There are so many models of awakening it’s boggling. The traditional Theravada 4-path model is a little too psychological perfection to me.
From what I understand, Buddhist ultimate insight is typically defined as the realization of the three characteristics:
1. One cannot separate the self from the context the individual is embedded in.
2. All phenomena are transient.
3. Nothing is satisfying forever, even jhanic experiences.
There’s a certain shift of relationship to suffering that occurs after various forms of insight. There’s still pain and suffering, and you can still be a total jerk face.
Jack Kornfield’s “after the ecstasy the laundry,” I’ve heard is a great exploration of this.
Compassion is a common characteristic of enlightenment. If you are still marred in duality you think there is a other. In the enlightened state there really is no difference between all forms of existence.
From what I understand, Buddhist ultimate insight is typically defined as the realization of the three characteristics:
1. One cannot separate the self from the context the individual is embedded in. 2. All phenomena are transient. 3. Nothing is satisfying forever, even jhanic experiences.
There’s a certain shift of relationship to suffering that occurs after various forms of insight. There’s still pain and suffering, and you can still be a total jerk face.
Jack Kornfield’s “after the ecstasy the laundry,” I’ve heard is a great exploration of this.