Buddhahood. In Buddhism, the final fruition is buddhahood. What is buddhahood? I will show you. Buddhahood is like this: do you know what this is? It is not really buddhahood, yet. But the real buddhahood
becomes like this. All of these enlightened qualities
are within us, but they are covered. When buddhahood
is completely uncovered, you are completely free. How and what is the process? What is the journey? The main practice, the essence
of the entire buddhadharma, is awareness, compassion, and wisdom. At the beginning... you do what we call, “learning about the moon
from a book.” When you look at the book you think, “Oh, the moon is like this. The moon’s color is like that. The shape is like this.” But you think the moon
is like a painted moon. The moon in the painting
is not the real moon, but it has a connection
with the real moon. Because it is similar, you can learn about the qualities
of the moon from it; you can learn the shape
of the moon from it, the color of the moon.
Everything. That is what we call
“understanding level.” When we practice all this, even when you recognize awareness
in the beginning, it is just understanding level.
It is just an idea. You will get some experiences, and then it is on and off,
there are a lot of ups and downs. There are words. There are images. There are sensations.
All of these are mixed together. This is still the conceptual level. As you practice again and again, then the second stage
is what we call the “experiential level.” So, one day you are walking, and you suddenly see
the moon’s reflection in the lake. “Ah! That is the real moon! The painted moon
is not the real one. I thought that was the real moon, but actually
the real moon is this one.” So, you see the moon’s reflection, but it is still
not the real moon, yet. But it is much better
than the painted moon, right? It has a more vivid color. It has light and a shape. All features
are exactly like the real moon. It is really alive. That is the experiential level. When you reach
the experiential level, then the image, voice,
and sensation are not strong. Especially the image and the voice
are less strong. You are more with the feeling,
more with the experience. “Wow!” There is a lot of taste, also. It comes into the entire body, it is not just in the head. That is the experiential level. Then,
you practice this again and again. Then, one day, as you look up — according to the lunar calendar
it is the third day, I think, the new moon — and first you see a tiny moon,
when you look up. “Aha! That is the real moon.” So now,
you see the real moon directly. That is what we call,
“direct realization.” This is the third stage. In that moment
you see the moon directly. That means, that in that moment, you see the moon directly, but it is not full yet. It is like this: First... you try to understand the apple
while it is being covered. At first, the shape and color
is not clear, but it is getting there, toward the experiential level. Secondly, maybe all
of these big layers are gone and the shape is much clearer. This is the experiential level. And then, thirdly, you can see a tiny part of the apple Sorry... Maybe like this. you can see
a tiny part of the apple, but it needs
to be uncovered more and more. When you reach buddhahood, the apple completely manifests. In the beginning,
there are three stages. First is the head. Then it goes to the
experiential level in the body. Then, thirdly,
it goes into the level of perception. So, even when you look, you see these wisdoms
through your eyes. You hear these wisdoms
through your ears, wisdom and compassion. You see. You smell. It is kind of like what I say, but it is not just an idea. Not just a taste of experience. It becomes like that. That is the third stage. Even then, you have not fully attained
buddhahood or enlightenment yet. You have to go through
nine stages after that. Once you have direct realization,
the third stage, after that
all the other stages are easier. But until that it is very difficult. Then, there is full enlightenment. What is full enlightenment? Right now, we are not free. To give a small example:
we have stress. Nobody likes stress. If you try to remove the stress, you cannot control it. Just saying, “No stress,”
does not work. Or with worrying:
“I do not want to worry. Then you worry more. And when emotions come: hatred, jealousy, ignorance, confusion, panic,
depression, low self-esteem, etc. All of these come.
It is out of our control. And then, whenever you see an object,
something nice, you are drawn to that. Or with something not nice, you do not like it, you hate it. All of this is affecting us. Our mind is pulling
in all directions, and we create
our own prison or jail. Even though we feel
like we are happy, actually... on a deep level,
we are not so happy. We put ourselves
into our own prison. The meaning of enlightenment
is that all this that is bound, like a cocoon, like a prison, everything becomes free, it slowly becomes liberated. And then, when you are free, you are not just free, but the inner qualities manifest. Love and compassion
are your innate qualities. Awareness is an innate quality. Wisdom is an innate quality. Skill is an innate quality.
All of these manifest! And especially, all of these wisdoms
do not have concepts. They will not get stuck
with other objects. Now, our wisdom has limitations. Love has limitations. If it is something nice,
we may have love and compassion. But if there is something not nice
it is gone. Even if you really want
to have love and compassion for something that is not nice
or for someone you hate, in fact, anger comes. We get more angry. Therefore... enlightenment
is complete, full freedom. It is really grounded and stable. It transforms, not just in your head,
not just in your feelings, but it transforms
the way you perceive the world. It cannot really be understood,
completely, right now. It is like when the dog male
looks at the dog female, “Wow! She is beautiful!” And the dog female
looks at the dog male, “Ah! He is handsome!” That dog understands. But if you try
to imagine how they perceive, can you understand? You cannot, right? So, even if we are the same, with having the illusion
of subject and object, we all have similar concepts. But still,
we cannot understand each other. But once we are completely free
from this bondage, in which we have bound ourselves, it is beyond concept. Yet, it is not
like everything disappears. Some people think, “Enlightenment
has no subject and object, so I will become like a zombie. I do not know who I am. I do not know who you are.” It is not like that! In fact,
boundless love and compassion, and boundless wisdom will manifest. It is very nice! But... we have to practice. In a way, it is so close! We all have
this enlightened nature within us. And in one way, it is so far away, because we do not recognize it. I hope, you will recognize it, and you will become a buddha. Thank you!
