Awakening is not a process of attainment, but of discovery.
I don't think the Zen/Vedanta ideas on this is very helpful to newbs, though.
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"But we're already enlightened!"
Yeah, in the same sense as the Earth was already vast and populated before the Age of Discovery.
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"I've discovered a new continent!"
"He lies, this is all there is!"
See the point of confusion?
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The vehicle metaphor in Buddhism is one of those things they got right pretty much on the nose.
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All any enlightenment tradition or contemplative practice amounts to in the end is a vehicle for exploration.