I have fully understood how to achieve enlightenment, so let me explain it
Readers for whom this does not apply at this moment
⚠️ If you are currently in a truly difficult situation, such as suffering from a severe illness (especially if you are feeling like you want to die right now due to depression, etc.), being abused by your parents, experiencing domestic violence from family members, being confined or under house arrest, or if you have a history of such things and are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, then this is not the time for you to be reading this article (this is not the time for you to be achieving enlightenment). Please consult a doctor or trusted people around you and try to deal with that first. And once things have settled down to some extent, please come back to this article. It will not be too late to achieve enlightenment then.
Conclusion
I don't think there is any point in muddying the waters with a vague explanation, so I will write the conclusion first.
Let go of your attachments.
If you have fully understood it with just this, there is no need to read the rest of this text. Thank you for your hard work! 👏
If you are not one of those people, please continue reading 👇
Declaration of Happiness
Before achieving enlightenment, please first make this declaration.
“In my future life, I will place my own happiness as my primary value”
This is a very universal thing, but this declaration is important. This is because when we have various attachments in our daily lives, we easily forget this.
If the phrase "becoming happy" feels a bit cringey, there is no problem with reading it as "being freed from suffering and worries."
Calling it a declaration sounds grand, but there is nothing difficult about it. Just thinking "I want to be happy" is enough.
If you have something you want to achieve in life more than being happy, achieving enlightenment is (probably) impossible. No, it might be possible, but at least I don't know the method yet, so I cannot help you with it.
However, everyone's life is different. There are lives where one wants to achieve something even if they suffer... I will not deny that. If you have achieved that goal and now want to make being happy your primary goal, or if you have been working hard for a goal but feel exhausted because no matter how hard you try, it doesn't pay off... and you want to shift your goal to becoming happy, please come back here. It's okay, it is never too late to achieve enlightenment.
Knowing that almost all suffering happens in the mind
I will tell something very shocking to those who are suffering from something right now.
That suffering or worry of yours is actually a delusion.
I understand the feeling of wanting to get angry, saying, "Don't mess with me! You don't know anything about my situation, so you can say such irresponsible and detached things!" But well, please listen first.
Please imagine, "If, by some mistake, if it were really true that your current suffering or worry was a delusion..." If that were true, don't you think that suffering would disappear in an instant...?
For example, let's say your friend is watching a movie right now. The protagonist of that movie is living such a miserable life that everyone would agree it's tragic. And because the movie is made so realistically and elaborately, your friend has completely empathized (assimilated) with the protagonist. Then, they lament to you like this.
"How miserable my life is! Do you understand my suffering!!? (crying)"
If such a friend were in front of you, what would you say to them?
"Well, well, calm down. If you're alive, good things will happen eventually."
Would you say that?
"No, no, no, no! That's just a story in a movie, isn't it?? You're just watching a movie! It has no effect on your life at all! Wake up!!"
Wouldn't you say that instead?
Actually, what is happening to you is the same thing.
Let's experience the fact that suffering only happens inside your head
I don't expect you to be convinced by just this. Because this is just an analogy. So, from here on, I will have you actually experience that your suffering is, in fact, a delusion.
First, please be alone. If there is someone around you, please move to a space where you can be alone. And then, close your eyes (however, if you close your eyes at this point, you won't be able to read the subsequent steps, so please read through everything and close your eyes just before you practice).
Recall an unpleasant event from the past. Try to recall an event that involves as strong an emotion as possible, in detail and vividly. Things like, "They clearly blocked the aisle, bumped into me, and didn't even apologize. On the contrary, they clicked their tongue at me," or "It was clearly the boss's mistake, but they shifted the responsibility onto me and then severely berated me for that mistake," or anything is fine, but something that is likely to evoke strong negative emotions is best.
⚠️ As I wrote at the beginning, people with trauma-level pasts, such as being abused by parents or suffering domestic violence, are not the target here. Please do this after receiving treatment from a doctor, or while consulting with a doctor and taking sufficient care for safety.
At that time, I think you felt various negative emotions (though not necessarily all of them listed here), such as anger, irritation, sadness, shame, anxiety, fear, guilt, jealousy, and so on.
Once you have experienced those emotions, stop recalling the event and open your eyes.
Now, is the "passerby who bumped into you and clicked their tongue" or the "boss who shifts responsibility" in front of you? They aren't, are they (since you are alone now)? Even though there is no target (person) to generate negative emotions, and it is a past event that is already over, you felt unpleasant by recalling that time, didn't you?
