acquired enlightenment

A concept which is found in the Mahāyāna treatise the Mahāyāna-śraddhotpāda Śāstra (The Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna) referring to the enlightenment (bodhi) that one acquires as the result of religious training. It is paired with the term ‘original enlightenment’, which is inherent in all things and signifies their subsisting clear and pure nature. Together, these two terms define a soteriology that sees beings as perfected and liberated as they are, and needing religious practice only to realize that this is so.