Shijue

shijue (J. shikaku; K. sigak 始覺) is a Chinese term translated as “actualized enlightenment,” “acquired enlightenment,” etc. It is one of the two main subdivisions of enlightenment outlined in the Dasheng qixin lun (“Awakening of Faith According to the Mahāyāna”), along with “original” or “inherent enlightenment” (benjue).

Generally speaking, actualized enlightenment is enlightenment that is attained through practice. It is contrasted with original enlightenment (benjue), which is the mind's innate purity in its natural state. Ultimately, there is no difference between them. Because of the presence of ignorance, sentient beings are blind to their true nature. By removing that ignorance, one actualizes enlightenment.

The Princeton Dictionary states:

As the Dasheng qixin lun explains, although enlightenment is in fact innate in the mind of any sentient being, that mind is still subject to “production-and-cessation” (shengmie), viz., the continual process of creation and passing away that is inevitable in the conditioned realm of existence (saṃsāra). But because that production-and-cessation aspect of mind is itself grounded on the embryo of buddhahood (tathāgatagarbha), conventional states of mind inherently retain the capacity to be transformed into “true thusness” (zhenru), the ultimate state of reality. This transformation takes place through the process of “actualized enlightenment,” that is, undertaking religious cultivation, which in the Dasheng qixin lun specifically means serenity and insight meditation (zhiguan) and no-thought practice (wunian).

Further reading

• Actualized enlightenment, Tsadra Commons