I have a question regarding IQ and mental stability

[chris98e]

Can an enlightened being be stupid? What I'm trying to say is it possible for a stupid person to reach Nirvana in the lifetime in which he or she is stupid?
Also, if an enlightened being is taking psychiatric medicine, is that person really considered enlightened? After all that person is using a crutch for mental stability?

[JamesTheGiant]

Yes, it's totally possible a stupid person can become fully enlightened. There is one famous story where there is a monk who can't remember things and just doesn't get it, until the Buddha gives him an incredibly simple teaching capable of being grasped and practised by a moron, and the dull monk practises and attains the final goal.
I can't remember where it was, and the details may differ, but you get the idea.

As to the use of psychatric medicine by an enlightened being, it is my view that it would be like someone taking high-blood-pressure medication being enlightened, or someone who is dependent on some other daily medication being enlightened. It's a medical condition which is being corrected by medicine, and that's fine, nothing special with that. Nothing that would stop one becoming enlightened.

A good friend of mine is a monk who sufferes from quite serious schizophrenia. Before he was on the antipsychotic medicine (Clozapine) he was tormented and lost in a world of interior voices, and was confined to a mental hospital. Now he's an excellent monk, a real asset to the sangha, and practises well. The medicine has brought him out of delusion, closer to the "real" world.

[Aloka]

Yes, it's totally possible a stupid person can become fully enlightened. There is one famous story where there is a monk who can't remember things and just doesn't get it, until the Buddha gives him an incredibly simple teaching capable of being grasped and practised by a moron, and the dull monk practises and attains the final goal.
I can't remember where it was, and the details may differ, but you get the idea.

I think it's worth noting that the word "moron" is often used as an insult these days:

Moron is a term once used in psychology to denote mild intellectual disability.[1] The term was closely tied with the American eugenics movement.[2] Once the term became popularized, it fell out of use by the psychological community, as it was used more commonly as an insult than as a psychological term.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moron_(psychology)

[santa100]

What I'm trying to say is it possible for a stupid person to reach Nirvana in the lifetime in which he or she is stupid?

Yes. Ven. Suddhipanthaka did it.

[Mkoll]

There's also the story, non-canonical I believe, of the dull monk who could not remember a thing. So the Buddha gave him a dirty cloth to rub with his fingers, instructing him to think "impermanence, impermanence." The monk did as instructed and overnight, the part of the cloth he was rubbing became clean, he gained insight, and attained arahantship.

Don't remember where this story is from...

[Dhammanando]

There's also the story, non-canonical I believe, of the dull monk who could not remember a thing. So the Buddha gave him a dirty cloth to rub with his fingers, instructing him to think "impermanence, impermanence." The monk did as instructed and overnight, the part of the cloth he was rubbing became clean, he gained insight, and attained arahantship.

Don't remember where this story is from...

It's the same disciple whom Santa referred to, except that his name is Cūḷapanthaka in the Pali texts. His story is recorded in the Dhammapada Commentary.

[Mkoll]

Thanks Bhante.

[chris98e]

Thank you all for your insights and thoughts