How to Determine If You Have Attained Enlightenment

How to Determine If You Have Attained

Enlightenment

1.) Never Stop Practicing The Teachings.

Enlightenment, or the pursuit of Enlightenment, is exactly that, a pursuit. Even when you think Enlightenment has been attained, you should never think you are done and stop practicing The Teachings. The most Enlightened beings, in my opinion, would never consider themselves Enlightened and always continue to learn, reflect, and practice The Teachings developing deeper wisdom each day. To attain Enlightenment, you will need a well established understanding and practice of these Teachings. If you have developed a solid practice of these Teachings and see the benefits, you will not be interested to stop practicing or even consider yourself as Enlightened. Even when you experience what you think is Enlightenment, you need to never consider yourself as having attained Enlightenment. Continue to practice The Teachings always pursuing deeper and deeper wisdom through your well developed learning and practice of these Teachings.

2.) You will be fully practicing The Eight Fold Path which includes The

Three Universal Truths, The Four Noble Truths and The Five Precepts. (See previous Chapters for details on these Teachings and practices.)

3.) When you have fully attained Enlightenment as an Arahant, you will

have eliminated all The Ten Fetters. (See previous Chapters for details on these Teachings and practices.)

4.) You have cultivated a mind that is completely practicing The

Brahmā-vihāras. (See previous Chapters for details on these Teachings and practices.)

5.) You will be fully practicing The Seven Factors of Enlightenment.

(See previous Chapters for details on these Teachings and practices.)

6.) You will know for yourself you have attained Enlightenment because

you will have eliminated 100% of discontentedness from the mind. This means you will no longer experience any of these feelings. - A pleasant feeling (happiness, excitement, elation, thrill, exhilaration, euphoria, etc.) - A painful feeling (sadness, anger, frustration, irritation, annoyance, guilt, shame, fear, stress, anxiety, etc.) - A feeling that is neither painful-nor-pleasant (boredom, loneliness, shyness, displeased, uncomfortable, unsatisfied, etc.)

In the unEnlightened state, you will experience pleasant feelings, painful

feelings, and feelings that are neither painful-nor-pleasant. These are the feelings Gotama Buddha’s Teachings guide you to eliminate from the mind. They are all impermanent feelings and completely eliminated for one who has attained Enlightenment. Enlightenment is a permanent mental state that is unaffected by these impermanent feelings and is a permanent place for the mind to reside. The mind will be protected, unshakable, peaceful, calm, serene, and content with joy. The body and the mind will feel light and completely at peace. To understand more about “What is Enlightenment?”, see the Chapter titled “Enlightenment: What is Enlightenment?” (Chapter 3).

Additional Notes

It is important to pursue Enlightenment without craving or desire to attain it but use it as a goal, an interest, or an objective. If there is craving, even craving for Enlightenment, you will not be able to attain full Enlightenment as an Arahant. And if there is craving at the time of death, there will be rebirth. There is no finish line to the attainment of Enlightenment. Once a mind reaches the fourth Stage of Enlightenment, the mind can continue to ascend to higher degrees of the Enlightened mind. A Practitioner needs to focus on the one (1) step in front of them that leads to further progress on The Path to Enlightenment. If the mind is focusing on the imaginary non-existent finish line, the craving/desire/attachment for Enlightenment will inhibit and hinder the mind from experiencing Enlightenment.

Instead, a Practitioner may be interested to understand that Enlightenment is the true nature of the human mind, and they are just working to remove all the pollution of the mind that is inhibiting them from experiencing the true nature of Enlightenment. In this way, the mind is not attempting to attain anything at all but instead, the mind is already Enlightened and a Practitioner’s life practice is to purify the mind removing the pollution that is hindering one from experiencing the radiance and brightness of Enlightenment. You should not compare or profess to another person which Stage of Enlightenment you think you have attained. Self declared attainment has no beneficial purpose and oftentimes comes from arrogance and pride, the ego, while being fraught and filled with errors. You should never believe you have attained Enlightenment, and constantly pursue this path your entire life. Should you ever think you have attained Enlightenment and are “done”, the mind will become “sluggish” and halt your progress on this path. If the mind is sluggish, you are not practicing The Seven (7) Factors of Enlightenment and, thus, have not attained Enlightenment. If you profess your Stage of Enlightenment to others, then you do so with ego and, therefore, it is well known that you have not attained Enlightenment. The Four (4) Stages of Enlightenment are provided as a personal guide to assist you on the path to higher and higher degrees of attainment but never to be compared to others or feel that you are more important than another person. If you feel this way, you have not attained Enlightenment.

Now that you have completed reading (Volume 1) of this book series and may decide to read this book multiple times, I would like to take a moment to personally “thank you” for your determination, dedication, and diligence to learn, reflect, and practice The Teachings of The Buddha on The Path to Enlightenment. The time, effort, energy, and resources that you devote to this path are serving to help you and countless other beings. As you choose to learn and practice these Teachings, you will significantly reduce then eliminate any harm that you are putting into the world through your unknowing of true reality. The unEnlightened mind does not understand what it does not understand. You are now applying time, effort, energy, and resources to improving the condition of the mind, the condition of your life, and, thus, the condition of the world through investigating The Teachings to acquire wisdom. The world becomes a better place when we each individually choose to improve our own life practice taking responsibility for our own intentions, speech, actions, and livelihood while improving our wisdom and mental discipline. I admire individuals who choose to walk towards harmlessness. I admire individuals who choose to realize there is a better way of life and create that better way of life for themselves through seeking guidance. And, I admire individuals who do not shrink back from the struggle to move the mind towards Enlightenment when the natural tendency might be to remain complacent. Why have I chosen to share these Teachings with you? “That it may be for the benefit and peacefulness of the multitude (many people), out of compassion for the world, for the benefit and peacefulness of heavenly beings and humans”. (Gotama Buddha) “Because if they understand even a single sentence, that will lead to their welfare and peacefulness for a long time”. (Gotama Buddha) May you discover the freedom associated with a mind that is peaceful, calm, serene, and content with joy permanently - the Enlightened mind. As you need help to learn, reflect, and practice these Teachings, you are welcome to seek guidance which is available openly and freely to “all beings”.