Who's really enlightened? (Doug's Dharma)

Do you know where you're going to? (video)

Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; "Mulan" (Disney) via BeautyfulDawn

"If One Should Wish" (sutra and definitions)

Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly, Akankheyya Sutra (MN 6) "If One Desires"; BuddhaSutra.com

(Aidan McRae Thomson/flickr.com)

1. Thus have I heard. At one time the Buddha was living in the monastic park offered by Anathapindika in Jeta’s Grove in the city of Savatthi. There the Blessed One addressed the ascetics (intensive-meditators, monastics, recluses):

 

2. O, ascetics! Abide endowed with virtue, honoring the code of discipline (the Patimokkha or "Path to Liberation"), restrained by the restraint of the code of discipline, full of respect and reverence [properly comporting oneself to benefit both oneself and the monastic Order as a long-lived institution], seeing danger in the slightest fault, observing the training precepts.

 

3. If one should wish to be popular, beloved, pleasant, and respected among one's companions in the high life, complete in virtues for internal appeasement, without neglecting the ecstatic meditative-absorptions (jhanas), endowed with insight-wisdom, and dwelling apart [for the sake of successfully cultivating serenity-and-insight].

 

4. If one should wish to gain clothes, food, resting place, and healing requisites when ill, abide endowed with virtue, honoring the code of discipline, restrained by the restraint of the code of discipline, full of respect and reverence, seeing danger in the slightest fault, observing the training precepts.

 

5. If one should wish great karmic benefits [physical fruits and mental resultants] for givers of clothes, food, resting place, and healing requisites -- thinking, May it greatly benefit these givers karmically -- abide endowed with virtue...

 

6. If one should wish to be of great karmic benefit to relatives who have passed away and gone to other worlds who recall one with confident (saddha) hearts/minds, abide endowed with virtue...

 

Afghan (BBC.co.uk)

7. If one should wish to be victorious over aversion and attachment (anger and lust, discontentment and delight) rather than being overcome by aversion, subduing and overcoming every danger and dismay, abide endowed with virtue...

 

8. If one should wish to be victorious over spiritual danger and dismay (fear and dread), that neither danger nor dismay should overcome one but rather that one master and subdue every danger and dismay, overcoming all fears that arise, abide endowed with virtue...

 

9. If one should wish to enter the ecstatic (first four material) absorptions at will, quickly and easily, those pleasant (blissful) abodes here and now, abide endowed with virtue...

 

10. If one should wish to experience with the body and remain in those stages of deliverance that are the formless attainments (immaterial absorptions) passing beyond the phenomenal, abide endowed with virtue...

  

11. If one should wish to become, with the destruction of the first three fetters [self-view, skeptical doubt, and the belief that rites and rituals could ever result in enlightenment], a stream enterer -- never falling back, no longer liable to be reborn in [one of the four] miserable rebirth destinations (apāya-bhūmi), instead destined for enlightenment and complete freedom, abide endowed with virtue...

Golden Buddha, Burma (Nicolas-Jouhet/flickr)

12. If one should wish to become -- having destroyed the first three fetters and lessened greed, hatred, and delusion -- a once returner who then makes a complete end of suffering, abide endowed with virtue...

 

13. If one should wish to become, having destroyed the five lower fetters [the aforementioned three plus sensual desire and ill will], a non-returner reborn spontaneously in the Pure Abodes [see cosmological map], never to fall from those rarefied planes, but there gaining complete liberation from all rebirth and suffering (nirvana), abide endowed with virtue...

  

14. If one should wish to exercise various supernormal powers -- being one becoming many and being many again becoming one, appearing and disappearing, going unhindered through walls and mountains as if traveling through space, diving into earth and coming out as if it were water, walking on water as if it were earth, traveling in space cross legged like a bird, touching and stroking by hand the mighty moon and sun, exercising bodily mastery as far as the Brahma plane -- abide endowed with virtue...

 

15. If one should wish to hear with the purified ear element sounds both divine and human whether far or near, abide endowed with virtue...

