Awakening vs. Enlightenment what is the difference???

[Tony 845]

I feel like some people think they are the same thing & some people act as if it's a stage prior to enlightenment? So what is the difference people? Or are they the same?????

Edited October 15, 2018 by Tony 845
Grammar

[Leo Gura]

Exactly the same

[Rilles]

@Leo Gura I thought awakening was something that comes and goes and Enlightenment sort of the culmination and eventual end? Like Nirvana?

Edited October 15, 2018 by Rilles

[Tony 845]

@Leo Gura thanks leo

[Tony 845]

@Rilles @Rilles  I thought it was was that you know of the truth of " no self" & that you are a seeker (awakening) that is, or maybe you have had some enlightenment experiences & then enlightenment was full blown ego death.

[SOUL]

The way many use the word awakening suggests becoming aware of something that previously wasn't aware of and enlightenment appears to be used for an imagined state of awakening into an ultimate awareness that no additional awakening will occur.

The reason I call it an imagined state is because it is imagined to be this by those who seek to awaken to enlightenment when in reality it isn't that. Enlightenment or as it is also called 'liberation' is freedom from suffering, mostly of the self induced variety but can be realized in all types, so liberation doesn't actually rely on awakening to be what it is.

Yes, awakening, especially to how our self will induce suffering in us, can lead us to ceasing the suffering but awakening to it isn't the same as freedom from it. On this forum there are many examples of people awakening to all sorts of self suffering yet unable to be free from it and actually are perpetuating suffering through their seeking it as a form of awareness.

People tend to equate spiritual enlightenment to scientific enlightenment as if it's an understanding, insight and knowledge about things spiritual like the scientific version of it is for the natural world but this is why they seek it without fruition.....which often can cause even more self suffering.

Enlightenment is freeing from self suffering and any understanding, insight, knowledge or wisdom gained by us is a byproduct of liberation but the primary product of it is the freedom from suffering, our inner peace regardless of whether we gain anything else in awareness.

So...

Awakening is expanding awareness

Enlightenment is freedom from suffering

Yea, I know almighty Leo said it's exactly the same but ...well, yea.

Edited October 16, 2018 by SOUL

[Hellspeed]

Who knows? 

[Leo Gura]

Enlightenment is the awakening from the illusion of life.

You are inside a dream. WAKE UP!

[Forestluv]

56 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

You are inside a dream. WAKE UP!

5-meo is like an alarm clock ? 

[SOUL]

Believing that we are in a dream is an illusion....

Edited October 16, 2018 by SOUL

[Hellspeed]

Nah, you all don't know. 

[Nahm]

Ya we all know.

[Prabhaker]

On 10/16/2018 at 1:41 AM, Tony 845 said:

I feel like some people think they are the same thing & some people act as if it's a stage prior to enlightenment?

As is the case with almost all spiritual terminology, there seems to be levels and levels of meaning for the word ‘awakening.’ It is important to first recognize that we are not necessarily using a common language. When we see what the word ‘awakening’ is being used to point at, from the plethora of spiritual teachers that exists today, it is evident that it is being used to denote many different things. And it is not just the spiritual teachers who use ‘awakening’ with different meanings; you can find references from the Enlightened Masters as well. 

What seems to me to be more worthy of such a moniker as ‘awakening.’  is when one realizes oneself to be out of the mind’s conditioning. Here one is being out of the mind and is able to see the mind clearly as an object of perception. It is not that the mind has disappeared, but one is not living within the mind. The mind is still present but one is not captive to its many grips. But it is important at this stage to allow witnessing its full force through meditation.

[pluto]

@Leo Gura Why is my account been limited? I cannot upload images anymore over 10.24kb is this a bug?
I have the perfect image for this question

Edited October 17, 2018 by pluto

[Anton Rogachevski]

Enlightenment is the truth and awakening is the process of revealing it. Awakening is dependant upon states, but enlightenment is unchanged even upon death.