What Does It Mean to Be Enlightened?

What Does It Mean to Be Enlightened?

What is enlightenment? This is often the first question people ask when they begin to explore Buddhism, because enlightenment is the culmination of the entire Buddhist path. Of his own enlightenment, the Buddha said, “Ignorance was destroyed; knowledge arose; darkness was destroyed; light arose—as happens in one who is heedful, ardent, and resolute.”  The Buddha often described enlightenment (bodhi in both Pali and Sanskrit) as the end of suffer…