So no one can ever claim to be enlightened? And if they do they show themselves to be a fraud?
Have you ever heard the saying that if you see the Buddha on the path you should destroy him? An ego claiming that it's enlightened is an oxymoron. It's like Samsara claiming that it's Nirvana. Enlightenment by its very definition is the absence of ego. There is no difference between you and the Infinite, and Enlightenment would be that realization becoming fully embodied. "I am enlightened" is that nice self-referencing "I" trying to act like it's real and it has separateness from the rest.
The simple version: people who need to
convince others that they are enlightened are not, especially if they are touting that their way is the best/only way.
The goal of Buddhism is to reach enlightenment.
You can't reach something that you already are. The illusion of separation has you.
Buddhism strives for the end of karma and rebirth by working with the subtle mind to return to Emptiness, which you already are and always were.
If someone claims that enlightenment is impossible to reach, then what good are the books that they recommend?
The claim that enlightenment is something you "reach for" is problematic, as though it were a spiritual ladder. There is no spiritual ladder. There is no hierarchy, no middle man (or middle book), or awakening. Being alive is the Awakeness. There is nothing beyond now. There is no here or there. It's not a word.
Enlightenment is just a word that is a product of mind. What it actually is may be approached differently for different people. Some use no doctrine at all. My conflict with you mostly stems from the fact that you believe someone not only has to read large volumes of religious text, but also a very specific one, to figure out the "right way". If there were a formula for it then everyone would do it. Enlightenment is spontaneous and unique to each person who achieves it.
