Who's really enlightened? (Doug's Dharma)

Digsby, the Enlightened Lay follower

Wisdom Quarterly (abbreviated, modern translation)
The householder Jotika asks the Buddha to visit his son, Digsby, who is at home and gravely ill.

RAJAGAHA, (ancient) India - On one occasion the Buddha was living in the Bamboo Grove at the Squirrels' Sanctuary when the lay follower Digsby [actual name Dighavu, which means "long life"] was very sick. Digsby said to his father the householder Jotika:

• Illustrated verses of the Buddha

"Householder, please go to the Buddha, venerate him with head and feet in my name, and say: 'Venerable sir, Digsby is home and gravely ill. He places his head at the Blessed One's feet.' Then add, 'It would be good if the Blessed One could visit him out of compassion.'"

His father replied, "Yes, dear" and went off to deliver the message.

The Buddha consented by his silence. And when he visited, he took a seat specially prepared for him, and said: "I hope you're bearing this illness well, Digsby, and getting better, that pains are subsiding not worsening, and that you can tell that you're improving."

"Venerable sir, " Digsby replied, "I am not."

"Therefore, Digsby, train in this way:

1. 'I will have confirmed confidence [saddha, solid rather than blind faith, conviction, certainty, trust] in the teacher,
2. the teaching, and
3. the taught [Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha].
4. I will observe the virtues dear to the noble ones [sila], unbroken, unblemished, freeing, conducive to concentration, and praised by the wise.'

Train yourself thus."

"Venerable sir," Digsby proclaimed, "as to these Four Factors of Stream-entry, I already conform to them." [He had already made the break through to the first stage of enlightenment.]

"Therefore, Digsby, build on this foundation, on these Four Factors of Stream-entry, with things that partake of true knowledge:

1. Dwell contemplating impermanence in all formations [all things whose existence depends on conditions],
2. perceiving as unsatisfactory all impermanent things,
3. perceiving as impersonal all things that are unsatisfactory,
4. perceiving abandonment,
5. perceiving [dispassion],
6. perceiving cessation.*

Train yourself thus."

"Venerable sir," Digsby proclaimed, "as to these six, I also already conform to them. However, I hope that after I pass away my father will not be distressed."

"Do not be concerned, dear Digsby. Come now, dear Digsby, heed what the Blessed One is saying to you," [they] said to him.

After the exhortation, the Buddha rose from his seat and departed, and soon after Digsby died.

Then some monks came to inform the Buddha of Digsby's passing and to ask, "Where has he gone, where has he been reborn?"

"Digsby was wise," the Buddha explained, "for he practiced in conformity with the Dharma and did not trouble me by practicing accordingly. He destroyed the five lower fetters [which is another way of saying he became a non-returner, which would mean he would be reborn in the Pure Abodes] and is due to attain nirvana without returning to this world" (SN 55:3; V 344-46).

*According to Bhikkhu Bodhi (In the Buddha's Words, pg. 400), AV V 110 explains that the "perception of abandonment" is the removal of defiled thoughts, and at AV V 110-11, the "perception of dispassion" and the "perception of cessation" are both explained as reflections on the attributes of nirvana.

Enlightenment

What does an enlightened human being look like? Just the same as before enlightenment! There is no obvious difference to discover. During enlightenment there may be a brightening of the skin, a burnish, a clarity. There may be aura fluctuations, which are not visible to most people in any case. While a person is radically changed by the experience (the direct knowing and seeing), one's habit patterns may continue. They therefore do not seem any different than before. The only way to know if someone else has attained is to interact with them for a long time; then it becomes apparent. One key indicator is unswerving morality in terms of the Five Precepts from the first stage. By the third stage, one is completely free of sensuous desire and ill-will but not before that.

Buddhist Enlightenment in Four Stages

Proposed WQ edit of Wikipedia

Introduction
The four stages of enlightenment in Buddhism are the four degrees of approach to full enlightenment as an Arahant (English, arhat) which a person can attain in this life. The four stages are Sotapanna, Sakadagami, Anagami, and Arahant.

The teaching of the four stages of enlightenment is a central element of the early Buddhist schools, including the surviving Theravada school of Buddhism.

Contents
1 The Ordinary person
2 The Noble persons
2.1 Stream-enterer
2.2 Once-returner
2.3 Non-returner
2.4 Arahant
3 References

The Ordinary person
An ordinary person, or puthujjana (in Pali; Sanskrit, pṛthagjana) is trapped in the endless cycles of saṃsara. Performing beneficial and harmful deeds -- as influenced by his/her desires, aversions, and views -- an ordinary person is born in higher or lower states of being (heavens or hells or many other worlds) according to these actions (all collectively known as karma). As these persons have little control over either their minds or conduct, their destinies are haphazard and subject to a great deal of suffering. An ordinary person has never seen, heard, or experienced the ultimate truth of Dharma, and therefore has no way of finding an escape from this predicament.

The Noble persons
Those who begin sincere training on the Buddhist path (Pali, Sekhas, "those in training") and who experience the truth to the extent that they cut some of the Ten mental Fetters (Pali, saṃyojana) become ariya puggala (Sanskrit, āryapudgala): "noble persons" who will surely become Arahants in the near future (within seven lives). Their specific path is governed by the degree of attainment reached.

"Among whatever communities or groups there may be, the Sangha of the Tathagata's disciples is considered supreme... Those who have confidence in the Sangha have confidence in what is supreme; and for those with confidence in the supreme, supreme will be the result." [1]

The Sangha of the Tathagata's disciples (the Ariya Sangha), that is, the four [groups of noble disciples] when taken as pairs or the eight when taken as individuals. The four groups of noble disciples (Buddhist Sekhas) when taken as pairs are those who have attained:

• (1) the path to stream-entry; (2) the fruition of stream-entry;
• (3) the path to once-returning; (4) the fruition of once-returning;
• (5) the path to non-returning; (6) the fruition of non-returning;
• (7) the path to arahantship; (8) the fruition of arahantship.

Taking each attainment singly gives eight individuals. More>>

• Buddhist images by Anya Langmead:
• buddhist-images.co.uk