  

16. If one should wish to penetrate and know the minds/hearts of others -- to know the greedy mind/heart and the one free of greed, to know the angry one and the one free of anger, to know the deluded one and the one free of delusion, to know the contracted one as contracted and the distracted one as distracted, to know the developed as developed and the undeveloped as undeveloped, to know the surpassed as surpassed and unsurpassed as unsurpassed, to know the concentrated as concentrated and the unconcentrated as unconcentrated, to know the liberated heart/mind as liberated and the unliberated one as unliberated -- abide endowed with virtue...

The Buddha victorious under the Bodhi tree with the destroyer Mara (chuadonghung.com)

  

Fearless (sumuizoom.com)

17. If one should wish to recollect previous births -- one birth, two, three, four, five, ten, 20, 30, 40, 50, 100 births, 1000 births, 100000 births, many expanding cycles [aeons] of births, many contracting cycles of births, many expanding-and-contracting cycles of births: There I was [reborn] with such a name, of such a family, of such appearance, of such nutriment, experiencing such pleasure and pain, of such a lifespan, and disappearing from there I reappeared [was reborn] elsewhere of such name, family, appearance, nutriment, experiencing such pleasure and pain, with such a lifespan, and disappearing from there, I was reborn here, thus recollecting manifold past lives in detail -- abide endowed with virtue...

 

18. If one should wish to see with the purified divine eye surpassing the ability of human eyes -- seeing beings disappearing and reappearing, exalted and unexalted, comely and repulsive, fortunate and unfortunate, understanding how beings fare [wander incessantly] in accordance with their karma (skillful and unskillful actions of body, speech, and mind): these worthy beings [a polite expression that may refer to any ordinary persons] misconducting themselves bodily, verbally, and mentally, blameworthy, reviling Noble Ones, holding wrong views, engaged in misguided actions [in accordance with those wrong views], after death have been reborn in unfortunate destinations, states of deprivation, in perdition, even in hell(s), whereas these [other] worthy beings well conducting themselves in body, speech, and mind, blameless, not decrying the Noble Ones, holding right views, engaged in right actions [in accordance with those right views], after death reborn in profitable states, in [sensual and supersensual] heaven(s) -- abide endowed with virtue...

 

The Buddha (center) and his "chief disciples," either the nuns Uppalavanna and Khema or the monks Maha Moggallana and Sariputra, all four of having wished for the designation, at Wat Yai Chai Mongkol (Mongkhon) in Ayutthaya, Thailand (Rainer Lott Steffi Esch/flickr)

 
19. If one should wish for emancipating wisdom -- direct knowledge, liberating insight, with the destruction of the taints [craving, clinging, wrong views, ignorance] -- and the heart/mind's liberation, liberated by wisdom, taintless with the destruction of the taints, here and now, in this very life, known for oneself with complete certainty -- abide endowed with virtue, honoring the code of discipline, restrained by the restraint of the code of discipline, full of respect and reverence, seeing danger in the slightest fault, observing the training precepts.*

 

20. Ascetics, if it was said, abide endowed with virtue, honoring the code of discipline, restrained by the restraint of the code of discipline, full of respect and reverence, seeing danger in the slightest fault, observing the training precepts, it was said on account of this.

21. This is what the Buddha said, and the ascetics delighted in the words of the Blessed One.

*According to the commentary on the Middle Length Discourses: In this passage "mind" and "wisdom" signify, respectively, the concentration and wisdom associated with the fruit of [full enlightenment]. Concentration is called "deliverance of mind" because it is liberated from lust; wisdom is called "deliverance by wisdom" because it is liberated from ignorance. The former is normally the result of serenity, the latter the result of insight. But when they are coupled and described as taintless (an-asava), they jointly result from the destruction of the taints by the supramundane path of [full enlightenment called] arahantship.  

Explanation provided by Bhikkhu Nanamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi, The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Majjhima Nikaya (Note 83, p. 1178), Wisdom Publications.

Final Days of the Buddha (sutra)

Wisdom Quarterly, Great Final Nirvana Discourse (Parinibbana Sutta, DN 16), based on Sister Vajira/Francis Story translation, "Last Days of the Buddha," Part II: Journey to Vesali

(MaretH/flickr.com)

  
The Four Noble Truths
1. Now the Buddha spoke saying: "Come, Ananda, let us go to Kotigama."
 
