What Is Enlightenment?

Enlightenment is here, now and forever. If you have no concepts, you know this directly and indubitably. But if you are attached to any concepts, you are not aware of this. In this ignorant state you think that you have to attain enlightenment because you are not aware that you are already free, that you have always been free. You therefore set up a goal for yourself, call it enlightenment, and then make great efforts to attain it. If you seek enlightenment in this way, you must have some idea of what it will be like. The mind is very clever and very tricky. If you put an enormous amount of energy into attaining and experiencing this goal, the mind will create this desired experience for you and allow you to enjoy it. But it will not be the experience of enlightenment; it will be the experience of your concept of what enlightenment is. When this happens, you will think that you are enlightened because your experience will correspond exactly to your preconceived idea of what enlightenment is. These mind-induced experiences are not the permanent, natural state. They are temporary mental experiences that will come and go in time.