Enlightenment ~ A definition

There is no set definition of enlightenment. It varies from teacher to teacher, philosopher to philosopher, yogi to yogi, spiritual teacher (guru) to guru.

This means that the question has no meaning because until the term is defined and agreed upon, the discussion will be ambiguous.

One person who caused the word enlightenment to come into common use across the world was Gautama Buddha. He declared that he attained enlightenment. In fact, initially just after he realized to himself that he attained enlightenment, some ascetic friends of his wanted to belittle him but his influence was so pronounced, that they offered him respect instead of reprimanding him for abandoning some austerities during his ascetic practice just before he attained enlightenment.

However, if you read the previous paragraph you may discover that it is terribly flawed because nowhere do I define what Buddha termed as enlightenment. Am I assuming that the meaning; of the word is standard and that the enlightenment of Buddha and that of some other notable ascetic is the same?

Let us look at it from another angle. What was the motive of Buddha in his search for clarity or enlightenment? What was his accomplishment? What was he enlightened about?

Unless we can state that precisely, whatever we think has no meaning.

Hence first define enlightenment. Then if we agree on the meaning of the term, we can have a discussion.