But that is, happening inside your head, isn't it? It is true that you just followed my instructions because I told you to, but when you go about your daily life, there are times when you suddenly recall such unpleasant events, right? But, that is a delusion, isn't it? At that moment, the person who is the target of your anger is not in front of you, right?
Actually, the true nature of human suffering is just this. It is nothing more than just delusion. Your brain is just showing you a dream that makes you feel unpleasant. When you wake up, the thing that became the target of your unpleasantness does not exist there. It is just a delusion.
It is certainly a fact that there was a "passerby who bumped into you and clicked their tongue" or a "boss who shifts responsibility" (and it is also a fact that you remember it). It is natural to feel discomfort toward it the moment that event occurs. However, that event does not continue forever. "Bumping into you" is only about a second long, and it is said that human anger only lasts for about 10 seconds at most.
When you are being berated by a "boss who shifts responsibility," aren't you more likely to be using your head to think about how to get through the situation, such as "How can I get out of this meaningless lecture quickly?" while feeling discomfort? Isn't it actually after the boss's berating is over that you feel the strong discomfort?
Knowing the true nature of your attachments
If, upon reading this far, you understood, 'Oh, I see! So suffering was just an illusion all along!' and all your pain and worries vanished, then you have already achieved enlightenment. Congratulations 🎉
However, in reality, I think most people would say, 'If all my worries could disappear that easily, I wouldn't be struggling!'
So, why do people worry and suffer over things...?
It is because of attachment.
This is the most important and also the most difficult part. This is because what each person is attached to is different.
The examples I mentioned earlier, like 'a passerby who bumped into me and clicked their tongue' or 'a boss who shifts responsibility,' are such typical examples of unpleasant events that when people hear them, everyone empathizes, saying, 'That must have been tough, that was awful...'
However, human worries vary from person to person, and they are not all things that everyone shares as 'unpleasant.' That is why there are people who feel fulfilled doing the exact same job while others do not, and why there are people who seem to have achieved obvious success by social standards yet do not seem happy.
Therefore, I cannot definitively say, 'Your attachment is this' (which is why it is difficult), but here I will list a few representative examples. Please note that these are just 'representative examples' and may not necessarily apply to you.
An example of a man
A man once said he wanted to earn more money.
When I asked, 'Why do you want to earn money?', he superficially said things like 'I want to live a rich life' or 'I want to live a stable life.' But from an outsider's perspective, this person already has enough money and appears to be living a rich and stable life. Yet, he himself is suffering, thinking, 'It's still not enough' and 'It shouldn't be just this.'
Listening to his life story, I learned that he felt lonely in his childhood. Both his parents worked, and since he didn't have grandparents to look after him, he said he often played by himself. But in reality, he wanted to play with his mom and dad more; he wanted them to pay more attention to him.
That is why, during his school days, he was desperate to study hard and get good grades. He wanted to show those grades to his parents and have them praise him, saying, 'Look, Mom and Dad, I got such a good score! Aren't I great?' But his parents were busy, and although they praised him on the surface, those were just empty words without real feeling, and the young boy understood that well. He thought, 'My efforts are still not enough.'
He continued to work hard at his studies and entered a top-tier university. After graduation, he joined a top-tier company, steadily handled his work, and got promoted, living a life that, from the outside, seemed smooth sailing with nothing to want for.
But somehow, his heart was not satisfied. He felt he had to work harder, earn more... Such thoughts kept mounting, and he spent his days feeling stifled, unable to rest even when he wanted to.
Now, what is this man attached to? Is it money? Perhaps that is part of it, but fundamentally, it is an attachment to a past desire for approval—the desire to be recognized by his parents (to have his existence acknowledged, saying 'I am here!') because they didn't pay attention to him in his childhood.
What is important here is that I am not saying having a desire for approval is evil. The desire for approval is one of the human survival instincts, so it cannot be completely erased. What you should do is acknowledge that you have this attachment called the desire for approval and let it go.
An example of a woman
A woman once said she wanted to have plastic surgery.
The woman is very beautiful. She is very young. She is so popular with many men that she is constantly being pursued. Therefore, from an outsider's perspective, it is completely unclear why she would want to undergo plastic surgery. She says various things like, "I don't like that my cheek contours are angular," "I'm bothered that my eyes are slightly different sizes," or "I think having this mole here is a nuisance," but to those around her, she is beautiful, including those features.
