Sudden or gradual
Tibetan Buddhist Encyclopedia is now 14 years old
Our Encyclopedia recently received a wonderful opportunity for a major renewal on its 14th birthday . After many years of growing our Encyclopedia had become bit slow and sometimes even decided not to answer when people knocked on the door.
A very big thank you and blessings to Dmytro Rudiy (rudiy.nl) for his great work in upgrading the server, website and all of the infrastructure and helping make TBE fast and reliable again for everyone!
We kindly ask our readers to help us cover the cost of this important upgrade and also help with the ongoing costs of keeping the Encyclopedia alive and freely available.
or card
Every little donation helps and every one is deeply appreciated. 🙏🙏🙏
OM AH HUM VAJRA GURU PADMA SIDDHI HUM 🙏🙏🙏
May blessings shower down on all of yous 🙏🙏🙏
At various times in the history of Buddhist philosophy there have been debates about whether enlightenment is attained suddenly or gradually - a rather pointless debate admittedly. Whole schools of Buddhism have developed over this issue.
The moment of enlightenment is sudden but the process of getting to that stage is gradual. The Buddha said, ‘Little by little and from time to time the wise person should remove his/her defilements the way a smith removes dross from silver’ (Dhp.239). In another place he says, ‘Just as the ocean slopes away gradually, tends down gradually without any abrupt precipice, even so this Dhamma and discipline is a gradual doing, a gradual training, a gradual practice. There is no sudden penetration of knowledge’ (Ud.54).
See also: Vibhajjavada