{"id":103099,"date":"2023-05-17T11:17:25","date_gmt":"2023-05-17T15:17:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=103099"},"modified":"2023-05-26T15:34:29","modified_gmt":"2023-05-26T19:34:29","slug":"enlightenment-meditation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/enlightenment-meditation\/","title":{"rendered":"Practicing Enlightenment Meditation: 5 Realizations for Awakening"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is enlightenment meditation<\/a>? What are five things you need to understand in order to be enlightened?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enlightenment is the ultimate goal of meditation<\/a>. In the same way that mindfulness requires strong concentration, enlightenment requires strong mindfulness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep reading to learn how to practice<\/a> enlightenment meditation, according to The Mind Illuminated<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Enlightenment Meditation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As you strengthen your mindfulness, you experience what the authors call insights (vipassan\u0101): <\/em>epiphanies that dispel your illusions about life, revealing how it really<\/em> is. These insights, which we\u2019ll call \u201crealizations,\u201d enable you to reach enlightenment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Traditionally, enlightenment meditation includes two separate sets of teachings<\/a>: teachings about concentration meditation<\/em> (cultivating concentration and mindfulness) and teachings about insight meditation<\/a><\/em> (experiencing realizations). The authors of TMI <\/em>in some ways match this tradition: They present mastery of concentration meditation as something that makes practicing insight meditation easier. However, they also seem to suggest that concentration meditation itself<\/em> can produce realizations, perhaps circumventing the need to practice insight meditation separately.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Five Realizations<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

According to the authors, five realizations are necessary to reach enlightenment. We\u2019ll explore each one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1) Interconnection (<\/strong>paticcasamupp\u0101da<\/em><\/strong>)<\/strong>:<\/em><\/strong> <\/strong>Everything is interconnected. All of the world\u2019s matter and energy, such as the matter in our bodies, came from something else. The saying \u201cWe\u2019re all made from stardust\u201d gets at this idea. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: The idea that everything is interconnected is also a theme within ecology\u2014the study of interconnected systems<\/a> in nature.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2) Impermanence (<\/strong>anicca<\/em><\/strong>): <\/strong>Nothing lasts. This means that there are no things<\/em>, only events<\/em>\u2014much like in the saying \u201cYou never step in the same river twice.\u201d A river is the event<\/em> of water flowing, not a collection of unchanging things<\/em> such as water droplets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Physics often explores the nature of impermanence. For instance, in The Order of Time<\/em><\/a>, physicist Carlo Rovelli also makes the case that there are no things<\/em>; there are only events <\/em>in time. <\/em>According to Rovelli, a tree would be the following series of events: its seed bursting, the elongation of its trunk, the growth and eventual loss of its leaves\u2014and the virtually infinite number of smaller processes that occur in between these steps.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3) Suffering (<\/strong>dukkh\u0101, <\/em><\/strong>also known as the First Noble Truth<\/a>): <\/strong>We suffer because everything is impermanent. For instance, you might suffer when your experience of temporary fame ends or when you notice your body aging. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Whereas Buddhism teaches that humans suffer because everything is impermanent, Christianity teaches that humans suffer as a result of disobeying God<\/a>. When God created the world, it was free of suffering; but, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God\u2019s orders<\/a> by eating from the tree of knowledge, suffering became part of the world.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4) Emptiness (<\/strong>su\u00f1\u00f1at\u0101)<\/em><\/strong>: <\/strong>Your mind creates your reality, and you therefore can\u2019t know what the world is actually <\/em>like. In other words, the world is empty <\/em>(lacking inherent meaning), and we fill it with meaning. For instance, having children isn\u2019t inherently meaningful\u2014but some people choose to fill their life with meaning by becoming parents<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: In arguing that acknowledging life\u2019s lack of inherent meaning is essential to achieving the positive experience of enlightenment, the authors of TMI<\/em> frame emptiness optimistically. By contrast, the philosophy of existential nihilism<\/a> interprets life\u2019s lack of inherent meaning more pessimistically. According to some existential philosophers, it\u2019s frightening and agonizing<\/a> to realize life is empty and feel you must create meaning<\/a> regardless.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5) Selflessness (<\/strong>anatt\u0101): <\/em><\/strong>The ideas of interconnection, impermanence, and emptiness apply to you<\/em>, too. You\u2019re an impermanent event dependent on other events and you therefore have no persistent, inherent self. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: The limitations of English can make it difficult to clearly describe the concept of selflessness. For instance, the sentence \u201cyou have no persistent, inherent self\u201d requires the use of \u201cyou,\u201d since English sentences are typically constructed using a subject<\/a> (in this case, \u201cyou\u201d). This use of \u201cyou\u201d contradicts the meaning of the sentence\u2014that there is<\/em> no you. Expressing this idea may be easier in pro-drop languages<\/em><\/a>: languages such as Japanese and Arabic in which it\u2019s seen as grammatically correct to omit pronouns from the sentence.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The authors of TMI<\/em> insist that having a conceptual understanding<\/a> of these five realizations isn\u2019t enough to reach enlightenment. To reach enlightenment, you have to <\/strong>experience<\/em><\/strong> these realizations through meditation<\/strong>. It\u2019s similar to how reading about a drug that alters your perception won\u2019t actually alter your perception\u2014you have to take the drug to experience that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: The authors\u2019 emphasis on experiencing<\/em> realizations over simply understanding <\/em>them mirrors the Buddha\u2019s emphasis on experience. When the Buddha<\/a> taught how to reach enlightenment<\/a>, he focused on practical lessons<\/a> that encouraged people to experience meditation rather than philosophize about it. His definition of enlightenment also reflects this emphasis on experience. In one scripture, he describes enlightenment as \u201cthe destruction of greed, hatred, and delusion.\u201d In other words, enlightenment isn\u2019t just a conceptual understanding of greed, hatred, and delusion\u2014it\u2019s actually destroying your negative desires (greed and hatred) and your reliance on conceptual categories (delusion).)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The authors claim that enlightenment benefits<\/a> both you and<\/em> others. Let\u2019s explore how.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Enlightenment Benefits You<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The authors say that when you\u2019re enlightened, you experience deep contentment because the five realizations free you from suffering. <\/strong>According to the authors, you suffer when you crave for pleasure to continue and pain to end. <\/strong>For example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n