The Japanese Zen tradition uses several different words to point to enlightenment. The word "kensho" is most often used to denote "a blissful realization where a person's inner nature, the originally pure mind, is known as an illuminating emptiness, a thusness which is dynamic and immanent in the world." (wikipedia) Big classic-type kensho experiences are usually sudden, and are triggered by some sensory event. Ordinary reality disintegrates and awareness is plunged into a state of ineffable oneness. Such experiences can last from a few seconds to several days, and may include all kinds of realizations. In the West these kinds of experiences are called "cosmic-consciousness experiences."
"According to Victor Hori, the translation of kensho as 'seeing one's true nature' is extremely misleading. It suggests that there is seeing, on the one hand, and the object of seeing, called 'one's true nature,' on the other. This is misleading because awakening occurs at the breakdown of the object-subject distinction expressed in 'seeing (subject of experience) and 'one's nature' (object of experience). Further, kensho in Japanese is as much verb as noun.. " (wikipedia--Hori)
Although the word "kensho" is sometimes used interchangeably with the word "satori," most Zen people consider satori to be deeper and more subtle. I consider the word "satori' to mean seeing through the illusion of selfhood so completely that the SENSE of selfhood collapses. IOW it no longer feels as if consciousness is located behind the eyes looking out at the world; there is no longer a sense of there being a defined self-center.
Japanese Zen Masters sometimes use the word "daigo" or "daigo tettei" to denote a "great realization," and many of them think that daigo or satori is a final enlightenment as opposed to a glimpse of enlightenment. Dogen, a well-known Zen Master who is the father of the Soto tradition, wrote that when practitioners attain daigo, they have risen above the discrimination between delusion and enlightenment. This means that they no longer think about those terms in the same way as before. Dogen has been famously quoted as saying, "Delusion is enlightenment; enlightenment is delusion."
All of these definitions are pretty superficial when used for anything other than a general kind of pointing. To understand what this means, the following koans illuminate the issue:
1. What is a glimpse of enlightenment?
2. What is full enlightenment?
3. What is final enlightenment?
4. What happens beyond enlightenment?
If the mind remains quiescent, and the body is allowed to answer these questions, a big smile will afterwards appear on the face. Why? Because the questions are misconceived, and anyone who understands the misconceptions will find the questions very funny.
The mind wants to know answers to the questions it conjures up. If it hears about samadhi (a state of unity consciousness that meditators often fall into--a state that cannot be imagined), it will wonder what samadhi is. If samadhi is experienced, the mind will then understand what the word "samadhi" refers to. If the mind hears about something called "kensho," it will wonder what kensho is, and try, unsuccessfully to imagine it. If kensho is experienced, mind will then understand what that word points to. If samadhi and kensho have both been experienced, and the mind hears about satori, it will wonder what it is, and try, unsuccessfully to imagine it. If satori is realized, the mind will then understand what the word refers to.
I suspect that most people who have experienced both kensho and satori no longer spend any time imagining future hypothetical states of being. They will have lost interest in the future, and will be strongly focused opon what is happening in the present moment. If one were to ask a Zen Master, "What happens after satori?" the ZM would respond with something like, "Have you finished ___________(whatever activity the student was engaged in)? If so, then go sweep the sidewalk (or perform some other concrete activity that needs to be performed)." By her answer the ZM would be showing the student concretely what happens after satori.
"According to Victor Hori, the translation of kensho as 'seeing one's true nature' is extremely misleading. It suggests that there is seeing, on the one hand, and the object of seeing, called 'one's true nature,' on the other. This is misleading because awakening occurs at the breakdown of the object-subject distinction expressed in 'seeing (subject of experience) and 'one's nature' (object of experience). Further, kensho in Japanese is as much verb as noun.. " (wikipedia--Hori)
Although the word "kensho" is sometimes used interchangeably with the word "satori," most Zen people consider satori to be deeper and more subtle. I consider the word "satori' to mean seeing through the illusion of selfhood so completely that the SENSE of selfhood collapses. IOW it no longer feels as if consciousness is located behind the eyes looking out at the world; there is no longer a sense of there being a defined self-center.
Japanese Zen Masters sometimes use the word "daigo" or "daigo tettei" to denote a "great realization," and many of them think that daigo or satori is a final enlightenment as opposed to a glimpse of enlightenment. Dogen, a well-known Zen Master who is the father of the Soto tradition, wrote that when practitioners attain daigo, they have risen above the discrimination between delusion and enlightenment. This means that they no longer think about those terms in the same way as before. Dogen has been famously quoted as saying, "Delusion is enlightenment; enlightenment is delusion."
All of these definitions are pretty superficial when used for anything other than a general kind of pointing. To understand what this means, the following koans illuminate the issue:
1. What is a glimpse of enlightenment?
2. What is full enlightenment?
3. What is final enlightenment?
4. What happens beyond enlightenment?
If the mind remains quiescent, and the body is allowed to answer these questions, a big smile will afterwards appear on the face. Why? Because the questions are misconceived, and anyone who understands the misconceptions will find the questions very funny.
The mind wants to know answers to the questions it conjures up. If it hears about samadhi (a state of unity consciousness that meditators often fall into--a state that cannot be imagined), it will wonder what samadhi is. If samadhi is experienced, the mind will then understand what the word "samadhi" refers to. If the mind hears about something called "kensho," it will wonder what kensho is, and try, unsuccessfully to imagine it. If kensho is experienced, mind will then understand what that word points to. If samadhi and kensho have both been experienced, and the mind hears about satori, it will wonder what it is, and try, unsuccessfully to imagine it. If satori is realized, the mind will then understand what the word refers to.
I suspect that most people who have experienced both kensho and satori no longer spend any time imagining future hypothetical states of being. They will have lost interest in the future, and will be strongly focused opon what is happening in the present moment. If one were to ask a Zen Master, "What happens after satori?" the ZM would respond with something like, "Have you finished ___________(whatever activity the student was engaged in)? If so, then go sweep the sidewalk (or perform some other concrete activity that needs to be performed)." By her answer the ZM would be showing the student concretely what happens after satori.
