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Re: Question:
If a person can leave the world with peace, one must be not having too much cravings or attachments to the self and the world. And that should be congratulated. For enlightenment, one should be able to rid of all the mind's discursiveness and illusions with a result of eliminating all the internal vexations, which will exert a lot of influences during one's lifetime. Please also refer to today's blog post.
posted by
WSChan
on August 10, 2008 at 9:12 PM
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Re:
Enlightenment is basically a change in the mind with influences to the external behaviors with time. Assessing only by rigid behavioral criteria may often lose the essence. Please also see today's blog post.
posted by
WSChan
on August 10, 2008 at 8:57 PM
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Question:
Before my father died of cancer, he saw heaven and he stayed on only until all birthdays were over and my daughter's adoption completed and then he went willingly. However, he still comes back and talks with my Mom when she is upset or scared. Did he have enlightenment?
posted by
skye08
on August 8, 2008 at 8:03 PM
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Re:
Some descriptions of so called "enlightened mind" that would seem to fit better as descriptions of deaf and dumb people are actually for people who are at the pre-enlightened concentration stage. While in meditation with form with intense focus at the meditation task, the mind may be so focused that it becomes so stagnant that all discursive thoughts are tied up without moving or arising, a person at this moment will seem like being deaf and dumb, very unreceptive and unresponsive of the surrounding sensory information. This condition may be referred as one-mind concentration or some preliminary samadhi (calming)condition.
A Chan master Laiguo, about a century ago or so, was meditating so intensely within daily life that while in lunch hour of a Chan meditation retreat he was completely absorbed and became totally stagnant while holding his bowl of rice and chopsticks in the air. A retreat helper gave him a slap throwing the bowl and the chopsticks away. While the bowl of rice was smashing into pieces on the floor, Laiguo was enlightened.
The intensely focused concentration stage of meditation can often be a precondition for enlightenment. When the concentrated mind is broken off, sometimes by some events of sight, sound, touch, smell, or thoughts, the non-discursive mind of enlightenment may appear.
In the enlightened mind, sense information passes and go freely and smoothly without any obstruction, just without any clinging, attachment, scatterness or defilement.
posted by
WSChan
on August 7, 2008 at 8:54 PM
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It is the inner quality of the experience rather than the outer signs that determine enlightened mind or not. Some descriptions of enlightened mind would fit better as descriptions of deaf and dumb people.
posted by
AardigeAfrikaner
on August 7, 2008 at 1:11 AM
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