Enlightenment Isn’t Earned

You Don’t Need to Become Enlightened to Become Enlightened

Have you ever had a good meditation session and thought that you’re now closer to enlightenment?

Or do you believe that you have to become a bodhisattva and progress through all the stages in order to become a Buddha — an awakened one?

If yes, I have bad news — and good news — for you.

The bad news is: you’re wrong. And the good news: you don’t need to do anything to become who you already are — which is nothing other than Buddha.

In this article, I’ll explain a common fallacy and quote one of my favorite Zen Masters to help destroy the ignorance that we have to become something in order to be enlightened.

Many of us, when we embark on this spiritual journey, read texts from spiritual masters, watch videos of people who display immense spiritual wisdom and compassion, and become really inspired to be like them.

The downside of this, however, is that we start comparing ourselves to them, we see our faults in a magnified way, and the idea creeps in that we have to become quite different from who we are today in order to become enlightened.

Especially when we start meditating, we become more aware of what’s going on inside of us — and for most people, this is really off-putting. We see how much conflict happens within us, how much frustration, hate, anger, and ignorance arise at a given moment.

And this is not the end of it. After we become aware of our internal conflicts and ignorance, we start blaming ourselves.

“If I could just change, if I could just progress to becoming a better person, I’d be closer to enlightenment.”

And already, another conflict has appeared.

We start thinking that we need to perform certain actions in order to purify ourselves.

We may even think that we need to develop psychic abilities or climb the ladder of whatever spiritual system we’re following in order to become worthy of enlightenment.

We need to do this or that, and only then, maybe, we’ll be worthy to awaken.

But is this really true?

To answer this question, I think it’s helpful to see what others have said who have already walked this path.

One such person, whom I hold in very high regard and who, in my opinion, has given one of the clearest teachings I’ve become aware of, was Zen Master Huang Po.

He said the following:

“Even if you go through all the stages of a Bodhisattva’s progress towards Buddhahood, one by one; when at last, in a single flash, you attain to full realization, you will only be realizing the Buddha-Nature which has been with you all the time; and by all the foregoing stages you will have added to it nothing at all.

You will come to look upon those eons of work and achievement as no better than unreal actions performed in a dream. That is why the Tathagata said: ‘I truly attained nothing from complete, unexcelled Enlightenment.’”

“Attaining nothing from complete, unexcelled Enlightenment.”

How often is the orientation of our spiritual path to attain something?

Attaining enlightenment, attaining freedom, attaining peace of mind, attaining certain abilities, attaining a stage of some made-up system…it’s always only about attaining something.

When we hear that, we may get the idea that we have to attain no-attainment.

And that’s not a bad thing. I mean this is just how our small mind works. It can only operate in duality: either it affirms something or it denies it.

Here, you can actually see it very clearly. I laid out the problem of us always thinking about attainment, and the natural reaction to it — which is to try to overcome it.

“If I could just overcome my desire for attainment, I’d be enlightened.”

Now, I want to propose a radical idea.

Leave it as it is!

Thoughts coming up about attainment? Just look at them and recognize them as natural movements of your small mind. Thinking always comes up with problems and solutions — it’s simply what thinking does.

However, if you don’t turn your thinking into a problem, then what?

Thinking is just thinking. No need to stop it, no need to overcome it, no need to develop it.

Just recognize that you are not what you think. You won’t realize your true nature through thinking. Only when you go beyond your thoughts will you be able to awaken to your true nature.

It doesn’t matter what you think about yourself — whether you think you’re advanced spiritually or a bad person with lots of conflicts.

Thoughts won’t tell you who you really are. They won’t touch your True Nature. They won’t give you an ultimate answer.

So, why care about them?

Instead, just become aware of your thinking, let it go, and go beyond it.

Who is having these thoughts anyway? What is this? Who are you?

Instead of getting fixated on your thoughts and trying to improve them, or trying to improve the wrong image you have of yourself, do a 180-degree turn and just look at yourself.

Who am I?

All spiritual traditions are simply trying to help you stop identifying with your thinking and return your focus back to yourself.

And if you have doubts about it, or about yourself — just doubt the one who doubts. My spiritual teacher once said that: doubt the one who doubts.

Really have the courage to not believe anything your thoughts tell you, and simply return to your practice, return to your True Self — from moment to moment.

You don’t have to become more advanced or more holy, and you don’t have to become someone else. You don’t even need to become enlightened. You are already you — you are already the Buddha, the Atman, the Absolute. You don’t need to change; just become aware of who you are.

I hope this was helpful, and I wish you all the best. 

Your friend of the way — bye.