Was Buddha enlightened?

Image by DuongNgoc1987 from Pixabay

Given how important the notion of enlightenment is to a Buddhist, it is amazing that the Buddhist world has no consensus on what the term “enlightenment” means. Certainly, most Buddhists believe that the historical Buddha was enlightened. But there is no agreement on the contents of his enlightenment. Just this fact alone indicates that the notion that Buddha was enlightened is a matter of religious belief quite similar to the belief that Jesus…