A. Attaining enlightenment means to become free from being deluded by illusions. Typical illusions are words, and we acquire knowledge through words and keep it as a form of words. Having a lot of knowledge about enlightenment refers to having a lot of words, which can imply having a host of illusions. We sentient beings are so addicted to words that we tend to identify words to things, or facts. The more plausible words are, the stronger our such tendency is. We are likely to believe that the greater our knowledge about enlightenment is, the nearer we are to enlightenment.
However, in reality knowledge becomes more of a headwind rather than a tailwind on the voyage to enlightenment. For example, ‘everything is empty’ is one of the phrases that almost all Buddhists accept as the core of the Buddha’s teaching, and it really is. Nevertheless, paradoxically, few of them attain enlightenment through the phrase, which means that most people, captivated by the literal meaning of the phrase, fail to see what it points to. In the same way, knowledge, when we are deluded by its literal meaning, can become not a teaching but another illusion that keeps us from seeing things as empty. This is why the Buddha said on his deathbed, “Never have I said a word” in order that he might prevent people from being deluded by his words.
©Boo Ahm
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