[GeorgeEckland]

Then you asked the wrong question.

The first thing I’d advise is to ditch the word enlightenment, it’s a period of European history and in the way it’s used nowadays evokes ideas of some kind of mystical ascension.

The terms the Buddha used were Bodhi which means awakening, and Nibbana which means cooling out, there may be others but those are the main ones.

Good suggestion, Goofaholix. Silly me, I knew the Pali terminology all along, yet I've been accepting the English word "enlightenment," along with some of the legend and folklore that attends it. It does make more sense to stick with bodhi and nibbana.

Still, a similar question remains, even if I ask about "awakening" rather than "enlightenment." Particularly if I ask about "ultimate" awakening rather than "relative" awakening.

Others, so far, have suggested I'd have to know the person well. That makes sense. Yet still, it seems, someone could be very calm, peaceful, equanimous, smile nicely, even under difficult circumstances, yet not be "ultimately" awakened.

Is "ultimately awakened" just one end of a continuum of awakening, or is it a qualitatively different state?

Cheers,

Bopshibobshibop