How Did The Buddha Become Enlightened?
He became unstuck.
Letting go is not being stuck on any thing or idea – or even a personal identity – and therefore our nature stays pure. Of course, we are not enlightened yet, but we can still appreciate this principle.
‘Ego’ is a fabrication of acquired, fixated ideas and has no reality.
‘Egolessness’ doesn’t mean we cannot do anything. We can be very creative but we just don’t need to cling to self-importance, as it limits experience.
Ego: a person’s clinging to a sense of self-importance, from Latin, literally ‘I’.
BUDDHA IN THE MUD is a blog - a living book based on the Dzogchen teachings. Our teacher is life, and life is karma. We are all Buddhas in the mud of concepts. 
I find whenever the subject of ego comes up it always leads to a self defeating circular argument and self defeating mind trap by the one manifesting the subject and related ideas…….no ego leads to no self identity, no self respect, no use of critical thinking abilities, and no fighting back against some psychopathic control freak that wants to control your thoughts and emotions, and inevitably your physical and mental actions and reactions through manipulation of your ego !
Hello Tony!
I appreciate the simple way you explain about ego – as Crested Duck implied, it’s all been made too confusing/too complicated/something to fear//something to be ashamed of/something to be eradicated. In essence, it’s made into a s o m e t h i n g!
Sogyal Rinpoche said this, which is precise and pithy and echoes what you wrote:
“It is important to remember always that the principle of egolessness does not mean that there was an ego in the first place but the Buddhists did away with it. On the contrary, it means there was never any ego at all to begin with. To realize this is called “egolessness.” ”
Daisy
I honestly believe you are both looking from the wrong perspective….I will try o fully explain exactly why I believe so ! First I have to let you know what’s been going on lately… I have a cyst/tumor in center of forehead over pineal area that has been there over a year and dr said do not worry last year, it has now grown to size of small grape and my headaches are incredibly worst ever had and my vision has been blurry at times lately and feel sick to stomache when gets blurred….on the flipside…I have been having visions and waking from meditation and naps with incredible insights into everything I focus on, and spent yesterday focusing on ego as went into med trance and nap. I woke up with the words “eternal God” on my mind but felt something was missing, something more to it. So I set intentions when went to bed and woke up this morning with the rest of it ! EGO~~~ETERNAL GOD OMNIPRESENCE~~~~THIS IS THE ANSWER TO EGO AND WHY IT ALWAYS LEFT A BAD TASTE IN MY MOUTH WHEN PEOPLE TALKED NEGATIVELY ABOUT EGO !
HOW DID THE BUDDHA BECOME ENLIGHTENED? He tapped into his ego like I have done and experienced the reality of Eternal Gods Omnipresence ! I now have goosebumps and chills so I know I am correct about this !
Different path use words differently. The news of your tumour and its effects is very sad. The news of your joy is wonderful.