"So be it, venerable sir." Then the Blessed One took up residence at Kotigama together with a large community of ascetics.
 

(Glowing Star/flickr.com)

2. There the Blessed One addressed them, saying: "It is through not realizing, not penetrating the Four Noble Truths that this long course of birth and death has been passed through and undergone by me as well as by you.
 
"What are the four? They are the noble truth of anguish; the noble truth of the origin of anguish; the noble truth of the cessation of anguish; and the noble truth of the way to the cessation of anguish.

"But now that these have been realized and penetrated, craving for rebirth is cut off, destroyed is that which leads to becoming, and there is no re-arising."
 
3. Thus did the Blessed One say, and further the Happy One, the Venerable One said:
 

"Through not seeing the Four Noble Truths,

Long was the weary path from birth to birth.

When these are known, removed is rebirth's cause,

The root of sorrow plucked; then ends rebirth....

 

Stages of Enlightenment

Golden Buddha (freestyle-thailand.com)

6. Ven. Ananda approached the Blessed One (Bhagavan), greeted him, sat respectfully to one side, and said: "Venerable sir, here in [the city of] Nadika there have passed away the monk Salha and the nun Nanda.

 

Likewise there have passed away the layman Sudatta and the laywoman Sujata; likewise the layman Kakudha, Kalinga, Nikata, Katissabha, Tuttha, Santuttha, Bhadda, and Subhadda. What is their destiny, venerable sir? What is their future state?"

 

7. "The monk Salha, Ananda, through the destruction of the taints in this very lifetime has attained to the taint-free deliverance of mind/heart and deliverance through wisdom, having directly known and realized it by himself [Note 17].

 

"The nun Nanda, Ananda, through the destruction of the five lower fetters (that bind beings to the world of the senses), has arisen spontaneously (among the Pure Abode devas) and will come to final cessation in that very place, not liable to return from that world.

 

"The layman Sudatta, Ananda, through the destruction of the three fetters (self-belief, doubt, and clinging to the belief that rules and rituals can result in enlightenment), and the lessening of lust, hatred, and delusion, has become a once-returner and is bound to make an end of suffering after having returned but once more to this world.

 

"The laywoman Sujata, Ananda, through the destruction of the three fetters has become a stream-enterer, and is safe from falling into the states of misery, assured, and bound for enlightenment.

 

"The layman Kakudha, Ananda, through the destruction of the five lower fetters (that bind beings to the Sense Sphere), has arisen spontaneously (among the Pure Abode devas), and will come to final cessation in that very place, not liable to return from that world.

 

"So it is with Kalinga, Nikata, Katissabha, Tuttha, Santuttha, Bhadda, and Subhadda, and with more than 50 laymen in Nadika. More than 90 laymen who have passed away in Nadika, Ananda, through the destruction of the three fetters, and the lessening of lust, hatred, and delusion, have become once-returners and are bound to make an end of suffering after having returned but once more to this world.

 

"More than 500 [an idiom that means "a large number" of] laymen who have passed away in Nadika, Ananda, through the complete destruction of the three fetters have become stream-enterers and are safe from falling into the states of misery, assured, and bound for enlightenment.

 

The Mirror of the Dharma

8. "Truly, Ananda, it is nothing strange that human beings should die. 

"But if each time it happens you should come to the Tathagata [a self-referential term for the Buddha] and ask about them in this manner, indeed it would be troublesome to him. 

"Therefore, Ananda, I will give you the teaching called the Mirror of the Dharma, possessing which the noble disciple [one who has attained at least the first stage of enlightenment], should it be desired, can declare of oneself: 'There is no more rebirth for me in hell, nor as an animal or ghost, nor in any realm of woe [beneath the human world]. A stream-enterer am I, safe from falling into the states of misery, assured am I and bound for enlightenment.'"

 

9. "And what, Ananda, is that teaching called the Mirror of Dharma, possessing which the noble disciple may thus declare?

 

Mara comes as a gentleman.

