Buddhahood (Buddhism, Zen)

Although attainment of Buddhahood is the highest goal a being can aspire to, it is, paradoxically, the true state of all beings, since every sentient being is already of Buddha nature - [bussho]

. The true goal is, therefore, to experience Buddhahood as what one already has and to realize this experience through all the day-to-day experiences of life.

Tsung-mi demonstrated that, in the stages of phenomenal evolution he described, each step on the process of delusion can be counteracted by a step in the process of enlightenment. In this the final step, attainment of buddhahood completes the cycle and the state is identical to intrinsic buddhahood, which started the cycle. Indeed, all stages are now seen to have been undifferentiated from the beginning, and identical to the one and indivisible intrinsic buddhahood.