We all know the Buddha claimed to be enlightened. And most claim in that same regard, Jesus was too. Buddha described it as an end to suffering, Jesus saw it as salvation.
I know it's an apples to oranges comparison, but many who claim to be enlightened say that everyone is capable of this. Along with the process comes compassion, forgiveness, lasting happiness, gratitude for all life, and really every positive emotion without any of the negatives.
So how do you guys feel about the concept?
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[–] heretolearn ago
Autobiography of a Yogi, Autobiography of a Western Yogi, and The Power Of Now. Interesting books. Touch on enlightenment from both angles. Judge for yourself and see if they've reached enlightenment by all definitions.
[–] 9176731? ago
By all definitions? Certainly not. Buddhism for example has a variety of traditions, some of which have very precise and specific definitions that excludes the vast majority of Buddhist masters. Whether we take "enlightenment" as either a gloss for ('awakening') byang chub or the rarer ('full awakening') sangs rgyas, in either of these cases none of these three texts suggest anything that corresponds to those specific definitions.
Of the three, the order you listed them in my opinion is the order of their quality. The former being excellent, the middle meh, and I personally found the latter to be a shade of terrible.