Buddhist Enlightenment vs Nirvana

When I first started reading books on Buddhism back in the late 1970’s, I had trouble understanding *Nirvana and Enlightenment. These two words were often used interchangeably by authors writing on the *Theravada and *Mahayana traditions. Sometimes though, the meaning seemed to change depending on who was doing the writing.
I couldn’t understand why, for instance... In some Zen and Mahayana texts folks didn’t want Nirvana. Why did some choose one, and not the other? If they were not the same... What was the difference?The first thing I did was define Enlightenment and Nirvana myself, in a way that made sense to me. My definition of Nirvana became- "The end of suffering"... and Enlightenment became- "The Wisdom of Emptiness."Nirvana- The End of Suffering... In this lifetime and all future lifetimes.
The Buddha once said, “I teach the path to immortality.” As it turns out, he didn’t mean, not having to die, even Christ had to die. The Buddha was saying... Samsara, the perpetual cycle of birth and death ended in Nirvana, I could never be reborn again... I would exist and not exist at the very same time, forever. I would abide in Nirvana. Enlightenment- The Wisdom of Emptiness... The wisdom that arises from the direct experience of all phenomena being empty of independent existence.
Knowing through personal experience (for example, meditation) that all things are interconnected and interdependent. That nothing in this world exists independently. All things are connected and conditional... In other words... All things exist because of other things.I am here because my parents had lust and I had Karma. If both conditions hadn't come together in a very special way years ago, I wouldn’t be standing here today, but that’s only half the story.In order for me to live in this world, the Buddha said I need... “Food, Shelter, Clothing, and Medicine.” These are the four major conditions necessary for me to subsist. Some conditions were necessary for me to be born, other conditions are important for me to stay alive.
The whole story is... Certain conditions got me here, other conditions keep me here, and when all the necessary conditions come to an end, so do I. I do not live independent of conditions.Enlightenment is a result of the direct experience, of conditional and interconnected reality.Enlightenment is more than an intellectual understanding though, it’s also an intuitive knowing. It is a total transformation of the heart and mind.
A favorite Mahayana sutra on emptiness is the Heart Sutra.