Dear Dae Bi,
How can one understand what enlightenment is, unless one has this experience.
there is no enlightenment to be had, there being no enlightenment, how can there be an experience? it is utterly mundane mind, totally normal mind that is perfect enlightenment. theres nothing in it.
because no one ever 'had' enlightenment, not even the buddha. to speak of being enlightened is for those who experience something... a state. to have experienced nothing in particular, other than this normal mind and ordinary life is to have experience of that which is not... perfective enlightenment. this experience is not an experience, not being an experience it encompasses all experience.
i only speak from my own understanding, you must work out things for yourself. how do you know that i am not utterly incorrect in my assumptions.
if i attach to the notion "i am enlightened" i attach to a state. true enlightenment is not a state to be attained. all states are impermanent. only that which is no thing at all is not touched by cause and effect.
Dae bi... when you saw your own nature for the first time... what difference did it make? you were enlightened before you saw your own nature... when you saw your own nature and still now you have seen your own nature.
what we are talking about here is normal mind. this normal mind is extrordinary, but most people dont recognise that because of ego.
enlightenment is complete normality.
if i say that i am not enlightened i say that no one is enlightened. if i say that i am enlightened i say that everyone is enlightened. saying that there is no enlightenment is saying that everyone has 'this'.
'
this is it'.
if you are seeking enlightenment, you are only seeking what everyone already has. its like polishing a brick. you can really get into it, but ultimately a brick is just a brick. why polish it? or why not polish it (if you enjoy the polishing).
when you have attained everything there is not a single thing you have attained. this non attainment brings with it peace and stability.
its good that people are challenging what i have said. some of the things ive said are pretty radical and probably downright confusing. at the end of the day, you need to form your own opinion.
as for me i dont say that i am enlightened, but this may have something to do with the fact that there is no 'state' called enlightenment to be had. only normality, but 'this' normality is supreme enlightenment.
hope this isnt confusing! but it doesnt matter if it is, you are already fully enlightened, you were even before you saw your nature, which is the first thing you saw, even before you were born.
best wishes, White Lotus.