Do I have to meditate to attain enlightenment?
What is the relationship between enlightenment and meditation?
Meditation is a necessary condition to enlightenment,
But it is not a necessary and sufficient condition.
There are three factors that go into attaining wisdom,
Enlightenment.
One is wisdom that you attain by listening to others.
There are many cases in which you are enlightened by listening to Buddha's teachings.
Listening to a sage and making his or her wisdom into your own so that is called attaining wisdom through listening.
While Buddha was still alive,
There were many who attained enlightenment through this method.
The second way of attaining enlightenment was a way to attain the wisdom through a deep insight.
If you really delve deep into the concept of dependent origination in which everything is connected,
And realize the cause and effect that there is a cause to every effect,
And realize that nothing is coincidental,
That if I am suffering today,
That there is something that causes that suffering.
And once I diagnose and eliminate that cause,
Then I can free myself from that suffering.
And to realize that everything changes,
The transient nature of all things,
And that there is no I or self that I can point to and say,
This is me.
So there is an enlightenment you can gain by listening to a sage like Buddha.
And this is an enlightenment you can gain by deeply engaging in deep insight and analysis by yourself.
And third way is enlightenment through meditation.
Basically,
You are letting go of all thoughts,
Analysis,
Cognitive functioning.
So in that sense,
Meditation is not the only way towards enlightenment.
But enlightenment through meditation is more sustainable and longer lasting than other methods because you are pausing all your thoughts and really diving deep inside your unconsciousness.
Because it is so experiential through your body and mind.
So in that sense,
Meditation is one of the ways you can get to enlightenment.
It's not the only way.
However,
Although it's one of the ways,
It is probably the best way to get there.
