Do Buddhists care if they are enlightened? Not many do, for good or bad reasons. Generally, lay followers don’t care about it because they are not practicing hard enough and they know there is no chance of Enlightenment. After all, it is the highest level of attainment which is very hard to achieve. However, the Buddha expects every monk to strive hard enough to become worthy of veneration and alms foods offered by lay followers. The Buddha said that a monk who refuses to exert effort, as much as is attainable by human, should disrobes and returns to lay life; it would be for the benefit of the monk (as he can then enjoy the sensual pleasures of lay life) and also benefit the Sangha (as he would stop tarnishing the Sangha’s reputation or making lay followers misunderstand the Sangha as unworthy of veneration and offering because of the monk’s sloth and torpor). The Buddha teaches Dharma out of compassion for all people; he doesn’t care to be misunderstood since there is nothing which he wants. However, monks causing disrepute to Buddhism will lead to the destruction of true Dharma; then, future generations will cease to benefit from it (i.e. people learning the Adharma or faked Dharma will drift further into the bitter sea of suffering instead of swimming towards the island of perpetual blissfulness). Unfortunately, there are many such monks today who don’t follow the true Dharma. Monk-hood has become just an occupation, possibly very lucrative, especially in China and Taiwan. Such monks and their lay disciples often pretend to be Enlightened ones for the greedy purposes of gaining wealth, sensual objects, fame, delicious foods, leisure, etc.
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Enlightenment in Buddhism means cessation of consciousness; therefore, cessation of “self”. It means absolute liberation; no more fetters binding the “self” to the Wheel of Samsara or cycles of rebirth. The fetters are of course due to one’s attachment or clinging to worldly things, both immaterial (Nama, related to mentality and views) and material (Rupa, related to physical and measurable phenomena) forms. The fetters restrain one’s freedom and make him unhappy. The “self” here refers to the Five Aggregates of Clinging (body senses, feelings, perceptions, volitions, and consciousness). This is not the true self; it is impermanent. It leads to a lot of sufferings, despite occasional sensual pleasures (which are really just like pain-killers to keep us wanting to hold onto the “self”); and losing the sensual pleasures leads to suffering again. One is wise to seek escape from the Wheel of Samsara instead of going through sufferings for infinite cycles of rebirth again and again. One is unwise to regard the “self” as a valuable and desirable thing.
One can only have direct and personal knowledge of the true self when he abandons the Five Aggregates of Clinging. The Five Hindrances (sensual lusts, ill-will and anger, restlessness and worries, sloth and torpor, doubt) make one unable to see realities as they really are. With the presence of Five Hindrances, relying on the Five Aggregates of Clinging to know the world will definitely get the wrong idea about the true self. Letting go of the Five Aggregates of Clinging is the only way to Enlightenment which will lead to cessation of all sufferings once and for all. Monks who practice the holy life resolutely, ardently, and diligently are supremely wise. Lay followers are wise enough to get closer and closer to Enlightenment by following the Noble Eightfold Path. It entails the abandonment of greed, hatred, and delusion; for the perfection of virtue, equanimity, and wisdom. The closer we are to Enlightenment or Nibbana, the least sufferings we have, and the more blissful we are.
Everything is impermanent if one relies on the Five Aggregates of Clinging to know the world. The “self” is impermanent; the blissfulness experienced by the “self” is also impermanent. How does one gain permanent blissfulness? Where is the self to experience it? Obviously, only a permanent true self (Atman) can experience permanent blissfulness. The permanent true self is “non-self” (Anatta). The best existence is non-existence; the true self does not exist as far as the Five Aggregates of Clinging are concerned. When one has no desire, he will feel blissful. When one has a desire to look for the self to experience the blissfulness, he will cease to have blissfulness. When one desires to exist, he will not feel blissful. When one desires to be non-existence, he will not get what he wants but continue to exist in the cycles of rebirth. The true self can experience permanent blissfulness after the cessation of “self”; cessation of greed, hatred, and delusion. One must abandon the attachment to sensual desire, existence, and non-existence to cross the bitter sea of sufferings and reach the island of perpetual blissfulness. Although the body is not fit to be regarded as the self, we can still enjoy the impermanent blissfulness and live pleasantly. We can use the time we have wisely to cultivate ourselves before it is too late.
Does the Buddha exist after death? Does the Buddha not exist after death? Does the Buddha both exist and not exist after death? Does the Buddha neither exist nor not exist after death? These are questions which cannot be answered to one who has Five Aggregates of Clinging. Imagine you are a grain of salt. You exist. If the grain of salt is diluted into the sea, does it still exist or become non-existence? Of course, it still exists but not in the same sense of existence.
The Buddha is experiencing permanent blissfulness. That is the truest meaning of Rest in Peace.
RESILIENT KID 