Is enlightenment an illusion?

what does a 1500s philosopher "disappearing" have to do with enlightenment...do you think "attaining enlightenment" gives you super human powers?

the human mind can comprehend little...without adding emotions to it...once you add emotions to it you are guaranteed to end up jumping to conclusions than deriving some truth by sitting on a board of nails...

sitting on a board of nails or starving oneself or other parlor tricks do not miraculously make you smarter...you are the same dumb hick you were when you sat down on it....you just wasted months of your time....

God? What God?

Physical or is it changes in mental attitude?

The universe also is comprehended, but enlightenment is basically about human situation. Brahmins may be aware of all that 21st century science has to say. However, there is no bar in enlightenment that the person has to be a brahmin. Ravidas, a cobbler and Kabir, a weaver (probably a muslim), also were enlightened.

so basically certain people believe that enlightenment is to understand your-self...and by doing that you can transcend your human limits? just because i comprehend how and why i cannot self-fly...doesn't mean i suddenly will get the ability to fly..or the know how to overcome that limitation...

even if a person can comprehending/understanding something one cannot simply overcome them...that is with a big IF...because face it what you "comprehend" could be total baloney...and far from the truth...

i'm sure the Buddah did not 'think'starving himself a parlor game as you suggest....it did make him smarter and he went on to conquer himself... nothing is ever wasted in the pursuit of your own freedom....
jhon

Some people think that enlightenment is to understand others.

Some people think that enlightenment is to escape themselves.

Some people think that enlightenment is to escape others.

(Generally, people in the last two categories do not admit it, but one can observe that that is what they are doing)

What? Do you mean to say that if I spend several years at medical school, and then practice for a few more years, I won't transcend my mental and legal inability to be a doctor?

I am somewhat fussy about arguments, analogies and logic. On the "spiritual" side, I have heard the most absurd propositions in that respect, even from apparently "learned" people. They should, if they really are wise, take more care about what they say. So should you. One might expect the rational side to be better at this. Arguing against something on the basis that it simply does not make one impossibility possible is no argument at all.

Do try to do better!

why did Lord Buddha do that? out of guilt for his past life...a sordid self punishment...in the hopes that relieves him of the guilt of sending hundreds of men to their death...

No matter how you try to paint it...it was just a silly random a weak person did to try and justify their guilt...

it does nothing for a person to starve...expect for the inherent health benefits...the brain grows weaker when malnourished not smarter...

and in that weakened state people get delirious and often hallucinate...there is no wisdom to be gotten in that state...

Ia admit that was a lapse of judgement...but i was hoping it be taken in term of spiritual contemplation...I did not expect a rational mind to comment upon it...

'The one who sees the mirage is an enlightened soul'*

*From the great book of wisdom IndiaMike.com » Community Forums » Yoga, Spirituality, and Religion in India » Is enlightenment an illusion?

If this is some official stance of "enlightenment" then that would be cream on the cake for me...

coz then enlightenment is another term for how gurus get high without external drugs via starvation and pain...

Now, who said the enlightened can fly? Could Buddha fly? That is simple, Diamonddrago. Buddha fasted when he was not enlightened. When he became enlightened he talked about the 'middle way'.

No Lord Buddha fasted because of his past actions...and when you starve....

"The sufferings produced by slow starvation distract the mind and render connected thought difficult. If long continued, the mind becomes unbalanced, and men who have been shipwrecked and left to wander in the open sea in rowboats for a long time without food usually become delirious, or even maniacal, within four or five days."

Source: http://chestofbooks.com/health/nutri...-Symptoms.html

And then they get enlightened?...you call going crazy and hallucinating attaining enlightenment? unless you want to believe that these gurus are special human beings and their bodies were part machine part human...

Yes I agree, try 1 hour meditation a day for 7 years and after you could tell us.

Now, who said the enlightened can fly? Could Buddha fly?


news to me lol

that would just increase focus and concentration...correct me if i am wrong...but playing video games gives the same level of increase in concentration and focus.....and improves a person's reflexes as a bonus...

so maybe you should just tell people to play video games 3 hours per day...coz at least then you know it is just a made up reality you are interfacing with and nothing real or anything to be taken seriously....

Yes. Some people are special. Not everybody is an Eintein or Neils Bohr.

Every human on earth is given the same base...and are limited within the range of that base...genius to retard...uber rich to dirt poor...etc...

nothing there to say "super human" and mortals...especially to get super human via an organ we can only use at a capacity at 30% of cognition...

as in you can't drive a vehicle cross country on a drop of fuel...