[Buddha-l] bodhi

[Richard Hayes]

On Nov 25, 2009, at 7:50 AM, Artur Karp wrote:

> My chip: are terms "enlightenment" and "awakening" metaphors? If yes  
> - in
> what way?

In the literature we find references to "budh" meaning waking up  
(typically in the morning) from sleep. The sense of waking up as from  
a stupor (or maybe it's waking up in a stupa) or becoming sober after  
being intoxicated is figurative only in the sense that someone who is  
ignorant or confused isn't literally in a stupor or a coma or a state  
of intoxication. Gautama was not literally sobering up after a night  
of heavy drinking when he proclaimed that he was a buddha now. Rather,  
it was as if he was waking up from a bad dream or coming to his senses  
after being stunned.

As for "enlightenment," the Europeans who declared themselves the  
bringers of light contrasted their epoch with times they called the  
dark ages. I doubt any of the self-congratulatory purveyors of  
enlightenment thought the so-called dark age had literally been a time  
of diminished luminosity (unless they were thinking of the Netherlands  
in November).

Contrasting wisdom with foolishness is almost always done with  
metaphors about contrasting being awake with being asleep, especially  
in the Mahayawna.