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What Do Enlightened People Know that Others Don't?

Sunstone

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
I am curious about how you, dear reader, would answer a question that I found earlier today on a certain noble and esteemed website::

"What Do Enlightened People Know that Others Don't?"



Comments? Jokes? Observations? Muddled Rants? Snotty Remarks? Thinly Disguised Efforts to Solicit Nude Selfies From the Other Posters?


HAPPY BONUS QUESTION: Offhand, in what way(s) is the question a trick question (assuming it is one)?

SECOND HAPPY BONUS QUESTION: Can you be enlightened and yet not consciously know you are enlightened?

EDIT: I have laid out some of my own views about the question in post #41 below for anyone who is interested.


Please Note: My opinions expressed in this thread are my own, do not always reflect established wisdom in these matters, and therefore should be taken with extreme caution. However, all reputable and important Zen Masters themselves agree that it is pure folly for anyone to disagree with me.
 
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sun rise

sun rise

The world is on fire
Premium Member
Enlightenment is a matter of experience not intellect. So the simple answer is "nothing". The more complex answer is that such a being knows that which is beyond the intellect. I suspect both formulations are paradoxically true at one and the same time
 
Sunstone

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
sunrise123 said:
Enlightenment is a matter of experience not intellect.
Click to expand...

I would agree with you there, based on my limited, non-enlightened understanding of it. But would you say that enlightened people have any kind of knowledge at all? Including, of course, "non-conceptual" knowledge?

So the simple answer is "nothing".
Click to expand...

I know that's the standard answer. The usual answer. But I've never been sure and certain I knew what "nothing" really means in that context. Does it mean they have absolutely no knowledge? Does it mean they have some kind of knowledge, but it's not intellectual knowledge? Does it mean they cannot be certain of any knowledge that they might have? Does it mean they know that "nothing" is "ultimate reality", so to speak? Does it mean something else?

The more complex answer is that such a being knows that which is beyond the intellect.
Click to expand...

Beyond the intellect but still knowledge? As in some kind of non-conceptual knowledge?

I suspect both formulations are paradoxically true at one and the same time
Click to expand...

Interesting!
 
Twilight Hue

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
Sunstone said:
Today I came across a question on a certain noble and esteemed website that I thought would be worth reposting here because I think at least some of us will find it intriguing enough -- but also worth reposting because it strikes me* as a trick question in more than one way: That is, it strikes me as a question we all can have fun with because there are all sorts of ways to play around with it!

"What Do Enlightened People Know that Others Don't?"

Jokes? Observations? Muddled Rants? Snotty Remarks? Thinly Disguised Efforts to Solicit Nude Selfies From the Other Posters?


HAPPY BONUS QUESTION: Offhand, in what way(s) is the question a trick question (assuming it is one)?

SECOND HAPPY BONUS QUESTION: Can you be enlightened and yet not know you are enlightened?




*Please Note: My opinion that whoever posted it on the other site posted it as a trick question might not be accurate at all and should therefore be taken with extreme caution. However, all reputable and important Zen Masters themselves agree that it would be pure folly for anyone to disagree with me.
Click to expand...
What, there are enlightened people?
 
Geoff-Allen

Geoff-Allen

Resident megalomaniac
Sunstone said:
However, all reputable and important Zen Masters themselves agree that it would be pure folly for anyone to disagree with me.
Click to expand...

Me too! :)

There's so few truly enlightened beings on this planet, who can say for sure what they do or know differently from the rest of us poor shmucks.

Must be nice though - no more emotional negativity.
 
Fiohatari

Fiohatari

New Member
Nothing really. Most books from enlightened people won't tell you anything you haven't heard or had knowledge about before. We sometimes just need to be reminded of this things (or be charge for them) in order to take it to action.
 
Sunstone

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
Fiohatari said:
Nothing really. Most books from enlightened people won't tell you anything you haven't heard or had knowledge about before. We sometimes just need to be reminded of this things (or be charge for them) in order to take it to action.
Click to expand...

Interesting! I wonder, is it possible for an enlighten person to act appropriately in a given set of circumstances without having any conscious knowledge of enlightenment?
 
ajay0

ajay0

Well-Known Member
It is just self-knowledge that distinguishes the enlightened ones from the unenlightened ones.

An enlightened one enjoys icecream if he gets it and does not complain if it is not, as he is quite content with the bliss of his own Self. The unenlightened one craves for icecream and complains vociferously if he does not get it, basing his happiness on impermanent external events or circumstances which conform precisely to his cravings and aversions.
 
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