn fosters craving, attachment, and selfishness. Thus arises dukkha (misery, pain, dissatisfaction). The mind that has gone beyond positive and negative cannot be pulled into the conditioned arising (paticca-samuppada) of dukkha. Thus, atammayata in this, its most proper sense, describes the state of the Arahant, the perfected, liberated human being.

Ajahn Sucitto:

To quit suffering, you have to stop searching for the ‘right’ perception. And therefore, in meditation, rather than sustain perceptions even of formlessness and space, it’s wiser to relax the intention to acquire (or to assume one has acquired) anything.

Thanissaro Bhikkhu:

But when discernment is sharp enough to see that even this equanimity is fabricated and conditioned, something that’s done (see MN 137 and 140), any passion for it can be undercut as well. When passion is consistently offered no place to land, there’s no nucleus for a “place” of any sort: no “here,” no “there,” no nucleus for a sense of identity to be constructed around anything anywhere at all. This explains why the state of non-fashioning is expressed in terms devoid of place: “When there’s no you in that, there’s no you there. When there’s no you there, you are neither here nor yonder nor between the two.”

See also: Atammayata - Pali Word of the Day

Marananussati - Pali Word of the Day

maraṇānussati

(Pāli, mindfulness of death). The seventh of the ten recollections (anussati), being a meditational exercise on death (maraṇa) seen as an inevitable and possibly imminent eventuality. The exercise is undertaken in order to stimulate effort and zeal in religious practice. The meditator reflects on the brevity and fragility of life and the numerous directions from which death can come.

(source: Oxford Dictionary of Buddhism)

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The Buddha informed us that the mind of one who frequently contemplates death will become heedful of the truth, recollecting the impermanence, suffering and selflessness of this body. Just this subject of death then, can become a basis for our meditation, a foundation for our practice that we cannot overlook.

—Ajahn Anan, “Marananussati: Keeping the end in mind”

—-

Thus it will be seen that mindfulness of death not only purifies and refines the mind but also has the effect of robbing death of its fears and terrors, and helps one at that solemn moment when he is gasping for his last breath, to face that situation with fortitude and calm. He is never unnerved at the thought of death but is always prepared for it. It is such a man that can truly exclaim, “O death, where is thy sting?”

—V.F. Gunaratna, “Buddhist Reflections on Death”

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As I watch my beloved doggie companion of fourteen years slip away (she seems to have nine lives!) and prepare to start full-time work tomorrow (horrible timing), responding to both death and imminent death, in a hospital setting, I wanted to share a little bit of the traditional Theravadan Buddhist perspective on how being present in the dying process, and not just considering our own death in an abstract way, indeed gives us more energy for this incredible opportunity we have in life. For additional resources on this subject, please see my reply to In what perspective do Buddhists understand death? What does it mean in their world-view and to them personally?

See also: posts tagged with death and with life and death.