On the other hand, the Chan school developed gongan meditation, which leads to enlightenment by contemplating a huatou, the key phrase of a gongan. This paper focuses on examining and comparing the following issues in these two schools: (1) the motivations for seeking enlight...
he taught that all can attain this perfection too. Not many other religions’ founders taught that their followers have the chance to experience the same ultimate peace and liberation as themselves. Yet the Buddha taught that everyone can attain the same bliss of supreme enlightenment if we...
Note [2]:It is not that there is no need to study the sūtras, as he later still did, on his path to Buddhahood. Even if not studying the sūtras much in this lifetime, there must be enough practice based upon them to progress towards enlightenment, such as via reaching Amitābha Bud...
the life span of this Buddha and his people is an infinite number of immeasurable eons, and so he is called Amitabha. Amitabha Buddha attained enlightenment ten eons ago.”— Shakyamuni Buddha from the Amitabha Sutra
While Dukkha (suffering) is caused by craving and attachment impermanence only increases our suffering as a root cause. From the Pali Canon before his enlightenment, the Buddha says: “Before my enlightenment, O monks, while I was still a bodhisattva, it occurred to me: ‘What is the gratifi...
“Even Buddhaghosa did not really believe that Theravada practice could lead to Nirvana.His Visuddhimagga is supposed to be a detailed, step by step guide to enlightenment. And yet in the postscript […] he says he hopes that the merit he has earned by writing the Vishuddhimagga will al...
as well as itsVajrayanapath. Incorporating meditation, yoga and tantric disciplines, Tibetan Buddhists avoid philosophical speculation preferring practice as a means to attain realization and ultimately Buddhahood; upon reaching perfect enlightenment, he who attains Buddhahood can choose to stop the cycle...
Various spiritual devotees and teachers of many persuasions see renunciation of worldly desires as a necessary step toward spiritual enlightenment. There are various examples of this in many traditions. Buddha is renowned for making the observation that desire was the source of u...
Did Christianity Begin as the Worship of a Sun God? The “Christ” of Christianity may have just been another celestial god. There are a number of similarities between various pagan/mystery cult gods and Christianity. These are some of them.The...
How Everyone Is Every Buddha’s Only ‘Child’ https://thedailyenlightenment.com/2014/09/how-everyone-is-every-buddhas-only-child Story In Chinese(translated as above) https://www.weibo.com/ttarticle/p/show?id=2309403975343844232465 ‘《般若经》里提到,有位菩萨经过多年挣扎着遵循菩萨道之后,他告...