Quote Originally Posted by Breukelen advocaat
Here's my opinion: True "enlightenment", in the context of Buddhism, is knowing that there is no such thing. So you know that you have something that does not actually exist.

Here's the real deal, in a nutshell. The Buddhist monks eat a very limited diet for years. I know, from experience (due to an illness I have that is now in remission) that this makes life very difficult because the body and brain needs nutrition to work well. So, they make-do with their bowls of rice, veggies and other scraps. Notice that the Buddha is always pictured as fat, middle aged, and laughing. How come he's "enlightened"? Because he probably starved himself for 25 fucking years and when his diet improved, so did his brain - and complex thinking processes became a breeze.

I am NOT an expert on Buddhism - but they're usually vegetarians. A certain amount of fish and meat are very beneficial to human beings - and 2 million years of eating this way, and surviving, is proof enough for me that we ARE carnivorous creatures.

Your theory on enlightenment is both correct and incorrect. enlightenment itself is nothing, in a way, but it is something in the way of being an extinction of the illusion of "self". ah hell but I could go on for hours trying to describe it all.

anywhoo, some buddhist sects believe it's ok to eat meat while others don't. however a lot of people misinterpret what the buddha was saying about eating meat, thinking he forbade it. in reality, he simply said that it is more spiritually fulfilling to eat vegetarian and once you reach a certain amount of progress in your practice, you will gain enough compassion that the desire to consume meat will be gone. In a nutshell, some buddhist eat meat and some don't. I personally do, and considering I'm alergic to lactose, brocolli, and wheat (or anything with gluten), I'd say my diet's limited enough .

as for the buddha being fat, he never actually was, he's just represented as such in asian cultures because it's a sign of prosperity or royalty. He never went back to eating meat and ate only one small meal a day for the rest of his life. Sidhartha Guatama, who later became the buddha, spent 6 years of fasting (eating just enough to survive) and total denial of all worldly pleasures, in the pursuit of finding the answer to end suffering. He finally concluded that this was not the path, and continued his travels. Finally he sat beneath a bodi tree in deep meditation vowing not to leave until he found the answer. after (I think) 2 weeks he had formulated his entire philosophy and attained enlightenment.

Buddhists generally referre to his technique as the "middle path", as it is extremes of both negative or possitive, clinging or craving, that leads to suffering. There's much more to it of course, but I won't go into it all right now.