However, no matter how many times she hears such words from those around her, she refuses to listen. And one day, she actually underwent plastic surgery. She had all the "parts she didn't like (in her own opinion)" that she mentioned earlier corrected, and the surgery was a success.
However, even though her long-awaited surgery was a success and her appearance changed, she does not seem happy. She started saying things like, "I'm bothered by my wide forehead," or "Maybe I should make my nose a little higher." Eventually, even though she was already thin enough, she went on an extreme diet thinking she should be even slimmer, which resulted in her becoming ill.
Plastic surgery is expensive. Since she was not wealthy, she cut back on living expenses just to get the surgery. She has no savings left. But she wants to have surgery again... So, she said she would quit her current job and become a sex worker.
Why does she care so much about her appearance?
When I asked about her upbringing, it seems she was popular even when she was a student. So, while she was fawned over by boys and treated kindly in various ways, she says she was conversely shunned and bullied by girls.
"You might be getting carried away because you're popular with boys, but you're actually ugly."
"Boys don't actually care about you; they just want to *** you."
"Because you're here, I can't get a boyfriend. I wish you would just disappear."
The bullying continued for a while during her student days, but eventually, she graduated. She then entered the workforce, and as time passed, the wounds of the bullying healed, and she acts cheerfully, saying, "That is all in the past. It has nothing to do with the current me."
Now, in this case, I think it is clear what she is attached to, but humans are strange creatures; even when things are obvious to those around them, the person themselves often fails to notice (thinking they have "come to terms with it as a thing of the past"). It is the bystander's perspective.
To avoid any misunderstanding, I am not saying that plastic surgery is bad or that becoming a sex worker is bad. The essence is that even though she is doing what she wants to do, for some reason, she is not happy (not fulfilled). In this case as well, it is important to acknowledge that there is an attachment (an attachment to wanting to forget, to wanting to convince oneself that "I have already come to terms with it" because remembering the past is painful) and to let it go.
The author's example
For reference, I will also provide my own example.
...I thought, but since it became too long while writing, I decided to split it into a separate article 👉 I leaked my attachments, which are dirtier than poop, into the sea of the internet 💩
Mindset for finding your own attachments
Your attachments are not necessarily limited to just one. Even if the core attachment is small, there may be 20 to 30, or even more, attachments associated with it.
Attachments appear in various forms. A core attachment appears as a small attachment in small, everyday life situations. Instead of finding them all at once, you can start from small daily attachments, realize "Oh, this is an attachment," and unravel the larger attachment in the background like pulling on a vine, eventually reaching the core attachment.
For example, just before writing this text, I thought, "I have to write this properly so that everyone who reads it understands," but this became an attachment of "I have to write" rather than "I want to write," and my writing slowed down a bit. By realizing, "Oh, this is an attachment (it's not like I have to make everyone understand perfectly, and my writing doesn't need to aim for that)," and letting it go, I regained the motivation to write.
By the way, this attachment in my case is an attachment to perfectionism. Even if there is someone else whose hand is slow to write something similar, that person's struggle might be due to an attachment of control, "I want others to understand my thoughts."You cannot identify the cause of an attachment just by the results of a person's actions. You cannot know what they are thinking and what suffering they are carrying by "not being able to write well" without looking at their inner self.
Finding your core attachments is a patient process. As in the example of the woman mentioned earlier, there may be 'stealth attachments' that you yourself do not currently recognize as attachments.
However, it goes without saying that unless you find your attachments, you cannot let them go. It is impossible to 'discard what you cannot see'.
That said, please do not think here that you 'must absolutely find them' or that 'they should be found immediately.' This is because that becomes a new attachment. Please keep a light heart, thinking, 'Since I have been suffering so much until now, it is no wonder if I don't find them right away. I'll just go about my daily life as usual, and it would be nice if I happened to think about it vaguely and found them at some point'.
Practice of letting go
Once you know what your attachments are, the rest is easy. Just let them go. You might think, 'Let them go, but how...', but earlier, you should have declared the following.
“In my future life, I will place my own happiness as my primary value”
If this is your most important value, doesn't, for example, 'not forgiving someone who pisses you off' contradict this value? Doesn't it move you further away from your goal?
If it is difficult, when you feel an attachment, try answering the following questions 👇
💡 'Does anything exist in your life that you must endure or accomplish, even at the cost of your happiness and by increasing your suffering?'
💡 'Is there any reason in your life to keep living while being attached to things?'
💡 'Does that attachment bring you happiness? What is the point in your life of not letting go of something that brings you suffering?'
