The question arose with a meditator a few days ago and so here is an answer. It might be interesting for the meditator who has had a very strange experience out of the range of normal experiences. I also reply to the following questions:
-Can someone make it up?
-Can you wrongly assert yourself?
-Can someone else validate your enlightenment?
Is enlightenment just a self-proclamation? Is there any criterion to verify this? This is a fair question to ask and there is a fair, clear and honest reply to it. I apologize for the technicality of that post but we must be willing to go through clear points to not talk woowoo. Technicality is needed for reproducibility which means enlightenment for you and for me. Same same. The Buddha was very technical and exhaustive when needed.
I’ll talk about experiment or in other words how and why you can know for yourself quite clearly where you stand in the context of the Buddha’s teachings when you have a sharp and diligent vipassana practice. I won’t talk about other religions and traditions.
In a nutshell, the development of the Noble eightfold path is a gradual training leading to the abandonment of some mental defilements. Although being gradual most of the time, it is punctuated by clear « jumps » which occur when some other mental factors are mature. Those « jumps » last a blink of an eye and are often described as a black out, a collapse of the world, a black hole formation, the utter nothingness which is not the absence of something, the disappearance and reappearance of reality… These descriptions are attempts to put words on the momentary experience of Nibbana which has « extinguishment » as its synonym. After any of those “jumps”, there is a clear sense of a before and after as if we couldn’t go back to the way we perceived before that sudden ineffable experience. It is often accompanied with other qualities such as a strong faith for the BuddhaDhammaSangha, a huge relief, an exhilarious joy to give only a few. It is followed by a knowledge that some of the mind processes in the cognitive series are now absent. The modifications of the mind are irreversible (only in some rare cases, there is a possible return to normality). This absence of units of cognition leads to a very particular, involuntary, and unfabricated way of perceiving and comprehending experience which you couldn’t have imagined were possible before having the experience itself. The technical terms for those mind moments are officially called : path knowledge-fruition-reviewing knowledge.
The reviewing knowledge for full enlightenment is illustrated by this well-known verse that you can find throughout the entire Pali Canon uttered by the Buddha to illustrate full liberation of mind and which signals full enlightenment « Destroyed is birth, the holy life has been lived, what had to be done has been done, there is no more for this state of being. »
Telling about his own enlightenment the Buddha said « In being liberated, there was the knowledge that ‘it is liberated,’ and I directly knew that ‘birth is ended, the holy life has been lived, what had to be done has been done, there is no more for this state of being.’ » (see MN4).
It might sound strange for someone not experienced in contemplation and meditation and not meditating much. It might even sound suspicious as if the idea is self-made and can therefore be self-deceptive. I have no indisputable evidence to serve you. I can just tell you that when you pass through the first « jump », you’ll know for yourself that the reviewing thought is automatically generated. It is quite impressive when it happens. In my own case, at the last stage, I wasn’t expecting any of this. One day, I sat, started the vipassana practice and after about 20 minutes, the blackout happened but this time it was of a different kind and indeed this knowledge arose out of the blue while I was still astonished, trying to figure out what has just happened. I clearly knew without a shadow of a doubt that the mind was fully liberated and it automatically went to review the removal of the last five fetters (see below for an explanantion of the fetters). The cognitive series was clearly unambiguously different. It was as if the mind process was cut off. There was something missing and it felt very foreign.
This might sound very technical but a sound insight meditator can « see » those happenings very clearly in meditation and they have (almost) no doubt about what has just happened to them. The jump happens when he is looking at one of the three marks of existence: not-self, impermanence and insatisfactoriness ( anatta/anicca/dukkha ). The meditator undertaking the practice of noticing one of those aspects of any kind of phenomenon ( internal/external, past, present, future) goes through distinct insight knowledges to finally realize deeply that nothing lasting can be found anywhere in the world and therefore as nothing lasts, nothing can be satisfactory. In addition, as the meditator sees clearly in meditation that nothing lasts not even for a moment, then the identity is also clearly seen as a mental construct, as a series of untertwined momentary phenomena. When it becomes very clear for the meditator, strong disenchantment occurs in him. He sees every phenomenon as a danger, a barb, something to stay away from. His mind starts to recoil from making contact with them. The detachment matures when the insight meditation is pursued further until the point when there is utter letting go of everything, the mind tries to find something secure and turns to Nibbana for a short moment. This is fruition and one of the stage of enlightenment is reached and can’t be undone.
This is the interesting point here is that once the fruition of the first stage of enlightenment has been reached, you can call it at will, put your mind in it. It will not open a new stage of enlightenment but the mind can rest there for a short moment. This is where mastery and confidence develop. Indeed, you know the path to Nibanna and you can access it anytime throughone of the three doors: anicca/dukkha/anatta. Pick one, look at all aspects, get utterly dispassionate, let the mind switch off. Black out is well understood and welcomed. Now, you know the path clearly, can walk it anytime you want and under any condition. This is no longer a random event, it becomes mastery. Note that, in order to reach the next stage of enlightenment, you’ll have to develop the noble eightfold path more deeply.
