What is Enlightenment?

My students and readers often ask me why I believe that enlightenment is a process rather than a destination. To find the answer to this question, we need to recall one the main tenets of Buddhism – the principle of impermanence. The historical Buddha Shakyamuni realized, as probably did many other more or less enlightened beings before and after him, that change is the most constant thing in this universe. Nothing exists forever or even remains permanent. This applies to enlightenment too, since we all have a tendency to fall asleep even after the most profound awakenings. If the enlightened state is just as impermanent as anything else, then it makes much better sense to speak of enlightenment not as a state but as a process of awakening, which may go through certain phases and be as cyclical as most other natural phenomena.

A Mahayana approach to enlightenment – the path of Bodhisattva – also suggests that even one thoroughly ready to experience enlightenment may choose to remain in the world of Sansara to fulfill the vow of enlightening all the sentient beings. The Bodhisattva may be committed to this vow not only out of compassion, but also out of recognition of the dream-like nature of reality. As in a dream, where all dream characters are essentially products of the dreaming mind of the dreamer, so in the life of the Bodhisattva, all sentient beings are dreamed up by the Bodhisattva’s consciousness. Therefore, that consciousness cannot claim to be fully awake if any of the dream characters are not awake reflecting those aspects of the consciousness that are asleep. Since every second bazillions of new sentient beings are being born and need to experience enlightenment moment by moment, the Bodhisattva must sooner or later realize that Nirvana is not to be sought somewhere outside of Sansara, but rather in the midst of it. (This is not my thesis - many Buddhist sutras suggest exactly this).

Now, from a practical perspective, can enlightenment be experienced more than once? What did Buddha do after he experienced it? Did he continue traveling the eight-fold path? If he already got all there was to get out of this path, he would not need to continue meditating and practicing anymore. Living an enlightened lifestyle is not only what one does after experiencing enlightenment, but also a journey allowing to experiencing it each and every step along the way. This is why I believe that enlightenment is the journey itself, not the destination.