New insights about enlightenment

Few days ago, I met a person who is a life coach for 20+ years. He shares with me about personal profiling. He did his work along spiritual path, and shares with me that everyone has our own life lessons to learn. He told me that his background is Christianity and followed by Buddhism and finally he gains some wisdom and he uses his own way towards his own learning by using scientific tools to help himself and other people.

He told me his own learning that enlightenment is not about the end-point is enlightenment. To him, every realisation is enlightenment to make us wiser. After digesting with what he said, I realise that every little steps or new insights help us to be wiser on the path of enlightenment. It is a process. To break-free from our bad habits and make us a better person is enlightening. How much have we let go of our own attachments is enlightenment.

For example, when we are lazy, we must have the awareness and choose to be diligent, break-free from our own laziness, find alternatives ways to make us more motivated to complete our tasks. This not only strengthen our diligence quality and it cultivates our discipline and focus.

We have been deluded in the past, it is important to make ourselves in this time round, learnt the lessons and be wiser. Most often it is easier said than done. However, I remembered venerable chuan guan said that if we can remove at least 1 bad habit in this lifetime, we are 1 step better than yesterday, it is worth rejoicing.

In the past, I was too attached to romance, thinking how the ideal romance should be. Yes, the word "should be" is my own expectations, not the reality. Hence, it caused unnecessary suffering to myself and the other person unknowingly. In the romance relationship, there is bound to have love-separation suffering. Because one day, one person will leave another person, even they are fortunate enough to live to the ripe old age.

A friend of mine told his wife that he doesn't want to have any promises that they will be together in the next life as he realised the truth that attachment is the root cause of suffering. I think it is wise of him to say that, no matter how we wanted to be enlightened, as long as there is attachment, it will be hard to break-free from cycle of life and death.

For this life and future lives, I hope that I will have less and less attachments. I also realised that detachment is not about giving all away, it is about appreciate and cherish the things and people around us and not to cling on to them when they are not around.