The Buddha’s enlightenment is beyond testing and investigation according to the Lalitavistara Sutra. This is because the Dharma that the Buddha realized is not a conditioned thing that our senses can observe and measure according to some empirical standard. Nor is it a particular mental image or something reasoned out.
Still dwelling at the foot of the tree of enlightenment (bodhi); before he decides to teach his Dharma at the request of Brahmā who beseeches him to rescue the spiritually blind from the deep abyss of craving, the Buddha is concerned that his Dharma is too difficult to understand.
“Alas! This truth that I realized and awakened to is profound, peaceful, tranquil, calm, complete, hard to see, hard to comprehend, and impossible to conceptualize since it is inaccessible to the intellect. Only wise noble ones and adepts can understand it. It is the complete and definitive apprehension of the abandonment of all aggregates [skandhas], the end of all sensations, the absolute truth, and freedom from a foundation. It is a state of complete peace, free of clinging, free of grasping, unobserved, undemonstrable, uncompounded, beyond the six sense spheres, inconceivable, unimaginable, and ineffable. It is indescribable, inexpressible, and incapable of being illustrated. It is unobstructed, beyond all references, a state of interruption through the path of tranquility, and imperceptible like emptiness. It is the exhaustion of craving and it is cessation free of desire. It is nirvāṇa. If I were to teach this truth to others, they would not understand it. Teaching the truth would tire me out and be wrongly contested, and it would be futile. Thus I will remain silent and keep this truth in my heart” (Lalitavistara Sutra).
The Buddha’s enlightenment did not give him any kind of magic wand that he could wave over people and awaken them. At best they might experience the Buddha’s compassion and become very blissful and open to his words. Still, it needs to be said that his enlightenment was not something he could share with others like handing over a bar of gold. About all he could do is to help beings see the mysterious Dharma that he saw which was vexing for him to teach. Many were unable to see it, a few could. Those that managed to see what he saw further refined his teachings making sure his Dharma was not lost.
Today, the Dharma that the Buddha awakened to is still here but we have changed and not for the better. We don’t see much if any utility in awakening. Even so, the shades of night are gathering for us. Our reasons for not pursuing wisdom like the Buddha of old did are losing their power over us. The old philosophies are passing away and with them the world they helped to shape, which can no longer be rejuvenated. This will be a deepening darkness before a new dawn.
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