💡 'What is more important than living with peace of mind (what must you endure, what must you accomplish, what must you do)?'
It is okay if you do not let go of everything at once (thinking 'I must let go of everything at once!' is also an attachment). Every time you feel an attachment, try to remember this and ask yourself these questions. Little by little, the things you were attached to will start to seem ridiculous.
Also, just because you let go of the same attachment once does not mean you will no longer be troubled by it. Attachments are like habits of thought ingrained over many years, so even if you think you have let go of one, it will suddenly resurface at another moment. But that is okay. Every time it appears, just notice it, say 'Oh, we meet again,' and bid it 'Goodbye.' Just as you cannot master a back hip circle on a horizontal bar in one go, letting go of attachments is also practice.
It might be a good idea to make a list of attachments you are prone to falling into so that you don't get swallowed up by the vortex when an attachment appears in the future (be careful not to become attached to making that list perfectly and neatly. If you can let go of them immediately without making a list, that is fine too).
Pitfalls
Now, some of you may have felt your hearts lighten by this point, but please be very careful about creating other attachments in this process.
For example
'I must let go of my attachments (otherwise I cannot be happy)' (attachment to letting go)
'I, who have suffered so much until now, must be happy (it is strange if I cannot be)' (attachment to happiness)
Attachment to the idea that "I want this happy feeling to last forever (and I'd hate it if it didn't)" (this is also an attachment to happiness).
Attachment to the idea that "If I seriously believe in something like this, my life will become trivial" (attachment to fear and resistance).
Attachment to the idea that "If I live such a self-centered life, I will become a bad person (so I shouldn't do it)" (attachment to guilt).
Attachment to the idea that "I have already descended from such suffering, but there are still idiots in the world who suffer by showing off over trivial things, and I want to look down on them" (attachment to superiority and arrogance).
Attachment to the idea that "This is a wonderful way of thinking, so I want those around me to understand it too" (attachment to control).
And so on. I will explain some of the points that are likely to be misunderstood in more detail.
Misconceptions about "attachment to happiness"
Regarding "attachment to happiness," I don't want you to misunderstand that this means you shouldn't have the desire to "become happy." However, saying "I must become happy!" is an attachment. Please keep a light heart, something like, "Well, it's okay if I don't become happy right away. Since I've been suffering this much, it's only natural that I won't become happy immediately."
Happiness is like a magnet.When you are attached to happiness (when you approach it with the same pole as happiness), happiness moves away (a repulsive force acts)..If you are not attached to happiness (if you change your way of thinking (pole) and wait patiently at the opposite pole from happiness), happiness will come to you on its own (an attractive force acts).. It is ironic, but this is the truth. Please "surrender to happiness".
Misconceptions about "attachment to fear and resistance"
"There is something I actually have to do, and I keep thinking I have to do it, but I can't seem to get started... But if I let go of this by calling it an attachment, won't I end up neglecting what I really need to do and end up in a terrible situation...?"
Perhaps this is common for serious people and perfectionists? I was quite the perfectionist myself (and sometimes still am), so I understand the feeling well.
However, looking back on your life so far, have you ever had the experience where, while there were things you "kept meaning to do but couldn't make progress on," there were other times when you thought, "Oh well, at worst, I won't die if I don't do this," and then before you knew it, you had started and finished it?
That is exactly it! The reasons for procrastination vary from person to person and situation to situation, but in most cases, the brakes are applied because of attachments, such as "I must do it (attachment to the fear of a future where something tragic happens)" or "I must do it perfectly (attachment to the expectations of others, or attachment to my own status or vanity, fearing that if I fail here, I might be demoted from an important position)."
By realizing "this is an attachment" and letting it go by saying "oh well (at worst, whether I become unhappy or not depends on my way of thinking)," things often end up going well. It is ironic, but this is also the truth.
That said, if you think, "I'll expect it to happen because I'll be able to do it naturally if I just think 'oh well,'" then that in itself is an attachment, so be careful.
Misconceptions about "attachment to guilt"
Also, regarding "attachment to guilt," the idea that "if I live such a self-centered life, I will become a bad person" is a misconception held by many. Wishing for your own happiness first and acting accordingly is different from "being selfish and forcing your will on others." That is an attachment to "wanting to control the other person and make them do as you wish." That eventually leads to suffering (it does not lead to happiness).
In the first place, I think that intentionally hurting others while in a state of zero attachment is, (not ethically or morally, but) fundamentally biologically unnatural. Biologically, I don't understand the point of doing such a thing. Hurting someone for the sake of money is because you are attached to money, or something in the background of it. I think attachment is what hurts both yourself and others. It is Lose-Lose.