"In this case, Ananda, the noble disciple possesses unwavering confidence in the Buddha as follows: 'The Blessed One is an arhat, the Fully Enlightened One, supreme in knowledge and conduct, the Happy One, the Knower of the World, the foremost trainer of beings, the teacher of devas and humans, the Enlightened One, the Blessed One.'

 

"The noble disciple possesses unwavering confidence in the Dharma as follows: 'Well expounded by the Blessed One is the Dharma, evident, timeless [18], inviting investigation, leading to liberation, to be comprehended by the wise, each for oneself.'

Mara's Craving, Lust, and Aversion lure Siddhartha (omegafoundation.siriuscomputing.net)

 

"The noble disciple possesses unwavering confidence in the Blessed One's Order of Disciples as follows: 'Well faring is the Blessed One's Order of Disciples, harmoniously, wisely, and heedfully, that is to say, the four pairs, the eight classes of persons. The Blessed One's Order of Disciples is worthy of honor, worthy of hospitality, worthy of offerings, worthy of veneration -- the supreme field of merit [beneficial, exponentially profitable karma] in the world.'

 

"And the noble disciple possesses virtues that are dear to the Noble Ones, complete and perfect, spotless and pure, which are liberating, praised by the wise, uninfluenced (by worldly concerns), and favorable to composure/concentration of mind.

 

10. "This, Ananda, is the teaching called the Mirror of the Dharma, whereby the noble disciple may know: 'There is no more rebirth for me in hell realms, nor as an animal or ghost, nor in any realm of woe (apaya). A stream-enterer am I, safe from falling into the states of misery, assured am I and bound for enlightenment.'"
  

Mara under the Bodhi tree (sarvajan.ambedkar.org)

11. In Nadika, in the Brick House [Monastery], the Blessed One often gave counsel to the ascetics thus: "Such and such is virtue; such and such is concentration; and such and such is wisdom. Great becomes the fruit, great is the gain of concentration when it is fully developed by virtuous conduct; great becomes the fruit, great is the gain of wisdom when it is fully developed by concentration; utterly freed from the taints of lust, [again-] becoming, and ignorance is the mind/heart that is fully developed in wisdom."
  

12. When the Blessed One had stayed in Nadika as long as he wished, he spoke to the Ven. Ananda, saying: "Come, Ananda, let us go to [the city of] Vesali."
 

"So be it, O venerable sir." And the Blessed One took up his abode in Vesali together with a large community of ascetics, and stayed in Ambapali's grove. ...
 
Mara's Appeal

Mara Devaputra (fabulousmasterpieces.co.uk)

7. And when Ven. Ananda had gone away, Mara Namuci approached the Blessed One. And standing to one side he spoke to the Buddha, saying: "Now, O venerable one, let the Blessed One come to his final passing away; let the Happy One utterly pass away! The time has come for the final nirvana of the Venerable One.
 

"For the Blessed One, O venerable sir, once spoke these words to me: 'I shall not come to my final passing away, Namuci, until my monks and nuns, laymen and laywomen, have come to be true disciples -- wise, well-disciplined, apt and learned, preservers of the Dharma, living according to the Dharma, abiding by the appropriate conduct, and having learned the Buddha's word, are able to expound it, preach it, proclaim it, establish it, reveal it, explain it in detail, and make it clear. And when adverse opinions arise, they shall be able to refute them thoroughly and well, and to preach this convincing and liberating Dharma' [23].

The Buddha reclining into final nirvana, Thailand (perstephone/flickr.com)

 

8. "And now, O venerable sir, monks and nuns, laymen and laywomen, have become the Blessed One's disciples in just this way. So, O venerable sir, let the Blessed One come to his final passing away! The time has come for the final nirvana of the Venerable One.
  

"For the Blessed One, O venerable sir, spoke these words to me: 'I shall not come to my final passing away, Namuci, until this supreme life taught by me has become successful, prosperous, far-renowned, popular, and widespread, until it is well proclaimed among devas and humans.' And this too has come to pass in just this way. So, O venerable sir, let the Blessed One come to his final passing away, let the Happy One utterly pass away! The time has come for the final nirvana of the Venerable One."

