Enlightenment, Development & Congruence

     “there are shallow satori, deep satori, and full satori. A hundred candles lit in a pitch-black cave obviously give off more light than one or two. It is therefore pointless to ask, as many do, ‘How would the enlightened person act in such and such a situation?’ as though every enlightened person would respond in the same way. The satori person is an abstraction. There are only individual people of satori, or enlightenment, whose character and personalities vary according to the depth of their insight and practice. Zen masters have said, ‘It is not the quality of the enlightenment that makes the person, but the quality of the person that makes the enlightenment.’ Enlightenment does not automatically confer perfection. It is merely the foundation of an edifice whose many-storied superstructure would correspond to the perfected character and personality of the spiritually developed individual.”

       Young-Eisendrath P, Martin R, eds. “Awakening to Zen. The teachings of Roshi Philip Kapleau.” Shambhala, Boston, 1997.

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