What does the word “buddha” really mean?
What does it mean to be fully awakened, what does it mean to be truly liberated? What does it mean to be a Buddha? On the one hand, THE Buddha was A historical person who went on a profound journey that inspires us to do this same. In him we have a historical EXAMPLE. On the other hand, buddha is a reference point within all of us; everybody fundamentally is buddha–awake. There is no higher being as such. The word “buddha” literally refers to our awakened state of mind, our true mind, our mind of enlightenment. This mind of enlightenment has many aspects–profundity, wisdom, compassion, awareness, mindfulness. We train and work with all these aspects, and as we go along, we eventually encounter our experience directly, like seeing the ocean for the first time. We have to see the ocean ourselves. When that happens, it’s intimate, it’s nonfabricated, and it’s direct. Excerpt from “Turning our Mind toward the Buddha” by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche on http://www.mipham.com/teachings.php.
