what is enlightenment?
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it is not enlightenment
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I wouldn't normally do this, but it's a complicated question with no easy answer. It's a basic combination of a devolpment of already existing philosphy and personal experience. I'd suggest reading the following Wikipedia entries, and going from there:\nThomas Paine: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Paine\nJohn Locke: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Locke\n\nThe question brings up a complicated debate about the Enlightenment and the American War of Indepedence, intertwined with philosphy, sociology and history. How much information you need depends on what level you're currently studying at. The articles above are a good starting point for any investigation.
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There is no way one can know if someone else is "enlightened" or not unless one himself becomes enlightened too.\n\nI have had many instances when my guru has answered questions in my head without my having even asked him. At times I have asked him a question and his answer has seemed absurd at that time. However, in hindsight, when I have analysed his answer with a clearer mind I have seen that instead of answering my words he has answered the real question within me.\n\nIf you are really looking for spiritual growth (spiritual growth today has nothing to do with religion mind you! as most religions have just become businesses with nothing spiritual left in them) please read the book "Mystic's Musings" from amazon.com
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All your life. Learning is the greatest pleasure life offers. Never have I seen a situation where happiness resulted from ignorance.
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What is emptiness? Emptiness (shunyata) is the reality of the existence of ourselves, and all the phenomena around us. According to the Buddhist point of view, seeking reality and seeking liberation amount to the same thing. The person who doesn't want to seek reality doesn't really want to seek liberation, and is just confused.\nIf you seek reality and you think that it has to be taught to you by a Tibetan Lama, that you have to look for it outside yourself, in another place - maybe Shangrila! - then you are mistaken. You cannot seek reality outside yourself because you are reality. Perhaps you think that your life, your reality was made by society, by your friends? If you think that way you are far from reality. if you think that your existence, your life was made by somebody else it means that you are not taking the responsibility to understand reality. \nYou have to see that your attitudes, your view of the world, of your experiences, of your girlfriend or boyfriend, of your own self, are all the interpretation of your own mind, your own imagination. They are your own projection, your mind literally made them up. If you don't understand this then you have very little chance of understanding emptiness. \nThis is not just the Buddhist view but also the experience of Western physicists and philosophers - they have researched into reality too. Physicists look and look and look and they simply cannot find one entity that exists in a permanent, stable way: this is the Western experience of emptiness. \nIf you can imagine that then you will not have any concrete concepts; if you understand this experience of physicists then you will let go of your worldly problems - but you don't want to understand.\nIt seems to me that we twentieth century people are against nature, against reality, the very opposite of reality. Each moment we build up our artificial, polluted ego; we cover ourselves with heavy ego blankets - one, two, ten, one hundred blankets against nature, against reality. Modern life is the product of the intellectual mind, and we create it. The intellectual mind is superstition. We don't understand reality, and the intellectual life that we lead keeps us far from reality. \nSo we don't accept who we are. We are always looking to cover ourselves with thick blankets and say "this is me". We hide our own reality and run away from natural beauty, completely neglecting it. By not touching our reality, our modern life becomes so complicated and we create problems with our superstition. We are like a spider spinning his web, climbing on his thread then falling down; climbing up again and falling down again. In the same way we build our own intellectual web, a way of life, that is so complicated, that doesn't touch reality, that is so difficult to live in. This construction arises from our own mind and does not arise from anything else. \nIf I told you that you are nothing, you are zero, that you are nothing that you think you are, then you would be shocked. "What is this monk saying?" But what if I say that it is the truth! In fact you are non duality, non self existence. You do not exist, relatively or absolutely, as you think you do. If you really understood this then you would become more realistic and you would really gain satisfaction and peace. But as long as you hold on to the fantasy, concrete conception of yourself and project this wrong conception onto your environment, then no way will you understand reality.\nIn Western cities nowadays, you can see, the older you are the more problems you have. When we are young, not so many problems, but then there are drugs and sex, and eventually they become dissatisfying, then more depression, more depression. So, as your body becomes bigger and your brain becomes wider, you have more and more problems and become more and more depressed. The more money you have the more problems come. You can see this. \nYou only take care of your bo
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The Enlightenment was a late 17th- and 18th-century movement that, among other things, attempted to apply the burgeoning scientific method to social problems, especially in the wake of crushing religious wars in Europe and the subsequent rejection of religion as the ultimate guide to secular affairs. As Immanuel Kant wrote: "'Dare to know! Use your own intelligence!' That is the motto of the Enlightenment." So, people looked at what was going wrong and tried to figure out the 'why' of the problem as explained by a 'how' of society's origin and function.\n\nThis led to many competing theories about society forwarded by prominant writers. Absolutionists, most famously supported by Thomas Hobbes, advocated civilized despotism, even dictatorship, as the only source of peace in a world where men are naturally bestial (in nature, life is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short") . These ideas were opposed most notably by John Locke, who argued that people merely want to work and own property (a sort of pre-capitalist thinking); Voltaire, a major writer who, among other topics, wrote on the civil liberties and natural rights of men; and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who postulated that civilization corrupted the basic freedoms of man as a naturally good being ("noble savage" theory).\n\nThese three are more or less united in their advocacy of the right to rebellion of an oppressed people, and each contributed to the sentiments of the American Revolutionaries. Indeed, many of their ideas are almost quoted in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
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The Age of Enlightenment refers to the 18th century in European philosophy, and is often thought of as part of a larger period which includes the Age of Reason. The term also more specifically refers to a historical intellectual movement, "The Enlightenment." This movement advocated rationality as a means to establish an authoritative system of ethics, aesthetics, and knowledge. The intellectual leaders of this movement regarded themselves as courageous and elite, and regarded their purpose as leading the world toward progress and out of a long period of doubtful tradition, full of irrationality, superstition, and tyranny (which they believed began during a historical period they called the "Dark Ages"). This movement also provided a framework for the American and French Revolutions, the Latin American independence movement, the Polish Constitution of May 3 as well as leading to the rise of capitalism and the birth of socialism. It is matched by the high baroque and classical eras in music, and the neo-classical period in the arts, and receives contemporary application in the unity of science movement which includes logical positivism.
