Enlightenment, or satori, is a translation of the Indian word bodhi, which is transliterated as bodai in Japanese, hence enlightenment and bodai are synonymous. This is the absolute understanding of the composition and the truths of the universe and human beings.
The Buddha thought that human beings are originally beings, which bear suffering. Every human eventually has to grow old, experience illness, and die. That is suffering. One has to part from whom one loves and may be unable to obtain what one wants. This, too, is suffering.
Why is it that we must suffer in this way? It is because human beings have desires and attachments. Humans suffer because they grow attached to life despite the fact that they have to die, and because their desires expand from one to another and they are unable to attain satisfaction.
How are we to be released from such suffering? The Buddha thought that since attachment and desire were the causes of suffering, if we could cast attachment and desire aside (or at least control them), suffering would also disappear. He also conceived a means of practice whereby one could control attachment and desire.
The Buddha seated himself beneath the bodhi tree and entered meditation. He comprehended the makeup of the human mind and the nature of the universe and awakened to the truth. This experience is called “enlightenment” (satori) and is referred to as bodai.
Ven. Kenjo Igarashi
November/December 2023