Tamra Lee
World Religions
October 27, 2015
Enlightenment in Buddhism
Within each of us we have the ability to recognize good and bad, right and wrong,
happiness and suffering. In our lives we see so much of both, we experience both. It is our choice
to decide how to respond to whatever happens to us. In this paper I am going to talk about what I
have learned about the Tibetan/Vajrayana Buddhists’ way to enlightenment. I am also going to
talk about my experience at the Buddhist temple or Urgyen Samten Ling Gonpa in downtown
Salt Lake City. The main thing I want to discuss is enlightenment is a path each individual must
experience on their own.
One definition of enlightenment I really think is helpful was given by Mark, one of the
teachers at the Buddhist temple. Mark said “being enlightened is knowing everything and I mean
everything good and bad, knowing the outcome of everything and being ok with it.” Mark went
on to explain how we all have the ability to do so inside of us, we just need to recognize it and
ACT on it. One way to find enlightenment is meditation.
Meditation is a way to seek to appeal to and directly realize the enlightened qualities in
all sentient beings. Sentient is defined as being able to perceive or feel things; experience
subjectively, responsive to or conscious of sense impressions; aware; and finely sensitive in
perception or feeling. To sum it up it means “capable of feeling”. So basically meditation is one
way to become connected to everyone around you. It is a way to help you help others.
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During the ceremony I attended we did a lot of meditation. It is very orderly, sit with
straight back, in lotus position or cross legged with left leg behind and right leg in front. Hands
are in your lap with left hand underneath and right leg on top. One of the first things we did was
breathe in and out while focusing only on our breath 21 times. It sounds easy but sitting still and
having a quiet mind is hard. Small thoughts of to-dos or worries or noises around you creep in
can break the quiet clearness/clarity of your mind. But you keep trying your best and hopefully
will achieve it one day. While you are trying you can still experience a lot.
After the 2 breaths Mark asked some of the people there what they experiences. One lady
experienced a lot of emotion because it was the first time she had had quiet and time to just sit
for a while. A guy said he got distracted by the traffic and couldn’t focus. Mark explained that is
normal the first time and it just takes practice. As I was talking to Mark after he said he is still
working on it. He said when he meditates he will have 15 seconds here or there he achieves a
clear mind or enlightenment and lets everything go.
He gave the example of having jar full of water and sand and shaking it as hard as you
can. Then he asked how to separate them again. The answer was simply “let it settle”. You can’t
possible try to separate the sand from the water while you are continuing to shift it around and
move it. In our lives we need to take a step back and see what is really going on and see if we are
causing any of our suffering. The advice Mark gave to me was “Let be and be helpful”.
In the book, Living Religions it says Tibetan/Vajrayna Buddhism became a complex path
with three stages. I have discussed the first one already-quieting the mind and relinquishing
attachments through meditation practice. The second stage is intensive training in compassion
and wisdom. On the website for the Urgyen Samten Ling is says that we find the Buddha nature
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by uncovering the innate qualities already within the body, speech and mind. Those qualities are
loving, kindness and compassion which naturally come forth when we know how to simply let
go and rest in the natural state of mind.
Compassion was very prominent in the service/ceremony I attended. I actually went to
the Puja of Compassion or Chenrezig Puja. Puja is the ceremonial practice of awakening our
natural qualities of wisdom and compassion through prayer and recitation of mantras. Chenrezig
is renowned as the embodiment of the compassion of all the Buddhas the Bodhisattva of
Compassion. At the beginning of the service Mark was very compassionate by explaining that
they usually sit on the floor in lotus position (or cross legged if you can’t sit in the lotus
position), but if you couldn’t do that, they had chairs you could sit on. He explained where the
bathroom was. He talked about how it wouldn’t offend or bother him in anyway if we can do go
or if we had to move around or sit on a chair. He was aware of everyone’s needs and was ok with
whatever they had to do.
He also asked us to pick at least one person that we know is suffering and visualize them
throughout the ceremony. I picked my little sister Jessica and my older brother Austin. The first
time we visualized them we were meditating and also visualizing Buddha. We were supposed to
visualize Buddha having different colors of light shining out of him in different spots on his
body. As the lights were shining they connected into a bright white light and went into me. I felt
peace and my suffering was gone, then just like enlightenment I shared the light with Jessica and
Austin and they in turn felt peace and relief too. It was interesting because I feel like I started to
understand them better.
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The second time we visualized them was later when we were meditating again but this
time we were also visualizing Chenrezig. I saw Chenrezig reaching out with all of his arms and
taking my suffering from me. He used his energy, understanding and enlightenment to take all of
it away. I in turn “took” Austin and Jessica’s suffering away and saw their shoulders become
lighter and their faces become brighter. It was interesting because it got me thinking about how I
can actually help take away their suffering.
For example, Jessica has Down Syndrome, a lot of health problems which includes a
constant running nose, with the grossest snot you will ever see in your life. Anyway, I started
thinking about how miserable she must be all the time with all of that junk inside her head and
decided I can remind her to blow her nose more often so she can relieve some of that pressure.
Austin has never had much motivation in life and makes a lot of bad decisions and is really lazy.
He doesn’t get along with my dad and avoids home a lot. I realized he probably feels alone a lot
and may be lazy or make bad decisions because he is trying to get someone to care for him or he
is just rebelling against my dad. I decided I need to be his friend. I need to be a good example to
him. I need to let him know that he doesn’t’ have to be alone or feel like a failure. I can help!!
I also talked to another lady at the ceremony for a while. Her name was LeeAnne and it
was her second or third time attending. Her mother was a Buddhist monk there. As we were
talking she said she didn’t believe in all of the teachings but she did believe that we can help
others by meditating. She said she goes because she wants to help her sister. Her sister has a
substance abuse problem and the other way LeeAnne can think of to help is to meditate and have
Buddha and Chenrezig help her send rays of good karma or enlightenment to her sister.
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The phrase that we repeated the most while meditating was “Om Mani Padme Hung”
which invokes the powerful benevolent attention and blessing of Chenrezig, the embodiment of
compassion. It shows that the first two stages are connected.
The last stage is the advanced esoteric path call Vajarayana or Tantrayana. It is an
accelerated and rigorous path to nurture enlightenment within a single lifetime.
It involves
being guided through a series of tantric practices by qualified teachers. Tantras emphasize
visualization, ritual, mantras, mudras, mandalas and the union of male and female energies. All
of which help spiritual liberation.
This concept was not a part of the puja I attended and I didn’t ask about it, but I know
that it is not just having sex to have sex. It is all about connecting on different level and has its
place and time.
Enlightenment is possible and as I have learned it is not easy. It starts with ourselves but
is so much bigger than us. It is realizing that we are all connected and in a way have the
responsibility to help everyone around us. We need to help our family and friends and coworkers. But we also need to help a stranger at the supermarket or someone we pass on the
street. We need to recognize all the good and bad, right and wrong, happiness and suffering and
do our part.
As the Buddhists meditate, practice compassion and tantras they learn how to let the
suffering of the world go and focus on the now. They find the truth/enlightenment for themselves
by direct and experience and then share it with everyone around them. They live by example and
share their beliefs by talking with people.
Enlightenment is a path each individual must
experience on their own but it also must be shared with those around us.
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Bibliography
Mark, Personal Interview. 25 October 2015
LeeAnee. Personal Interview. 25 October 2015
Fisher, Mary Pat. Living Religions Ninth Edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Laurence
King Publishing Ltd. 2014.
Urgyensamtenling.org
Dharma-haven.org