Do I need to be a Buddhist to achieve enlightenment?

No, anyone can achieve enlightenment through meditation, regardless of whether they are Buddhists or not.

Buddhism is now practiced by many people as a religion, but it originally emerged from a misunderstanding of something that was not intended to be a religion.

The founder of Buddhism, known as Shakyamuni, was not a religious figure.
Shakyamuni was more like a doctor who discovered methods of meditation and their medical benefits, and taught them to people.
However, his teachings were so advanced that people eventually could not fully understand them, leading to the misunderstanding that Buddhism was a religion.

Therefore, achieving enlightenment has nothing to do with religious belief.
Whether you practice a religion other than Buddhism or have no religious belief at all, you can achieve enlightenment by practicing the meditation methods introduced on this site.