9. When this was said, the Blessed One spoke to Mara Namuci saying: "Do not trouble yourself, Namuci. Before long the final nirvana of the Tathagata will come about. Three months hence the Tathagata will utterly pass away." More

• PHOTOS: Amazing Theravada Buddhist Thailand

Enlightenment

What does an enlightened human being look like? Just the same as before enlightenment! There is no obvious difference to discover. During enlightenment there may be a brightening of the skin, a burnish, a clarity. There may be aura fluctuations, which are not visible to most people in any case. While a person is radically changed by the experience (the direct knowing and seeing), one's habit patterns may continue. They therefore do not seem any different than before. The only way to know if someone else has attained is to interact with them for a long time; then it becomes apparent. One key indicator is unswerving morality in terms of the Five Precepts from the first stage. By the third stage, one is completely free of sensuous desire and ill-will but not before that.

Buddhist Enlightenment in Four Stages

Proposed WQ edit of Wikipedia

Introduction
The four stages of enlightenment in Buddhism are the four degrees of approach to full enlightenment as an Arahant (English, arhat) which a person can attain in this life. The four stages are Sotapanna, Sakadagami, Anagami, and Arahant.

The teaching of the four stages of enlightenment is a central element of the early Buddhist schools, including the surviving Theravada school of Buddhism.

Contents
1 The Ordinary person
2 The Noble persons
2.1 Stream-enterer
2.2 Once-returner
2.3 Non-returner
2.4 Arahant
3 References

The Ordinary person
An ordinary person, or puthujjana (in Pali; Sanskrit, pṛthagjana) is trapped in the endless cycles of saṃsara. Performing beneficial and harmful deeds -- as influenced by his/her desires, aversions, and views -- an ordinary person is born in higher or lower states of being (heavens or hells or many other worlds) according to these actions (all collectively known as karma). As these persons have little control over either their minds or conduct, their destinies are haphazard and subject to a great deal of suffering. An ordinary person has never seen, heard, or experienced the ultimate truth of Dharma, and therefore has no way of finding an escape from this predicament.

The Noble persons
Those who begin sincere training on the Buddhist path (Pali, Sekhas, "those in training") and who experience the truth to the extent that they cut some of the Ten mental Fetters (Pali, saṃyojana) become ariya puggala (Sanskrit, āryapudgala): "noble persons" who will surely become Arahants in the near future (within seven lives). Their specific path is governed by the degree of attainment reached.

"Among whatever communities or groups there may be, the Sangha of the Tathagata's disciples is considered supreme... Those who have confidence in the Sangha have confidence in what is supreme; and for those with confidence in the supreme, supreme will be the result." [1]

The Sangha of the Tathagata's disciples (the Ariya Sangha), that is, the four [groups of noble disciples] when taken as pairs or the eight when taken as individuals. The four groups of noble disciples (Buddhist Sekhas) when taken as pairs are those who have attained:

• (1) the path to stream-entry; (2) the fruition of stream-entry;
• (3) the path to once-returning; (4) the fruition of once-returning;
• (5) the path to non-returning; (6) the fruition of non-returning;
• (7) the path to arahantship; (8) the fruition of arahantship.

Taking each attainment singly gives eight individuals. More>>

• Buddhist images by Anya Langmead:
• buddhist-images.co.uk

Five Good Powers

WQ edit of Nyanaponika Thera's 1970 translation (BPS)*

Meditative development of five powers (Photo: energyenhancement.org)

Five Powers of those in Higher Training

"Recluses, there are Five Powers of of one in Higher Training [Note 1] What are those five? The trainer's power of:

• Confidence
• Shame-in-wrongdoing
• Moral dread
• Energy
• Wisdom

"What is the Power of Confidence? Recluses, herein [this Dharma] a noble disciple has conviction: One believes in the enlightenment of the Blessed One. 'This, indeed, is a Tathagata, purified, fully enlightened, endowed with [clear] vision and [pure] behavior, sublime, knower of worlds, incomparable trainer of those to be tamed, teacher of devas and human beings, awakened, and blessed.'

