Hey Vincent,

I'm not sure I have a good definition of what I would call a "realised" person. I'm also not sure whether a fully realised person exists. If I had to say something broad, I think this journey is about removing conditioning. What do I mean by that?

We all have certain expectations, assumptions, and reactions toward what we experience in life. I think what meditation helps us see is that much of how we react toward life is automatic--or conditioned. There is a lot we don't question.

But, this has super broad implications. We're mostly uncomfortable in life, whether it's because we're nervous about the future, feeling insecure about our abilities, or ruminating on the past. Deconstructing this conditioning helps us to feel more at ease in the world, and one big thing that Buddhism recognizes as a key here is experiencing "no self" or "non-self". Again, the concept of "self" is simply more conditioning, but it doesn't mean we don't exist. There's a lot to say about this lol.

Anyway, a nice way to sum it up is something Joseph Goldstein said. He said, a "Buddha mind" is a mind without edges--a mind that is at ease with whatever is encountered.

So, I think this points you in the direction of my thinking at this time.

What do you think?