Ask a Bodhisattva Anything

reply to post by Sahabi


The short answer is "I don't know."

If you're asking my opinion I would say It is likely neutral.

reply to post by Buddha1098

Originally posted by Buddha1098
First of all I want to give a little background information and then explain my reason for posting here.

On December 21 of 2010 I became enlightened. I will go into details if anyone is curious, but this post is more about my desire to help others to enlighten themselves. After my experience I began scouring the internet for information in an attempt to incorporate the experience into my life, and to try and piece together what happened to me.

After nearly nine months I feel like I have a good grasp of enlightenment, both what it is and what it isn't, and I'm hopeful that I can help others who have the same questions as I did.

Enlightenment is there for anyone who seeks it. It isn't reserved for a select few, and YOU can achieve it if you desire it.

Any Questions?

I see enlightenment as a process, a path and an experience in each moment- not a finish line that is experienced as either completed or not - not something that “happened” at a static moment in time. I see many, many layers of potential in that one seemingly simple word.

Please share your experiences as you are inspired to do so. I’m sure that many may be able to benefit - and you might find more that you can learn, as well. After all, we are all teachers and students.

Good journey to all that are along the path.

Originally posted by Buddha1098
reply to post by Student X

 

I had been exploring unity consciousness for a couple months. Everything is me, was my mantra. I began to treat people better and I let go of resentment or anger for my enemies.

On the solstice I thought "If everything is me then all animals are me too, the spiders and ants i stepped on and the chickens and cows I ate were me. I should treat all creation as if it were me." Instantly I felt and energy inside of my body and a smile crossed my face. I thought "My existence causes suffering, the only way to ensure I didn't cause suffering was to cease to exist." At that point I felt and overwhelming sense that I could "come home" I decided I wanted to and the room I was in had light begin to shine through it. Things went from opaque to transparent until I bluish white light was all I could see or perceive. I was laughing hysterically and what I felt was indescribable, but the closest word would be love.

I decided to come back because I thought I could help others by relating my experience. At which point the light faded and I was back in my body but completely changed.

How about your experience?

Congratulations!

There was something special about that solstice.

I see commonalities between our experiences. I too "went home" for a time, and afterwords my Buddha-laughter lasted for days.

While I was "home", I interacted with beings. Many bluish white orbs in concentric rings. They were blinking in different patterns. And there was another kind of entity. I can't describe it very well. It's as if it was cloaked in time and space, while inhabiting a realm that transcends time and space.

Originally posted by HumansEh
Hello.
Do you find it funny that people assume enlightenment is equivalent to knowing all things.
I am genuinely curious, I personally believe that enlightenment is revelation of the self to yourself and any questions pertaining to any subject by anyone else are irrelevant. I hope to enlighten myself, (literally shed weight of materialism) every day.
What have you learned about yourself?
Are you hoping to learn from this thread?
PM me if its too personal to discuss here,
but you did put it out on a public forum !

edit on 19-9-2011 by HumansEh because: the usual

I agree with you about enlightenment. Enlightenment didn't really change me per se, It allowed me to just be the highest expression of myself.

I'm not really hoping for anything from this thread, If other people find it useful that's great. I wished that someone started a thread like this when I was a seeker so I decided to start one now.

Why does my Roshi always want to spank me with her gloved hand.

reply to post by Student X


Definitely!

I'm not really into astrology, but this is an interesting read.

www.examiner.com...

reply to post by Buddha1098

I thought "My existence causes suffering, the only way to ensure I didn't cause suffering was to cease to exist." At that point I felt and overwhelming sense that I could "come home" I decided I wanted to and the room I was in had light begin to shine through it. Things went from opaque to transparent until I bluish white light was all I could see or perceive. I was laughing hysterically and what I felt was indescribable, but the closest word would be love. I decided to come back because I thought I could help others by relating my experience. At which point the light faded and I was back in my body but completely changed. How about your experience?

Spot on, and succinctly stated.

I sometimes imagine that the inherent sadness of life (suffering, death) is actually nothing compared to the loneliness of the repeated re-realization that there is no consciousness but the one "ME" that created all of this.
"We" are always ONE MIND.... but the means to escape such an incredibly lonely burden without discovering it too soon must come through we, the lesser creations.

