Enlightenment Day / What is enlightenment
What is enlightenment?
Bodhi, moksha, kevala jnana, marifa: what each tradition means, in plain words.
The English word enlightenment is used for several different things. It translates the Buddhist term bodhi. It is used loosely for moksha, kaivalya and self realisation in the Hindu and Jain traditions. It is also the name of a period in European history. This page sets out the main meanings so that the talks at Enlightenment Day can be followed by someone new to the subject.
A short definition
In the spiritual sense, enlightenment is a lasting change in how a person knows themselves and the world, in which ignorance about one's own nature comes to an end. The traditions disagree about what is known at that point: the absence of a separate self, the identity of the self with the absolute, the soul freed from karma, or the presence of God. They agree that it is direct knowledge and not belief, that it ends a certain kind of suffering, and that it shows in conduct.
In each tradition
| Tradition | Term | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Buddhism | Bodhi, nirvana | Bodhi is awakening: seeing the four noble truths directly. Nirvana is the going out of greed, hatred and delusion. A Buddha is one who has woken up. |
| Hindu traditions | Moksha, jnana, samadhi | Moksha or mukti is release from the cycle of birth and death. In Advaita Vedanta it comes through jnana, the knowledge that the self, atman, is not other than Brahman. Yoga speaks of samadhi and kaivalya. The bhakti schools describe it as unbroken love of God. |
| Jainism | Kevala jnana | Complete and unobstructed knowledge, reached when the soul is free of the karma that obscures it. One who attains it is a kevalin. A Tirthankara is a kevalin who also re establishes the path for others. |
| Sikhi | Gurmukh, jivan mukta, sach khand | A person turned towards the Guru, freed while living, who dwells in the realm of truth. It comes by grace and by remembering the Name, and it is lived in family and working life and not apart from them. |
| Islam | Wahy, nur, huda. In Sufism, marifa | Islam speaks of revelation given to prophets and of guidance and light given to believers. It does not call prophets enlightened. In the Sufi orders, marifa is direct knowledge of God reached through remembrance and purification of the heart. |
| Christianity | Illumination, theosis | Older Christian writers describe three stages of purification, illumination and union. The Eastern churches speak of theosis, sharing in the life of God. Quakers speak of the inward light. |
| Tantra and Shakta traditions | Shaktipat, the awakening of kundalini | Realisation through the grace of the Divine Mother and the awakening of the power that lies dormant in the body. Several past Enlightenment Day talks have dealt with the Das Mahavidya, the ten wisdom forms of the Goddess. |
Enlightenment and awakening
The two words are often used as if they meant the same thing. Many teachers separate them. Awakening is the first clear glimpse. It can come suddenly, as it did for Ramana Maharshi at sixteen, and it may fade. Enlightenment is that seeing made stable, so that it no longer comes and goes. Zen makes a similar distinction between kensho, an initial seeing, and the long practice that follows it. Most traditions warn against claiming either.
The Age of Enlightenment is a different subject
The Enlightenment, with a capital E, is the name given to the movement in seventeenth and eighteenth century Europe that put reason, science and individual liberty at the centre of public life. Its figures include Locke, Voltaire, Hume and Kant. Enlightenment Day is not about that period. The shared word is an accident of translation: nineteenth century scholars chose enlightenment to render bodhi, and the name stayed.
Why it matters to other people
A claim to enlightenment can be tested in only one way from the outside, which is by what the person does next. The Buddha taught. Mahavira gave India the vow of non violence. Guru Nanak fed people. The Bhagavad Gita says the wise should act for lokasangraha, the holding together of the world. That is the question Enlightenment Day 2026 puts to its speakers, and the eight enlightening experiences are where it starts.