"The very meditation is the reward."
I agree. So it's best to forget about enlightenment and meditate without any goal or outcome attached.
"For a few, this glimpse is sudden and seemingly everlasting. For many, the glimpse is gradual. But there is no qualitative difference."
It's impossible for anyone to know that they are the same. Just as it's impossible for two people to know that they are perceiving colours the same way.
"Also as I already mentioned, this is not about living in the now as characterized by many. It is about accepting the now. They are both vastly different. Former is seeking a certain kind of experience, latter is to see all experiences choicelessly."
There is still a potential paradox here. Because what if someone feels a powerful resistence to the present moment? Trying to change their inability to accept the present moment is itself an attempt to change the present moment rather than accept it. Because their natural reactions to the present moment are all part of the present moment.
I remember Adyastanti saying, in response to a question about this, something to the effect of: accept the present moment as it is, but that also includes YOU. That includes how you are, and your natural tendencies.
I remember Shinzen Young's answer to this was to accept that you are unable to accept the present moment. So then you have a higher order of acceptance.
But what if you are unable to accept your inability to accept the present moment? Then maybe you can accept that. You can keep going further back until eventually you get to a place where you can fully accept yourself, including your tendency to feel a resistence to the present moment.
I've also heard some define enlightenment as the realisation that there is actually no "you" to become enlightened anyway. It's all about coming to the realisation that things are already how they are, and there's nothing you can do about it even if there was a "you", which there isn't.
I've previous written about how there seem to be as many definitions of enlightenment as those claiming to be enlightened.