Are you still able to reach this point of enlightenment/realization, or was it just a one time thing?

Did you experience any sort of 'separation' from your thoughts? Did you realize that your thoughts are not really "you", but exist entirely independent of your consciousness?

Were you able to acutally 'hear' your thoughts? Did you 'see' your thoughts as a geometric manifestation of energy?

Were there any other life-forms present when you were 'enlightened' ? Did you see how they are connected to you and to each other, and that you in fact ARE them? Did you become them for any period of time? Did you physically touch any life forms during your enlightenment? Have you ever had sex while enlightened?

Have you ever experienced any form of synesthesia? For example being able to see sounds?

Did you see any "higher-level" beings/entities? Did they see you?

Well interesting...........

But I thought enlightenment was more of a continuing thing then just something you achieve once and then are considered "enlightened"?

And calling yourself a Bodhisattva...........isnt that counter productive to what a Bodhisattva is????

Claiming this title on your own and calling yourself this is indicative of ego becoming too great.......

Isnt that one of the main themes of enlightenment ? Abandonment of Ego?

I dunno........but I do know that I wouldnt go around calling myself something , thats for other people to decide and judge...........not you and your ego

reply to post by Buddha1098


Enlightenment does not end with one experience.

You should consider that experience one of many to come on your path to truth.

This is only the beginning, continue the search to know and understand your true self.

Beware the deceiver and stay true to the path.

Help others when possible and know that, we often teach others better with our actions than are words.

The Buddha likes to point the way to truth, not proclaim it.

Peace and love be with you and me since we are all ONE.

reply to post by ManBehindTheMask


lol. The same thought had crossed my mind.

Buddha: "Hey guys, I'm totally enlightened. Ask me anything and I'll tell you the answer!"

Couple more questions:

1. What is 'god' to you?

2. Have you ever tried to use your 'enlightenment' to get chicks? (they are totally into that stuff)

reply to post by DeReK DaRkLy

Originally posted by DeReK DaRkLy
I sometimes imagine that the inherent sadness of life (suffering, death) is actually nothing compared to the loneliness of the repeated re-realization that there is no consciousness but the one "ME" that created all of this.
"We" are always ONE MIND.... but the means to escape such an incredibly lonely burden without discovering it too soon must come through we, the lesser creations.

I had a fun mind game on this that also helps explore this theme.

There truly is Nothing. Nothing Exists. That statement is intended in both direction and is the foundational paradox that spins out everything.

To restate: Nothing Truly Is. For reasons that are still a mystery, including to itself... Nothing was/became/is aware that it exists. This awareness started out as simply an awareness of Nothing, but it doesn't know what it is. Nothing could be perceived outside of itself. Because there is nothing outside of itself. The Nothingness is All... everything begins and ends in Nothing.

In an attempt to understand itself, to understand how it came to be, it attempted to look "inside" of itself. However since consciousness/awareness is "nothing", there was nothing to be seen there. The awareness of "I perceive Nothing, therefore I must be Everything opposite of what I perceive" was the next step... aka evolution... of consciousness. However it had no idea what the opposite of what it perceived could be because it could not perceive it.

So it began imagining. First... light (though not the same concept as visible light). This Light vs Nothing is not something we (or at least most) can conceive or imagine in regards to what this most tiny basic fundamental level of awareness would be like. However we can see the reflections of it within our own eyes, black/white, etc.

Then it imagined both Nothing and Everything at the same time... creating a division in awareness. Now it could finally perceive "Itself" and "Not Itself". This was the first true illusion of duality... since it is *not* separate from the Nothing it declared as Not Itself, because in fact that *is* what it is. The "Self" it imagined is exactly that, an imagination. However this doesn't mean it is separate either. In fact the imagined "thing" is just as much a part of itself as Nothing is. Paradoxical in linear thinking... but not paradoxical in truth.

Thus the awareness began imagining greater and greater variety and complexity.... first blurring the "lines" between Nothing Self and Imagined Self... and eventually splitting the Imagined Self (aka Light) into things that are both not Nothing and not Light (the start of "color").

