Is Enlightenment Possible
… there are no enlightened people, there is only enlightened activity — Suzuki Roshi*
Is being enlightened a potentially permanent state or is it always transitory?**
Stories of eg Buddha suggest enlightenment was ongoing: “he attained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree” etc
But when you read modern zen teachers they often suggest that no one (they have known) is perfectly or permanently enlightened. For example, see Charlotte Joko Beck in Nothing Special
The more we observe our thoughts and actions, the more our chief feature will tend to fade. The more it fades, the more we are willing to experience the fear that created it in the first place. For many years, practice is about strengthening the observer. Eventually, we’re willing to do what comes up next, without resistance, and the observer fades. We don’t need the observer anymore; we can be life itself. When that process is complete, one is fully realized, a buddha—though I haven’t met anyone for whom the process is complete. [emphasis added]
- Though e.g. Kornfeld attributes this quote to Suzuki Roshi it’s not clear it is an actual quote of his.
** And is it a category error to even ask this kind of question? After all, “person” is one of the signs we get caught in.