Besides, a person who has room in their heart naturally wants to help others (please don't feel discouraged if you don't feel that way. Thinking "I must think that way or I'm a bad person" is also an attachment). Happiness is not something that decreases for you when you share it; it is something that increases for both the giver and the receiver. It is Win-Win.
Therefore, I think it is perfectly okay to help others for your own satisfaction. There is a saying, 'Kindness is not for others' sake' (meaning kindness eventually benefits oneself). It is always those around you (society) who interject with judgments like 'that's selfish,' 'that's altruistic,' or 'that's hypocritical.' You don't need such judgments (if you are afraid of being told that, it is just an attachment to fear—a mere delusion).
Usually, the person saying that is the one who is attached. It is an attachment that says, 'Because they are trying to act like a good person to gain the approval of others, they are a bad person who must be punished' (if you are truly helping others for such calculating reasons, that is, of course, an attachment too!). Kindness is not a 'moral duty that one must perform as a human being,' but rather 'something you naturally want to do (want to be allowed to do) when you are freed from attachment and become free.'
Conversely, if you (still) don't feel like being kind to others, you don't have to. Even if that moment doesn't come for a while, there is no need to feel discouraged. To repeat, the 'thought that one must be kind' becomes a new attachment.
Perhaps you are being kind to others without even thinking of your actions as kindness. Isn't that fine as it is? By being aware of it, you are eliminating from the start the possibility of falling into an attachment to pride, thinking, 'I'm great for being kind (and I want to criticize those who aren't kind because they are bad).' Lucky you.
Beware of the attachment to judging others and yourself
I would also like to mention this while I'm at it. I think there are times when you 'judge' people, saying things like 'that person is kind' or 'this person is not kind,' but this also leads to attachment. To begin with, on what basis did you judge 'that person' (or even 'yourself') as 'kind or not kind'? Is there always, absolutely, something that is 'kind (in your opinion)' regardless of the situation or the person you are dealing with? Isn't that just a delusion?
Why can't people be kind? It is because they are covered in attachments. (Strictly speaking, this is incorrect according to the theory I will describe later, but) in that sense, I think everyone is inherently 'kind.' It is just that in the process of living, we learn about the mud (attachments) in the world, and by being covered in it, the lotus (kindness) becomes hidden.
Because we talk about people in a dualism of 'kind' or 'not kind,' an attachment is born that says, 'I won't be kind to someone who isn't kind (I'll be mean to them),' and the person who receives that reacts like a mirror, creating a chain of suffering. To begin with, the perception that 'Mr./Ms. XX is a kind person' is wrong. 'Mr./Ms. XX is a XX kind of person' is something that, in essence, should not be said about anyone (including oneself).
Because, isn't that right? If there were someone who said, 'I have a cheerful personality,' they would have to be smiling happily even if their family were slaughtered right in front of them. If they felt even a little bit sad, the 'me with a cheerful personality' would collapse. It is self-denial. If there is a person who is 'me who maintains a XX personality' until the day they die, I would love to meet them.
You might want to counter, 'I'm not talking about such extreme cases. I'm speaking in general terms, meaning someone who is cheerful more often than not compared to others,' but even if that were the case, does self-analyzing yourself as 'I am a person with a XX personality' ever make you happy?
In the first place, if you can't say you have a cheerful personality (relatively) without comparing yourself to others, then 'comparing yourself to others' creates attachment. And since everyone has ups and downs in their mood, if you have a self-image that 'I have a cheerful personality,' the damage is amplified when you are feeling down (when you are not cheerful) (because it leads to self-denial).
Conversely, if you self-analyze as 'I am a gloomy person,' it goes without saying. If you convince yourself (delude yourself) that 'I can't get along with people because I'm a gloomy person,' it will truly become that way, and a 'gloomy personality' doesn't always lead to bad results (there are good things too). In any case, 'judging' things that way can never be a plus for living without suffering; it can only be a minus. Judging people, whether yourself or others, as 'being XX' is also an attachment.
Honestly, I am the most surprised at myself for writing something like this. Because I have lived my life thinking, 'If things are this unfair, it shouldn't be a sin to act selfishly.' After I started working, I even did mean things to someone I was jealous of (someone who could be the object of the attachment called jealousy). And that was during a company meeting (and, by some twist of fate, that person's name was 'Satoru' [which means 'to achieve enlightenment']...!!).
