Enlightenment 悟り

I have a feeling that enlightenment is not a static condition of mind, but a very active and dynamic condition of the entire personality. Because enlightenment is also called nirvana and absolute tranquility, we are liable to assume that when a person attains enlightenment, his mind remains still to outside stimuli. That would be the mind of a person who is closed to the outside world unless he is dead.

There is a famous story of an old woman who took care of a young monk with respect in a cottage within her residential compound for a long time. Most of the time he engaged in meditation. One day, the old woman told her daughter to take food to him. She further told her to hug him after the meal and tell her what happened. The daughter went into his room, offered him the food and suddenly hugged him. Then he said, "I feel as if I had touched a cold rock," and remained unmoved. The daughter told her mother what had happened. Then the old woman said, "This man is not worth helping," and chased him out of the cottage and burned it down. What this story tells us is that Buddhist training does not deprive the trainee of natural feelings. When a young woman hugs a young man, he feels warm and good. A good Buddhist trainee may appreciate and enjoy her hug because everything he sees, hears and touches is a source of wonder and joy to him. On the other hand, an ordinary young man would turn on his carnal desires when he is hugged by a young woman.

When Sakyamuni was about to attain enlightenment, he is said to have been attacked by a demon, who tried to disrupt his concentration by different means. First the demon sent Sakyamuni his three beautiful daughters. When Sakyamuni was unaffected, the demon offered to give him the position of universal emperor. Sakyamuni again rejected his offer. Then the demon attacked Sakyamuni with all his weapons and warriors, but they turned into flowers and decorated Sakyamuni's body. In the end, the demon told him to prove that he had the virtue good enough for Buddhahood. When Sakyamuni touched the ground, the goddess of the earth appeared and said, "I prove his virtue." Then the demon was totally defeated and fled. Those attacks on Sakyamuni by the demon represent the residues of blind passions within Sakyamuni. His enlightenment is this entire process of overcoming doubts and fears and desires that wells up from within himself. Even after his attainment of enlightenment, the demon appears once in a while and is repulsed by the Buddha. The last visit of the demon occurs three months before the Buddha's entering nirvana. At that time, the demon tries to talk him into entering nirvana at that moment. The Buddha rejects this temptation to death and declares that he will enter nirvana three months from then. In this way, enlightenment involves constant resolving of passions that well up from within oneself.

When it comes to Amida Buddha, unlike Sakyamuni Buddha, he does not have any physical existence. Amida Buddha is the working of the Primal Vow. The Primal Vow is always challenged by the blind passions of sentient beings and is always at work trying to save them from their sufferings. The multitudes of problem solving represent the dynamic enlightenment of Amida Buddha. That is why the eighteenth vow says, "When I attain Buddhahood, all the sentient beings in the ten quarters should sincerely entrust themselves to me and, aspiring to be born in my land, call my name up to ten times; if they are not born, may I not attain perfect enlightenment." The Buddha's problem is to save each sentient being who says the nembutsu. If he cannot save the person, his vow remains unfulfilled. That is why he says he will not attain perfect enlightenment.