"What is the Power of Shame-in-Wrongdoing? Recluses, herein a noble disciple has a pull of conscience: One feels reservations in deeds, words, and thoughts; one anticipates shame at the mere thought of anything harmful or unwholesome [n.2].

"What is the Power of Moral Dread? Recluses, herein a noble disciple contracts with apprehension at the very notion of unskillful behavior of body, speech, or mind; one experiences trepidation at even the thought of doing anything harmful or unwholesome.

"What is the Power of Energy? Recluses, herein a noble disciple lives with drive and motivation set upon the abandoning of everything unbeneficial and the acquiring of every that's of benefit; one is steadfast and strong in one's efforts, not shirking the task of doing things that are skillful.

"What is the Power of Wisdom? Recluses, herein a noble disciple is discerning; one is furnished with that knowing and seeing which perceives the rise and fall [of phenomena], which is noble and penetrating, and leads to the complete destruction of suffering [n.3].

"Recluses, these are the Five Powers of those in Higher Training. Hence, O recluses, you are wise to train yourselves: 'We will acquire the powers of conviction, conscience, trepidation, motivation, and vision possessed by those in higher training!' Thus would it benefit you to train yourselves!"

NOTES

1. Sekha-bala: Bala means "powers." A sekha ("one in training" or "a learner") is one who, in the pursuit of the three kinds of training (or sikkha in Virtue, Meditation, and liberating-Wisdom) has attained one of the four supramundane "Paths" (magga, i.e., Stream-entry, Once-returning, Non-returning, or Arhatship). Or it is someone who has attained to one of the three "Fruitions" (phala) pertaining to these Paths. Anyone who has attained the Fourth Fruition -- namely, full enlightenment -- is called an Asekkha, "one who has passed beyond the need of further training."
2. Whereas shame (hiri) with regard to wrongdoing is motivated by self-respect and is inward-looking, dread (ottappa) with regard to wrongdoing is outward-looking and motivated by respect for others. It is prompted by fear of social consequences such as blame, bad reputation, and punishment.
3. AN V.12 says: "Of these Five Powers of one in Higher Training, this is the highest, this is the one that hold them all together, namely, the power of wisdom."

(AN V.2 = Anguttara Nikaya or "The Discourse Collection in Numerical Order, Book of the Fives, Discourse 2")

Theravada Enlightenment: Four Stages

By Dharmachari Seven (fleshing out Wikipedia: Enlightenment entry)

The Buddha pointed out that inasmuch as other traditions might have holy-men or holy-women, they did not in fact possess "saints" (enlightened beings). Here, "saint" very specifically means someone who has irrevocably overcome the Defilements* (kilesa) and the Ten Fetters** (samyojana) and been liberated, to one degree or another, from suffering and further rebirth. Other traditions, particularly various sects in what is now called (but was not at that time) Hinduism.

There were at the time of the Buddha yogis of immense spiritual powers (siddhis), gods of extraordinary brilliance, glory, compassion, and might, and holy-and-wholesome people. However, "saints" were not to be found in the various traditions outside of the Buddha's dispensation. To say such a thing was shocking -- until one understood what it meant to be enlightened, why some gained it and other did not, and how everyone could. One certainly needn't be a "Buddhist." But one certainly needs to find the "Truth," the Dharma, the Way (Noble Eightfold Path, which doesn't exclude anyone or violate anyone's other religious observances and practices). They're universal and neutral.

Surely, there were holy beings reputed to be saints, exemplary in their behavior, of long standing, and of spotlessly good repute. How, then, could there be no "saints" anywhere but in this Doctrine and Discipline?

The Buddha pointed out that anyone who attains to concentration, who masters and perfects concentration (samadhi, dhyana, jhana) is able to develop psychic powers. These abilities do not, however, give one the distinction of "saint" (arhat, enlightened).

The Buddha also pointed out that anyone might live the holy or supreme-life (brahmacharya). However, to live it to perfection, unblemished, unsullied, untarnished, that was not likely. Nevertheless, they might live it well enough to gain concentration, to gain many and various psychic powers, to gain a good reputation, and even to gain rebirth in a higher world that temporarily offered relief from wandering in the Cycle of Rebirth called Samsara. (This is done, and advocated in many world religions, by taking rebirth in any of a multitude of glorious heavens where lifespans are staggering and hard for humans to comprehend or measure in human terms, which for ease of reference are said to be "eternal" when technically speaking they are not).

