The Equality and Differences of Enlightenment

No longer is there a fundamental difference between the enlightenment of people and the enlightenment of Buddhas. The Buddha is showing us the path to an enlightenment that is exactly like that of all Buddhas. This is really what I think is remarkable. There is a way for us as common mortals to become enlightened just as the Buddha was, though I think it is also important to realize that our own individual manifestation of that enlightenment will perhaps look different than the Buddha’s. In other words, my enlightenment will not be an enlightenment of sitting under a tree, it might be an enlightenment of working with sick people. Your enlightenment may be an enlightenment that manifests as any number of things such as a clerk, or a computer operator, or doctor, or lawyer, or a mother and father, or child. It can manifest in any number of ways, not dependent upon our occupation or unique skills, but on our innate capacity, on the truth of the condition of Buddhahood being always present in our lives.

Lecture on the Lotus Sutra