[Buddha-l] What is enlightenment?

[Jim Peavler]

On May 11, 2005, at 10:38 AM, Stanley J. Ziobro II wrote:

> Maybe.  What would you make of Emile LaSalle and other Catholics who 
> have
> experientially verified for themselves that there are mental states 
> their
> Buddhist teachers have termed "delusion" and "enlightenment"?  They are
> not professing Buddhists, but they also have had no problem with
> undergoing the training to validate what others have said.  Note, also,
> that these people both took somebody's word for it that there is 
> something
> corresponding to "delusion" and something corresponding to
> "enlightenment," and also actually verified the matter for themselves. 
>  I
> guess, then, I do not really understand the dichotamies you offer for 
> our
> consideration.

Yes. They convinced themselves because they were looking to believe the 
experience before they ever started. They didn't "discover" delusion 
and enlightenment. They set out to validate it and sure enough, 
surprising no one, especially themselves, they validated it.

Many folks who spend hours and hours meditating often have earth 
shattering visions and revelations of "truth". I have had them myself. 
In fact, I may have seen the absolute reality of "delusion" vs 
"enlightenment". However, it is not an idea that one tells to one's 
teacher necessarily. One of the very first signs of delusion in 
meditation is to be absolutely convinced of the existence or 
non-existence of something. If I were to suddenly validate "delusion" 
or "enlightenment" during a sesshin, I would meditate on it until it 
went away. There are some demons I will not follow.