Can people be not ready to experience “enlightenment” so much so the experience causes them to mentally breakdown?

It depends on what you mean by "enlightenment." In Soto Zen, you realize enlightenment every time you meditate. The trick is to learn to maintain that state while you live the rest of your life, which they train to do through things like walking meditations and cleaning their bowls and meditative tea ceremonies. Attaining enlightenment is just the beginning of Zen, and it only happens when you're ready.

If you're talking about Crossing the Abyss in Thelema, then yes, you can be unprepared for that and it can screw you up.

This specific story sounds like schizophrenia, though. You said that he's a student. Psychotic episodes don't normally start until the late teens or early twenties in schizophrenia. I'm not a psychiatrist, but I do know a few schizophrenics.

/r/LeftHandPath Thread