I was reading the latest issue of Buddhadharma and a phrase jumped out at me. It was part of an article on enlightenment. The phrase was “personal enlightenment.” I reacted very strongly to this phrase. As I understand it, “personal enlightenment” is impossible. If enlightenment is anything it is the realization that the “person” does not exist, that personhood is a dream. There is no “person” to achieve enlightenment. I thought Buddhists knew this. I read it years ago in the phrase, “Nothing to attain and no one to attain it.” I don’t know where that quote is from.

I think the problem is that we in the West use the word “enlightenment” differently that people in the East, where Buddhism comes from. Our European period of Enlightenment was the dawn of a new era of rational thinking as opposed to religious or superstitious thinking. Thus, for us, enlightenment is related to thinking, and thinking is something each person does. So the idea of “personal enlightenment” is a result of Western misunderstanding.

I prefer Karen Armstrong’s assertion that enlightenment is is an awakening into compassion. It’s an unshakeable affirmation (a transformation) of the end of ‘me’ and the dawn of ‘we’ so strong that you cannot go back to ‘me’ ever again. So it cannot be personal. It transcends the personal and becomes universal.