Something to Gain or to Get Rid Of
February 28, 2018
In Buddhist practice, people try to ‘Attain’ Enlightenment. Academically, there are four stages to Enlightenment, each of those four stages having a path, and a fruit. In the thing we perceive as ‘the path to Enlightenment/Arahantship’ we tend to see the four stages as explained in Buddhist Dhamma Theory, as something to ‘Attain’ when in Truth, there is Nothing to ‘Attain’ or ‘Get’.
It’s not about Getting anything or Attaining anything, rather, more about Shedding things, and Getting Rid of Things. There is Hence Nothing to be Attained, no Stages of Enlightenment to ‘Get’ . There are merely states of existence, trapped in causality, or free from causality.
The below podcast talks about and elaborates on this.
The mere desire to ‘Become’ a Buddha, is in basis, a false view, because part of the path is to escape the process of Becoming, which is what causes our ceaseless rebirths in Samsaric Illusory Existence (Dependent Origination).
One should not wish to ‘Become’ anything at all, for that is ‘Bhava Tanhā’ (desire of becoming/craving for eternal existence).
The opposite mood, is also a defilement – ‘Vibhava Tanhā’ (desire to not become something/craving for non-existence).
Both are Desires, or forms of Craving. Desire is part of the cycle of Dependent Origination, of which Becoming is a part