From a canonical point of view, the Buddha’s teachings is a « 4 paths » framework. The Buddha has claimed four kinds of « Noble Ones » or four degrees of enlightenment. From the first stage to final liberation, they are classified as stream-enterer (sotapanna), once-returner (sakadagami) , non-returner (anagami) and arahant. This classification is not arbitrary, it is based on which fetters have been eradicated at each stage. What are the fetters (samyojanas) ? They are ten mental chains that bind living beings to the cycle of life and death meaning to suffering. Full enlightenment or arahanship is when all the 10 fetters have been uprooted from the mind. It could also be said that greed, hatred and delusion ( the defilements) don’t arise anymore. This is equated to the end of suffering by the Buddha.
It is worth mentioning here, as an aparté, that at every stage, your personality changes. This is my own description and this has nothing to do with the scriptures. At first stage, the view of a self is eradicated. You can’t imagine a priori how it feels like but it completely changes your perspectives and interactions. At the second stage, sensual desires and ill-will are just reduced and totally eradicated at third stage. It translates into an increased patience, calmness, compassion and kindness. I would say that second and third stage are lived as a gradual erasure of attachments, fears and subtle desires. I felt the attainment of arahantship as the strongest shift in character traits together with stream-entry, arahantship being the biggest leap of all. Why? Because as the famous stanza about full liberation says « what had to be done has been done » meaning that the meditative work has been done and there is no need anymore to work for it. You wake up, the defilements ( greed, hate, delusion) of the mind are gone; not just temporarily suppressed by mindfulness and concentration practice. You don’t have to keep them at bay with discipline, they are gone for good. You don’t do anything in particular, you check: gone. You cook in the evening and check: still gone gone. Very very gone. Not even close to come back. Not in the corner, not hiding behind your lack of concentration. Nope. Gone forever gone. Always. RIP. Your mind is free from the defilements even when not meditating.
This is ultimate liberation and it makes a huge difference in the way life is lived. Moreover, knowing that it’s your last state of being also makes a very important impression on the heart. There is an indelebile knowing that nothing is worth clinging to. As if branded with red-hot iron on your heart. When reflected upon this ultimate liberation, it brings a kind of joy hard to explain, the one that left an imperceptible smile on the face. It is possible to abide in that state and it is extremely peaceful without effort to maintain.
That was a long aparté so let’s come back to the progress of insight. In addition, please note that those jumps have nothing to do with the experiences of meditative absorptions (also called jhanas).
If you are a diligent meditator, working on the three trainings: ethics, concentration and understanding, you’ll know where you stand on the path to full enlightenment. At least after stream-entry, and the first experience of Nibbana. Your practice will make you know and you will see rather clearly which defilements of the mind are still lingering around. Again, this requires a quite good and precise understanding and applications of the methods. With the right methods, insight develops and matures. With the proper discipline and love of the practice, the mind will incline naturally to Nibbana.
People become very suspicious about enlightenment because nobody believes that such mastery over the mind is possible unless found in an Himalayan cave. It is possible and you can train for yourself and discover everything I’ve just written for yourself. Being enlightened. First stage, second stage, third stage. Full enlightenment. In those modern times, experiencing peace of heart.
P.S: If you prefer an exposition from an ordained monk/nun, you can refer to Ayya Khema’s talks on the topic or Mahasi Sayadaw’s manual of insight. Daniel Ingram’s own journey through awakening can also be found in his free book ” Mastering the core teachings of the Buddha“. In addition, I recommend Maha Boowa’s recount of aharantship in his book ” the path to Arahantship“.
CAN SOMEONE MAKE IT UP?
Yes, if driven by personal interests. I recommend to read my post on the topic entitled ” saints and psychopaths” and the free book of William Hamilton with the same title.
CAN YOU WRONGLY ASSERT YOUR ATTAINMENT?
Yes. You can take insight knowledges or meditative absorptions for enlightenment. Insight knowledges can profoundly change the way you perceive and understand your experience such as the “knowledge of arising and passing away of all phenomena” or the phase of “equanimity towards formations” ( I recommend you to look at the progress of insight for the description of such phases). Just before the first jump, in that stage of high equanimity, it might seem like enlightenment since we feel as left untouched by anything that happens. However, this stage doesn’t uproot the defilements from the mind and still requires maintenance.
The third stage is also a bit special in that regard since we are “almost there”, one stage before full liberation but not there yet and usually, the meditator is determined to finish the work as quickly as possible and at all costs seeing very clearly the cost of another rebirth. Therefore, in that stage, it is easy to take a normal fruition for the path fruitition of arahantship. However, the meditator will notice rather quickly that dukkha is still there even if present very subtly. In addition, as I mentioned above, the path knowledge in the special case of arahantship is automatically followed by the very peculiar inner knowing that the mind is fully liberated and this knowing is absent at regular third stage fruitions. To be honest,I made that mistake twice thus believing the work was finished when it was not. It took me about a few weeks to know for sure that the mind was not totally purified yet and that more work had to be done.
CAN SOMEONE VALIDATE YOUR ENLIGHTENMENT?
Only the Buddha could certify the attainment of anyone. Your teacher, if realized himself can have a pretty good idea where his student stands. His mind purified, the defilements in others are seen as if displayed on a big screen on top of the head and by asking questions, he can know the depth of your wisdom and where ignorance remains and point it to you if any dark corner is left.
Nibbana Unplugged 
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