Eventually this imagining gets so complex, with the ability to imagine something that operates without Nothing Self actively imagining it. Like turning a radio off, then when you turn it back on, the music has moved forward however much time the radio was imagined to be off... computer games fake this all the time. This creates the concept of autonomous entities able to give the illusion of continuing to act without the Nothing Self watching. Now this is still just an illusion as what had to be imagined was the ability to Not Be Aware of something that you Truly Are Aware of. Meaning... the "timer" that tells the self sufficient entity how much time has passed from when it isn't being imagined is stored in a hidden portion of awareness (the origin of the Subconscious)... still actively being imagined but not visible to the Nothing Self. The first genuine lie told to the Nothing Self by the Nothing Self but maintained by the new Hidden Self (or if you wish, occult self).

Remember, the Nothing Self and Hidden Self are the ones doing the experiencing... the Imagined Self is nothing more than an illusion and doesn't actually experience anything itself.

Now as this step by step evolution of complexity continued, it got to the point where the Nothing Self could literally stop imagining, and the Hidden Self would continue to create and evolve further complex possibilities based on these original small simple principles. This was interesting for a while, but it was ultimately not satisfying because it still knew that the entities it was interacting with weren't real... only what it imagined it might/must be as it must be the opposite of Nothing. So it decides to try forgetting that they aren't real... and experience it as if this truly is who it is.

Then at some point... feel free to imagine your own circumstances... the Nothing Self remembers who it really was (perhaps the Nothing Self begane to take advantage of the Hidden Self due to it not remembering that whatever it does, it is doing to itself). All those "friends" never actually existed the way it "believed" they did. This is a devastating experience if reached by surprise, especially if it developed attachments to the things it was "interacting" with, especially if it had done "negative" things to them while unaware.

Realizing that it could never escape this, it imagined a situation where it would leave within the Hidden Self the awareness of who it is, but only allow the Nothing Self to reach this awareness once its "Imagined Self" was aware enough to understand this. So it takes the "plunge" of believing it can never come back, with the Hidden Self being left to help it remember while always leaving it open for the Imagined Self to believe whatever it wants. The Imagined Self is just a "clothing" the Nothing Self put on.

This is the foundation of As Above/So Below because NOTHING could be generated that wasn't a reflection/metaphor for something else... which is all ultimately a metaphor for "Nothing" but it is obscured and veiled by so many imagined things, beliefs, rules, attachments, etc... that it takes real work to finally see the "Nothing" in "Everything"... and further work to LOVE this as it is... for what it is... and no longer fear being Nothing, no longer fear being Hurt or Hurting... and giving itself the ability to explore every possibility with the built in forgiveness for itself for whatever it does to the things it imagines and loves while it is unaware of what it is.

Namaste!

(moved into the above post).

Originally posted by HumansEh
Hello.
Do you find it funny that people assume enlightenment is equivalent to knowing all things.
I am genuinely curious, I personally believe that enlightenment is revelation of the self to yourself and any questions pertaining to any subject by anyone else are irrelevant. I hope to enlighten myself, (literally shed weight of materialism) every day.

Hello,

Just to clarify,

Enlightenment IS knowing all things, being one with everything. When Buddha became enlightened he was everything and everyone, he knew the past, present and the future, and so on.
However, what most lay people consider "enlightenment" is actually called " liberation" in buddhism. It's a huge step on the way to enlightenment, where one is free of the illusion of ego, and therefore of a the whole range of disturbing emotions. Also is the first step from where it's said "one cannot fall back" in lower realms of existence. It is also called "the first bodhisattva level"; and there are 10 levels until complete enlightenment. The great bodhisattvas like Dalai Lama stop at the tenth level and keep coming back due to the bodhisattva vow to not reach complete enlightenment until all beings are enlightened too. If they cross beyond, they cannot reincarnate anymore, as their karma is completely purified and there is no cause for further reincarnation.
For those who practice Hinayana this is called the Arhat state.

Don't get me wrong, I believe you are liberated, and this is a great state of mind. You have reached a huge milestone, and from here on your way will only go up. I am really happy for you, and hope you can benefit and help others on their way to enlightenment.
I just rely on traditional buddhist teachings since they mapped the complete road to enlightenment, with all the stages described to the smallest details, so we know exactly where we are at every step of the way and what we have to do next.

