Releasing The Curious Goal Of Enlightenment

What if the goal of enlightenment actually takes us off of our true path? Where do these desires for immortality, enlightenment, and sagehood come from? How can we discern between the teachings that bring more joy into our lives and ones that perhaps take us down a curious road that doesn't actually go where we think it does?

Reviews

I enjoyed how easy you talk about such a central point of our practice. It is a real danger to miss life while trying to become something better than you are right now. it doesn’t mean not to try to develop yourself in a certain direction. But first you must very deeply, except my first Zen, teacher, said, radical acceptance of life living through us, to start.
as soon as we really surrender to reality this striving for enlightenment, appears ridiculous, as our life, as it is right now is it, nothing more, and nothing less to really see.

Greetings and thank you for this topic. I have been thinking about all of this for the last year or so as I realized that I have been searching for the state of enlightenment what ever that is. It seems like it must be a state of perfection. Well, perfection is in the eye of the beholder so living in the flow of nature seems reasonable to me as I have always found my idea of perfection there.
I also find meditation to be much more useful when using it for the benefits it provides my existence rather than chasing this concept of “enlightenment “.
How can one person’s concept of enlightenment necessarily be right for another?
Namaste 🙏

Thanks for this. I have wondered about this for a while now. We in the west so easily get caught up in checking off boxes on a list of accomplishments that we sometimes forget to just live - to just be. Isn't being (not so much doing) the idea? 🙏❤️🪷😊