r/ShrugLifeSyndicate

Enlightenment would be something of small consequence to a truly enlightened person. If he held onto the view that he was enlightened, he could hardly be enlightened because he would be immersed in self definition.

Upon enlightenment, the Buddha wondered whether it was worth telling anyone (he also wondered that what he had to convey may be too subtle to grasp). This is the most important part of the story, because whatever he achieved was not such a big deal, a matter of small consequence. There was no impulsion to declare it from rooftops. Of course, the choice to play the guru was the choice the Buddha made out of compassion for all beings. But for this consideration, he would not have bothered to even mention it to anyone.

An enlightened being would think nothing of his achievement. If he did, it would be an egoistic fantasy. According to adage, "Before enlightenment, chopping wood, carrying water. After enlightenment, chopping wood, carrying water." It is something that passes without mention, noted and dismissed. This is the only way it can be real.

We don't seek to attain enlightenment, we seek to arrive where we can be done with the matter altogether, a reduction to inconsequence. This is the paradox.

Would we ascend to the peak of Mount Everest and neither take a photo nor make a record in our journal? But if we do neither and if we go so far as to tell no one, we have still ascended Mount Everest. This is the paradoxical context. Mount Everest is the tallest point above sea level, at about 29 thousand feet.

As the little noises drift by, the Buddha passes into silence, with the ineffable sense that he has nothing to say, much less to himself about himself.

This point is worth making because of the number of people on Reddit claiming to be enlightened.