Observations placeholder
Asvaghosha - The Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana - Enlightenment
Identifier
016333
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
An explanation:
Buddha teaches that all beings are from all eternity ever abiding in Nirvana. = The Higher spirit or buddha nature of all of us is perpetually in nirvana - as the buddha nature or Higher spirit does not die or is born but exists eternally. To obtain nirvana one thus has to reach the higher spirit - meet with it [ecstasy], merge with it [moksha] or alternatively let the higher spirit take over completely [annihilation]
In truth enlightenment cannot be manufactured, nor can it be created; it is absolutely intangible; it is no material existence that is an object of sensation = in effect enlightenment is a stage on the spiritual path associated with the above states.
A description of the experience
Asvaghosha - The Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana translated by D T Suzuki
Buddha teaches that all beings are from all eternity ever abiding in Nirvana. In truth enlightenment cannot be manufactured, nor can it be created; it is absolutely intangible; it is no material existence that is an object of sensation.