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Well, when I learned about Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism in class (not to say that you're practicing either of these religions),with Buddhism for sure, I don't think that it takes a set amount of time.  You just reach it once you feel it.  It took Buddha approximately 45 years to become enlightened.
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You're well on your way to enlightenment and you're seeing subtle energies that are normally imperceptible. If I were you, I'd drink a lot of scotch, gin or tequila on a regular basis. Play video games. Watch adult videos. These things will help you make it go away.
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http://www.ashidakim.com/zenkoans/zenindex.html <<< koans\nhttp://www.hsuyun.org/Dharma/zbohy/Literature/essays/sangha-essays/reflections.html\n\nDeveloped from CH’an a school of Chinese Buddhism formed in the Seventh century from a blend of Taoism (Chinese philosophy outlined in the TaoTeChing). It aims is to achieve harmony with all that is by pursuing inaction and effortless) and Mahayana teachings. The school stressed experience rather than learning. One of the heroes of Zen is the fierce – looking Indian monk Boddhidharma who brought Buddhism to China.\n\nAbsolute faith is placed in a person’s own inner being. Zen came to Japan in the 13th century five centuries after the orthodox forms of Buddhism. It appealed because of its emphasis on the uselessness of words and the insistence of action without thought.\n\nZen teaches the possibility of enlightenment in the here and now, unlike the tendency that have developed in other strands of Buddhism as far off goals. It teaches that enlightenment is a spontaneous event, totally independent of concepts, techniques or rituals. Zen Monks are based on doing things, learning through experience.\n\nEsoterically regarded, Zen is not a religion but rather an indefinable, incommunicable (fukasetsu) root, free from all names, descriptions, and concepts, that can only be experienced by each individual for him- or herself. From expressed forms of this, all religions have sprung. In this sense Zen is not bound to any religion, including Buddhism. It is the primordial perfection of everything existing, designated by the most various names, experienced by all great sages, saints, and founders of religions of all cultures and times. Buddhism has referred to it as the "identity of samsara and nirvana." From this point of view zazen is not a "method" that brings people living in ignorance (avidya) to the "goal" of liberation; rather it is the immediate expression and actualization of the perfection present in every person at every moment.
