The Perfectly Enlightened Ones in The Past, Future or at Present, Are All Fully Awakened to The Four Noble Truths

Monks, whatever Arahants, Perfectly Enlightened Ones, in the past fully awakened to things as they really are, all fully awakened to The Four Noble Truths as they really are.

Whatever Arahants, Perfectly Enlightened Ones, in the future will fully awaken to things as they really are, all will fully awaken to The Four Noble Truths as they really are.

Whatever Arahants, Perfectly Enlightened Ones, at present have fully awakened to things as they really are, all have fully awakened to The Four Noble Truths as they really are.

What four?

The noble truth of discontentedness, the noble truth of the cause of discontentedness, the noble truth of the elimination of discontentedness, the noble truth of the way leading to the elimination of discontentedness.

Therefore, Monks, an effort should be made to understand: ‘This is discontentedness'; an effort should be made to understand: ‘This is the cause of discontentedness’; an effort should be made to understand: 'This is the elimination of discontentedness’; an effort should be made to understand: ‘This is the way leading to the elimination of discontentedness.’

(Reference: SN 56.5)

In this Teaching from Gotama Buddha, he shares that any Fully Perfectly Enlightened Buddha, a Tathāgata, in the past, currently, and in the future would need to awaken to the wisdom of The Four Noble Truths.

The Four Noble Truths is what establishes “Right View” and all other Teachings on The Path to Enlightenment are built upon learning, reflecting, and practicing The Four Noble Truths.

A Practitioner would have no ability to attain Enlightenment without learning, reflecting, and practicing The Four Noble Truths, thus, a Fully Perfectly Enlightened Buddha in the past, currently, or future would need to understand and practice The Four Noble Truths as a foundational Teaching that leads to Enlightenment. This Teaching, along with many others, highlights how important The Four Noble Truths are on The Path to Enlightenment. You will need to learn, reflect, and practice The Four Noble Truths in order to establish Right View and progress towards the attainment of Enlightenment.

What Does It Mean To Be Awake?

There is a huge fad that has emerged in the world.

Have you heard of someone claiming that they are “awake”? Or, have you heard people talking about being “woke” in a negative context?

If so, you know of this huge fad I am describing.

But, how many people truly understand what it means to be “awake” or “woke”, as described and first talked about over 2,500 years ago by “The Buddha”?

As far back as over 2,500 years ago, the individual known world-wide as The Buddha, was using the term “awake” or “awakened”. So, if we are going to gain an understanding and appreciation of this word, it would be best to go back to how it was used by The Buddha rather than, rely on any new modern day definitions or references that may have come about since his lifetime.

Then, you can have an understanding of the word “awake” from a spiritual context, since The Buddha is credited with being the first to use this word in a spiritual context.

The word “awake”, “awakened”, or “woke” means to have cultivated wisdom of The Natural Laws of Existence, to the point where the mind no longer experiences any discontent feelings. An awakened individual will no longer experience any discontent feelings such as sadness, anger, frustration, irritation, annoyance, guilt, shame, fears, boredom, loneliness, shyness, jealousy, resentment, stress, anxiety, etc.

A person who is awake, will have deep wisdom of the world around them based on The Natural Laws of Existence. They will be conscious of the harms they have caused in the past but, choose to no longer cause harm to themselves nor others through their speech, actions, nor livelihood.

An individual who is awake will not brag nor boast to others that they are awake because, part of awakening to a higher consciousness is to have eliminated the ego, therefore, someone without ego would not brag nor boast about anything, especially not being awake.

To be awake, awakened, or woke is to have trained the mind, purified it of its pollutions, to be experiencing the Enlightened mental state through the cultivation of wisdom. This is a mental state that is attainable in this life for one with determination, dedication, and diligence to actively training the mind over a consistent and long term basis.

Awakening is not sudden and does not occur in an instant. It is through gradual training and gradual practice that one experiences gradual progress towards the attainment of Enlightenment.

One of the biggest myths about the life story of The Buddha is, some people think he sat under a tree, meditated, and instantly attained Enlightenment. That is not what The Buddha experienced. But, do not take my word for it, do not believe me, instead, learn it from The Words of The Buddha.

“Monks, I do not say that final knowledge (wisdom) is achieved all at once. On the contrary, final knowledge is achieved by gradual training, by gradual practice, by gradual progress.” (Reference: MN 70.22)

Awakening, or attaining Enlightenment, is not achieved “all at once” on the contrary, it is through gradual training and gradual practice that an individual will experience gradual progress towards the mind becoming free of its pollutions and experience the peace and joy of the Enlightened mental state.

It took The Buddha six (6) years to attain Enlightenment so, it is going to take you some time to progress towards awakening. You will not stumble into the Enlightened mental state, or being awake. Instead, it will be through deliberate and intentional learning, growing, and developing into a better and better human being, through training of the mind.

Enlightenment is a permanent mental state so, once attained, the mind will no longer experience any discontent feelings; experiencing the unconditioned mental states of peace, calm, serenity, and contentedness with joy - permanently. It is impossible for the mind to regress out of the awakened mental state.

There will be a high degree of focus, concentration, deep memory, and clarity of mind.

Your personal and professional relationships will be at ease, they will be blossoming, because there is no longer any bitterness, harshness, or hostility in the mind. You will be able to be polite, kind, friendly, and respectful to all individuals in all situations.

It will be impossible for the mind to even experience a bad mood any longer, once it is awake and you are woke.

Therefore, I would say, this is a mental state that everyone and anyone would be interested to experience.

Yes, it would be excellent for you and everyone you know to be awake, awakened, woke, or Enlightened.

Then, we can experience the most peaceful, loving, kind, warm, gentle, and compassionate society we have ever known.

The party is more fun when everyone is awake.