How do you reach enlightment in buddhism?

Answer 1

This is a very complex question that whole library of books have been written to answer, so my short answer here is a poor subtitute for those scholarly works, but I will do the best I can.

The Buddha indicated that our minds hold the key to enlightenment. He indicated that for most people they live in a illusionisary world created by their desires and preconceptions of how things should be. The Buddha indicated that if we could move out of this illusion of our preconceptions and free ourselves from desires that are destructive that we can reach enlightenment.

The Buddha laid out the Eightfold Path as what he described as "the Middle Way" to reach enlightenment. This method is less severe than the path that The Buddha followed and avoids the extremes that he tried and failed at to reach enlightenment.

The eightfold path consists of:

1. Right View

2. Right Intention (thought)

3. Right Speech

4. Right Action

5. Right Livelihood

6. Right Effort

7. Right Mindfulness

8. Right Concentration.

Answer 2

through meditation