Evan Thompson: What is Enlightenment? (Part 1)

Series Description: No idea is as ubiquitous across Buddhist traditions as the possibility of enlightenment. To be a buddha is to have awakened or be enlightened. Yet there is little consensus about what enlightenment is. Are there neural correlates of enlightenment in the brain? Is enlightenment fostered by social democracy? Or is enlightenment a myth propagated to keep seekers busy along their path? In dialogue about the immanent and paradoxical, embodied and psychological, social and personal – this daylong immersion brings leading Buddhist contemplatives, scholars, and philosophers together to explore the meaning of enlightenment. Join us. Our faculty will be in radical discussion, explore practices related to the vision of awakening, open facilitated discussion to participants, and possibly discover what enlightenment is and is not.

Episode Description: In the first morning session, Evan Thompson highlights the stumbling blocks in even making sense of the notion of Enlightenment. The linguistic discrepancy between the eastern and western notions around the signified concept of ‘enlightenment’. What does naturalizing enlightenment look like? Is ‘enlightenment a brain state? Is the ‘enlightenment’ concept dependent? Why do we have the concept, in the first place?

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Upaya Podcast Series: What Is Enlightenment?