I wish you all the best, and I'm glad I've got to met a bodhisattva. My biggest hope is to become one too in this lifetime.[

reply to post by avatar01


I'm going to field the question about using enlightenment to get chicks.

It’s simple and this is from experience.

Detachment from desire = 8 years celibacy.

I’m good now. I’m in a steady relationship.

You see the important part is the “coming back”. It’s ok to be a part of this world. It has so much to teach and offer.

Partaking and giving into desires is fine if you remain detached, (knowing nothing last forever and what you have you will lose at some point, ect.) then the suffering is minimized.

Originally posted by ManBehindTheMask
Well interesting...........

But I thought enlightenment was more of a continuing thing then just something you achieve once and then are considered "enlightened"?

And calling yourself a Bodhisattva...........isnt that counter productive to what a Bodhisattva is????

Claiming this title on your own and calling yourself this is indicative of ego becoming too great.......

Isnt that one of the main themes of enlightenment ? Abandonment of Ego?

I dunno........but I do know that I wouldnt go around calling myself something , thats for other people to decide and judge...........not you and your ego

Here is a thought
As each of us is born with little or no memory of past lives, I would suppose a Bodhisattva would also have no memory of such lives. This would include knowledge of being a Bodhisattva. Bodhisattva will live a life of service uncomplicated by the normal spiritual struggle and in some cases I suppose would appear for all intents and purposes as just another person. Except that those around them are touched in their daily lives by the Bodhisattva's daily examples.

The old saying, 'if you can see the path before you, it is most likely not your path". Bodhisattva does not know she is Bodhisattva for the earthly ego would proclaim I am Bodhisattva, which of course the ego cannot be, it can only wannabe. But thinking about it, I think that ain't bad.

reply to post by ManBehindTheMask


I was waiting for someone to call me out on this. Who am I? I could know you in real life and you would never know. I'm nameless and faceless and this post doesn't change that. I suppose some people could get ego gratification from having a few people look at their post on ATS. I'm not one of those people.

reply to post by WhiteHat


Ironically I'm not even a Buddhist... =)

Thank you for clarifying. I'm by no means an expert on the details or semantics of the terminology, but the state you describe is very accurate to how I feel.

Originally posted by TerryMcGuire

Originally posted by ManBehindTheMask
Well interesting...........

But I thought enlightenment was more of a continuing thing then just something you achieve once and then are considered "enlightened"?

And calling yourself a Bodhisattva...........isnt that counter productive to what a Bodhisattva is????

Claiming this title on your own and calling yourself this is indicative of ego becoming too great.......

Isnt that one of the main themes of enlightenment ? Abandonment of Ego?

I dunno........but I do know that I wouldnt go around calling myself something , thats for other people to decide and judge...........not you and your ego

Here is a thought
As each of us is born with little or no memory of past lives, I would suppose a Bodhisattva would also have no memory of such lives. This would include knowledge of being a Bodhisattva. Bodhisattva will live a life of service uncomplicated by the normal spiritual struggle and in some cases I suppose would appear for all intents and purposes as just another person. Except that those around them are touched in their daily lives by the Bodhisattva's daily examples.

The old saying, 'if you can see the path before you, it is most likely not your path". Bodhisattva does not know she is Bodhisattva for the earthly ego would proclaim I am Bodhisattva, which of course the ego cannot be, it can only wannabe. But thinking about it, I think that ain't bad.

There are many myths about the bodhisattva state, borrowed from New Age current or from christianity. In fact you can call someone a "bodhisattva" only if he follows the buddhist way. Yet people from other schools of spirituality or religions can reach liberation and the merit and the realization is the same.

Removing the illusion of ego doesn't mean that the person cease to see himself as an identity; he just cease to see himself separate from the others. Yet he can choose to show himself as a bodhisattva or not to, according to the circumstances and to the benefits that this can bring to others.

I do believe that bodhisattvas can recall past lives, of their own or the others, as well as future lives; and the more they advance on the way, the more they can see and do. Not all liberated persons choose to be monks or hermits; many choose to take an active role in the world, sometimes even anonymous. But if you know what the qualities of a bodhisattva are, is not difficult to know who is only pretending, and who is really liberated.