All that having been said, the Buddha did not recognize that as "sainthood," or a final solution to the problem of suffering, liberation from and complete freedom from clinging to the illusion of existence now or the taking of future rebirth -- from old age, sickness, and death.

That distinction he reserved for someone who had -- not only suppressed the Defilements* (which is how one attains concentration, purity, powers, and a good rebirth) and the Fetters -- but had actually uprooted and destroyed them once and for all. That was the difference.

By uprooting them through a combination of compassion and wisdom and right-effort known as bhavana ("meditation," cultivation, self-development) one indeed could, in this very life, awaken and become free, become different than one was before. One could be a saint.

The principle reason for the absence of "saints" in other teachings is that right-view (regarding anatta, "no-self," the understanding of Shunayata or "emptiness") does not exist outside of a buddha's teaching. Through countless decades, aeons, and ages, people do not hear this Teaching. Therefore, unable to overcome this pernicious view, which we all take for granted as not even worth considering or investigating (the fundatmental error we make in all our thinking and intention setting), other wrong-views arise based on it. They take hold, predominate, and beings are perpetually stuck wandering through Samsara.

The importance of right-understanding can hardly be emphasized enough. Nonetheless, it is not an intellectual understanding but rather an intuition, a direct-seeing, a certainty arising from living the holy life (temporarily or long term, in clothing or robes, at home or in a hermitage, secluded from defiled states of mind). As the mind/heart (citta) is purified, one sees things just as they are.

The Truth itself sets one free, not an intellectual grasping of doctrinal points or discursive thoughts, not directly the personal effort made to get free. Great compassion leads to great action (karma that is full of kindness and benevolence, which leads to an absence of remorse, worry, lust, anger, restlessness, or drowsiness. As these mental-hindrances are abandoned, joy overcomes one. With joy comes concentration. Mindfulness then applied to this concentrated (and thus temporarily purified) mind results in penetrative wisdom. This mind is wieldy, tractable, and of unsurpassable service to one because it brings about knowledge-and-vision -- enlightenment. One by one, the Ten Fetters* are destroyed. And in stages, by degrees, one is liberated from every trace of clinging and defilement, every cause of suffering.

With dispassion, secluded from unwholesome states of mind, full of joy and serenity, one gains right-concentration (defined repeatedly throughout the sutras as the four jhanas).

Concentrated, one turns attention to the Four Foundations of Mindfulness and develops mindfulness on these phenomena. The result is the fulfillment of the Noble Eightfold Path.

As the various Fetters (simultaneously binding one to the illusion of existence and the reality of suffering) fall away, and one gains the first stage of sainthood:

• Stream-enterer (Sotapanna): the first stage is that of Sotāpanna (Pali; Sanskrit: Srotaāpanna), literally meaning "one who enters (āpadyate) the stream (sotas)," with the stream being the Noble Eightfold Path regarded as the highest Dharma.

Alternatively, it has been speculated that one enters by way of the ear (sota), that is, one hears the Dharma with a joyful and well-concentrated mind and is thereby liberated. Although this definition is not advocated in the commentaries to the Pali Canon, it is apparent in countless discourses whereupon simply hearing the Buddha preach, one suddenly gained realization. The heart was freed, knowledge-and-vision arose, nirvana was glimpsed, and the auditor (the savaka, lit. "the hearer") became part of the Savaka Sangho (the Noble Sangha).

These are all ways of saying the person gained enlightenment (Stage Four) or that the "spotless eye of the Dharma" (Pali, dhammacakkhu; Sanskrit: dharmacakṣus) arose, meaning the person had attained Stream-entry (Stage One).

The Buddha himself explained that he gave "gradual discourses" preparing the minds of his audience (his hearers) before leading them to insight.