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Its a bit long...but here it is.\n\n\n1) Right View\n\nRight view is the beginning and the end of the path, it simply means to see and to understand things as they really are and to realise the Four Noble Truths. As such, right view is the cognitive aspect of wisdom. It means to see things through, to grasp the impermanent and imperfect nature of worldly objects and ideas, and to understand the law of karma and karmic conditioning. Right view is not necessarily an intellectual capacity, just as wisdom is not just a matter of intelligence. Instead, right view is attained, sustained, and enhanced through all capacities of mind. It begins with the intuitive insight that all beings are subject to suffering and it ends with complete understanding of the true nature of all things. Since our view of the world forms our thoughts and our actions, right view yields right thoughts and right actions. \n\n2. Right Intention\n\nWhile right view refers to the cognitive aspect of wisdom, right intention refers to the volitional aspect, i.e. the kind of mental energy that controls our actions. Right intention can be described best as commitment to ethical and mental self-improvement. Buddha distinguishes three types of right intentions: 1. the intention of renunciation, which means resistance to the pull of desire, 2. the intention of good will, meaning resistance to feelings of anger and aversion, and 3. the intention of harmlessness, meaning not to think or act cruelly, violently, or aggressively, and to develop compassion. \n\n3. Right Speech\n\nRight speech is the first principle of ethical conduct in the eightfold path. Ethical conduct is viewed as a guideline to moral discipline, which supports the other principles of the path. This aspect is not self-sufficient, however, essential, because mental purification can only be achieved through the cultivation of ethical conduct. The importance of speech in the context of Buddhist ethics is obvious: words can break or save lives, make enemies or friends, start war or create peace. Buddha explained right speech as follows: 1. to abstain from false speech, especially not to tell deliberate lies and not to speak deceitfully, 2. to abstain from slanderous speech and not to use words maliciously against others, 3. to abstain from harsh words that offend or hurt others, and 4. to abstain from idle chatter that lacks purpose or depth. Positively phrased, this means to tell the truth, to speak friendly, warm, and gently and to talk only when necessary.\n4. Right Action\n\nThe second ethical principle, right action, involves the body as natural means of expression, as it refers to deeds that involve bodily actions. Unwholesome actions lead to unsound states of mind, while wholesome actions lead to sound states of mind. Again, the principle is explained in terms of abstinence: right action means 1. to abstain from harming sentient beings, especially to abstain from taking life (including suicide) and doing harm intentionally or delinquently, 2. to abstain from taking what is not given, which includes stealing, robbery, fraud, deceitfulness, and dishonesty, and 3. to abstain from sexual misconduct. Positively formulated, right action means to act kindly and compassionately, to be honest, to respect the belongings of others, and to keep sexual relationships harmless to others. Further details regarding the concrete meaning of right action can be found in the Precepts. \n\n5. Right Livelihood\n\nRight livelihood means that one should earn one's living in a righteous way and that wealth should be gained legally and peacefully. The Buddha mentions four specific activities that harm other beings and that one should avoid for this reason: 1. dealing in weapons, 2. dealing in living beings (including raising animals for slaughter as well as slave trade and prostitution), 3. working in meat production and butchery, and 4. selling intoxicants and poisons, such as alcohol and drugs. Furthermore any other occup
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the Buddha’s enlightenment is the direct result of this combination of meditation and wisdom - concentration and insight. \n\nAccording to the Buddha, a sentient being who aspires to persevere on the path of Bodhisattva and accumulates unlimited pure merits for three Great Asogi Kalpa periods, may go to a pure land and attain Buddhahood.
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No where in the bible is there anything on enlightenment.\nIts save or unsaved. Enlightenment is more of the belief that you can achieve a higher place of peace and attain godlike abilities.\nBeing save means going to heaven to be with Jesus. There a heaven and a hell is the Christian belief.\nIn hell a persons soul will be tormented forever.\nand if a person doesnt believe that Jesus is the one and only son of God and savior. And that he is the only way to get to Heaven. And that their is a hell where unbelivers will  be tormented forever.\nWell according to our beliefs the people who dont believe that are going to go to Hell and We are going to Heaven.\nAlot of people think that ridiculous. Well I guess we will find out when we die who's right in their beliefs.
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We are here to learn..love ..laugh..and grow..our existence here is very short...truly cherish all that your physical body allows you to enjoy here..the sunshine on your skin..the smell of flowers in the air..the taste of your favorite food..the sounds of mother nature..the embrace of a loved one..essentially we are here to prepare ourselves for what is next..that is why you should make the most of life and not get caught up in the world that society has created...based on greed... we are here to learn..become enlightened and become a better person..disgarding the primitive traits that we all as humans have.
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We struggle as conscious beings to grow and learn and become enlightened. We study to grow closer to truth and lucidity.  To succumb to weakness, whether in our studies or in any other aspect of our lives, is to fall back into the darkness of savagery. Each generation has a responsibility to further the collective awareness and conscience of all mankind.
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Zen is paradoxically the cultivation of non-cultivation, recognizing that we need only remove the illusion of non-enlightenment to become enlightened.\nOne of the central points of Zen is intuitive comprehension. When we come to realize the fundamental nature of Mind, Zen becomes super-logical.\nOn the other hand, when we attempt to examine the nature of Mind through emotions, ego-pain, mental pictures, and discursive ideas based on sense perception, Zen seems like nonsense.\nBecause everything arises from Mind, Mind cannot be measured through its creations because the latter are not as perfect as Mind itself. On the other hand, directly coalescing with Mind everything makes perfect sense just as they are--as they arise from Mind. All things thus reveal the pure function of Buddha Mind. Just so, we see the natural world as a manifestation of the cosmic Buddha.\nWhen the Zen master Joshu wipes crumbs off his robe he is demonstrating the primordial power of Mind to move his body perfectly--although he is no longer attached to his body, now being Mind.
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The ability to read and understand what has been read.  To understand means to be able to apply that particular gained knowledge to something else.