Of course, I think, 'I shouldn't have done that back then' to that person, but I no longer fall into self-loathing, thinking, 'I am a bad person...' Because 'I am a bad person' does not hold up. If it did, if I were to accidentally (lol) do something that earned even a little bit of gratitude in the future, it would become self-denial (Wow! I got thanked!! So 'I am not a bad person'!!! lol).
Achieving enlightenment does not mean you will never feel down again
I also want to convey this: just because you have achieved enlightenment does not mean you will never feel down in your future life. You might think, 'Wait, really?' but this is fairly self-evident if you imagine the situation I am about to explain.
No matter how much of a 'strongest mental mindset' you acquire, if you live a life like 'never going outside, keeping the curtains closed, eating fast food while drinking energy drinks, sitting in a chair for a long time, in a pitch-black room, and playing games non-stop without even sleeping,' for weeks or months, you would naturally go crazy, right?
Well, I don't think you would want to put yourself in such a situation while being free of all attachments (and this example is extreme), but if you are being forced into a similar situation, such as working at a truly harsh (illegal) exploitative company, then as I mentioned at the beginning, the first priority is to solve that problem.
Even if you are not in such a situation, if you think, 'I have a strongest mental mindset, so I will never feel down! (It would be strange if I did),' that is also an attachment, so it will become painful. If you just change your mood with a feeling like, 'Well, I'm human, so sometimes I feel down,' before you know it, you won't be feeling down anymore, and you might even forget what you were feeling down about in the first place.
In conclusion
Even if you read this far without knowing what your own attachments are, you have understood it as words, but I think you feel like... it doesn't quite resonate.
That is the essence. "Achieving enlightenment" is not something you reach by reading many books on Eastern philosophy, understanding difficult theories, and accumulating a lot of knowledge. It is about "gaining a realization" in your own heart.
In other words, no matter how many words you pile up, if you don't gain a realization, it will end with "that's one way of thinking, I guess," and conversely, if you do gain a realization, you will "completely understand it" just by reading one book (or even just by reading this article).
For example, if I were a professional pianist, no matter how much I insisted, "This is how you play the piano well," it is the same as saying that not everyone who hears it can immediately become a professional-level pianist at that moment.
And I think it is common knowledge in the world that people who say things like "I have achieved enlightenment" or "I have completely understood" are usually no good (I say this myself and think so too, haha).
But this is not that kind of thing. If one day you think, "Oh, maybe I have achieved enlightenment," that becomes enlightenment for you. It is unnatural to think that everyone is the same. If you can notice what your attachments are and let them go, you can say that you have completely understood enlightenment for yourself. Even if you cannot say it as a strict term, what of it? Is there anything more important than that realization?
For me, "enlightenment" is "the certain realization that I don't know at all what will happen in the future, but no matter what happens, as long as I don't lose sight of this path, I will no longer feel suffering or think of my life as unhappy." It is not a strange power like believing in God, nor is it a spell to tell yourself that everything will be absolutely fine, nor is it an attachment that you should never be unhappy. It is simply feeling with your own body that sense of being able to have peace of mind and trust in your own life.
I am sorry for speaking as if I understand everyone's suffering. But in reality, I do not understand. Because, to repeat, everyone's attachments are different, and since I do not know your lives, I cannot point them out precisely. Therefore, your point that I am "a kid speaking as if he understands" is correct.
Also, I am sorry for speaking as if I know how to achieve enlightenment. Perhaps I do not actually (in the true sense) understand. Even now, I sometimes get irritated. I might even hurt people.
But, how should I put it, I have become so refreshed that such things don't matter anymore. It is not that I am being defiant, saying "It's me, including doing bad things (which are generally judged by society), so what's wrong with that," nor have I given up on life, saying "I don't care about anything anymore." Rather, I am full of excitement, thinking, "My life starts from here." It is like, "What is the meaning of a life where I suffer?"
It is okay to accidentally react to something and get attached (a little bit) (and it is fine to get attached "a lot," not just "a little," as long as you notice it and start over again). The important thing is not to walk a life of "trying never to get attached ever again," but to have a light feeling like, "I think I got attached, so maybe I should let it go because it seems like I will suffer if I stay like this."
I cannot "make" each of you achieve enlightenment (because everyone's attachments are different, and you might not even be wishing from the bottom of your heart to be liberated in the first place). But I decided to write this article hoping that I could be of a little help to those who wish for it. If it has been of any help to you, there is nothing happier than that.