Buddha's Awakening
Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha, is said to have achieved full enlightenment, known as perfect Buddhahood (Skt. samyaksaṃbuddha; Pāli: sammāsaṃbuddha).
In the suttapitaka, the Buddhist canon as preserved in the Theravada-tradition, a couple of texts can be found in which the Buddha tells about his own awakening.
In the Vanapattha Sutta (Majjhima, chapter 17) the Buddha describes life in the jungle, and the attainment of awakening. After destroying the disturbances of the mind, and attaining concentration of the mind, he attained three knowledges (vidhya):
- Insight in his past lives
- Insight in the workings of Karma and Reincarnation
- Insight in the Four Noble Truths
Insight in the Four Noble Truths is here being called awakening. The monk (bikkhu) has
...attained the unattained supreme security from bondage"Awakening is also being described as reaching Nirvana, the extinction of the passions whereby suffering is ended and no more rebirths take place. The insight arises that this liberation is certain:
Knowledge arose in me, and insight: my freedom is certain, this is my last birth, now there is no rebirth"So awakening is insight in karma and rebirth, insight in the Four Noble Truths, the extinction of the passions whereby Nirvana is reached, and the certainty that liberation has been reached.
Read more about this topic: Enlightenment In Buddhism
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