A stream-enterer is guaranteed enlightenment after no more than seven successive rebirths, and possibly in fewer. The stream-enterer can also be sure that s/he will not be reborn in any of the unhappy states of existence (i.e., rebirth as an animal, preta, or in the the Downfall). One can only be reborn as a human being or higher and then no more than seven times.

The stream-enterer has attained an intuitive grasp of Buddhist Dharma (the doctrine, samyagdṛṣṭi or sammādiṭṭhi, "right-view"). That person can know for certain that this is the case because s/he suddenly has complete confidence (saddha) in the Three Jewels of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, and has good moral behavior (sila) as a natural consequence of the knowledge-and-vision that arose spotlessly in the mind uprooting the first three Fetters.

• Once-returner (Sakadagami): the second stage is that of the Sakadāgāmī (Sanskrit: Sakṛdāgāmin), literally meaning "one who once (sakṛt) comes (āgacchati)" [to birth again]. The once-returner will at most only be born one more time in the human world, where s/he will attain enlightenment and become an Arahant (Stage Four, enlightenment)


• Non-returner (Anagami): the third stage is that of the Anāgāmī (Sanskrit: Anāgāmin), literally meaning "one who does not (an-) come (āgacchati)" [again to rebirth here]. The non-returner does not come back into human existence, or any world lower than the human, after death. Instead, s/he is reborn in one of the worlds of the Rūpadhātu ("Form Realm") called the Śuddhāvāsa worlds ("Pure Abodes"), where s/he will attain Nirvāṇa; (Pāli: Nibbana). Some Anagamis are reborn a second time in a higher world of the Pure Abodes, but in no case are born into any lower state. The reason for that is, as with the other three types, an Anāgāmī has abandoned the five lower Fetters that bind the mind to the cycle of rebirth (Samsara). An Anāgāmī is thus partially enlightened (purified in motivation and conduct) and on the way to perfect and complete Enlightenment.


• Enlightened-one (Arahant): the fourth stage is that of Arahant (Sanskrit, Arhat), a fully enlightened human being who has abandoned all ten Fetters, and who upon passing away (now not called "death" but in Sanskrit: Parinirvāṇa, Pāli: Parinibbāna since there is no further rebirth) will not be reborn in any world, having wholly abandoned Saṃsāra and suffering of all kinds for all time.

Left out of the discussion is the simple and direct correspondence between what Fetters drop away as one moves through these four stages.

Technicalities and Definitions

*TEN FETTERS

Saṃyojana: "fetters." There are Ten Fetters tying beings to the wheel of existence, namely:

1. personality-belief (sakkāya-diṭṭhi, q.v.)
2. sceptical doubt (vicikicchā q.v.)
3. clinging to mere rules and ritual (sīlabbata-parāmāsa; see upādāna)
4. sensuous craving (kāma-rāga, q.v.)
5. ill-will (byāpāda)
6. craving for fine-material existence (rūpa-rāga)
7. craving for immaterial existence (arūpa-rāga)
8. conceit (māna, q.v.)
9. restlessness (uddhacca, q.v.)
10. ignorance (avijjā, q.v.).

The first five of these are called "lower fetters" (orambhāgiya-saṃyojana), as they tie one to the Sensuous World. The latter five are called "higher fetters" (uddhambhāgiya-saṃyojana), as they tie one to the Higher Worlds, that is, the Fine-material and Immaterial worlds (A. IX, 67, 68; X. 13; D . 33, etc.)

TEN DEFILEMENTS

Kilesa: "defilements" are mind-defiling, unwholesome qualities. Vis.M. XXII, 49, 65: "There are Ten Defilements, thus called because they are themselves defiled, and because they defile the mental factors associated with them. They are:

1. greed (lobha)
2. hate (dosa)
3. delusion (moha)
4. conceit (māna)
5. speculative views (diṭṭhi)
6. skeptical doubt (vicikicchā )
7. mental torpor (thīna)
8. restlessness (uddhacca)
9. shamelessness (ahirika )
10. lack of moral dread or unconscientiousness (anottappa)."

For 1-3, see mūla; 4, see māna; 5, see diṭṭhi; 6-8, see nīvaraṇa; 9 and 10, see ahirika -anottappa.

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