Four stages of enlightenment
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The four stages of enlightenment in Buddhism are the four degrees of approach to full enlightenment as an Arahant 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.
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[edit] The Ordinary person
An ordinary person, or puthujjana (Pali; Sanskrit: pṛthagjanai.e. pritha : without, and jnana : knowledge) is trapped in the endless changes of saṃsara. He is born, lives & dies, in endless re-births, as a human, an animal, an organism, or as other entities on a different planet or universe or plane of existence.
There are a total of seven realms of existence. The middle realm of existence is the humanoid realm. Above the humanoid realm, there are three god realms or the fortunate realms: The lowest classes of gods, (1) the desire realm gods, or the demi-gods, devote their time to enjoyment and satisfying their desires. Higher up is the (2) form and (3) formless gods. Having passed beyond sensual desires, the form gods experience the refined bliss of meditative absorption and possess bodies made of light. Transcending their forms, the gods of the formless realm resides in subtle consciousness that resembles infinite space.
Although these demi-gods and gods live a long life of luxury and ease in paradise, they are not immortal and will eventually die and fall to a lower state of existence because their lives are filled with either distractions (because it is difficult for them to find the motivation to practice the dharma that creates good karma), or as the purest god consciousness within samsara, they still have not overcome the ignorance of self-grasping, hence some of them consumed their merits, or good fortune, that they have created in their past lives without much spiritual progress and therefore could potentially take rebirth in the lower realms.
Then there are the three lowers realms, or unfortunate realms below the humanoid realm: The least painful is (1) the animal realm (e.g., birds, fish, insects, etc). Their lives are characterized by instinct and emotions having to do with survival. Then there is (2) the hungry spirit realm, which is characterized by long periods of hunger and thirst that is difficult to bear. Finally, the lowest realm is (3) the hell realm, where beings are relentlessly tormented by the fears arising from their delusional mind. The suffering continues for what seems like eternity but eventually the karma that caused the beings to be born in hell is exhausted and the hell beings die and are reborn elsewhere in samsara.
Doing good or evil (bodily or verbally) as influenced by an entity's mental attachments ( sans. Raga ) and aversions ( sans. Dvvesh ), an ordinary entity is born in higher or lower states of being (heavens or hells) according to their actions in the births preceding.
As these entities have little control over their minds and behaviors, their destinies are haphazard and subject to great suffering. Worries, "tension", adversaries & adversity are their daily grindstone - all projections of their own mind, instigated by the driving force of past karma, subsisting as samskaras, or tendencies, in the thought-stuff, and manifested as vasanas, or predilections, in immediate consciousness & behavior.
The ordinary entity has never seen and experienced the ultimate truth of Dharma, and therefore has no way of finding an end to his/her predicament. It is only by this suffering becoming acute, or seemingly unending, that the entity looks for a "solution" to his/her predicament - and finds the dharma.
[edit] The Noble persons
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Supra-mundane stages, fetters and rebirths |
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stage's |
abandoned |
rebirth(s) |
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1. identity view |
lower |
up to seven more times as |
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once more as |
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4. sensual desire |
once more in |
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6. material-rebirth lust |
higher |
none |
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Source: Ñāṇamoli & Bodhi (2001), Middle-Length Discourses, pp. 41-43. |
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One who begins sincere training on the Buddhist path (known as Sekhas in Pali or "those in training") and experiences the truth to the extent of cutting of a number of the ten mental fetters (Pali: saṃyojana), becomes an ariya puggala (Pali; Sanskrit: āryapudgala): a "noble person" who will surely become an Arahant in the near future. 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." [4]
The Sangha of the Tathagata's disciples (Ariya Sangha), i.e. the four [groups of noble disciples] when taken as pairs, the eight when taken as persons. The four groups of noble disciples (Buddhist Sekhas) when taken as pairs are those who have attained:
- I
(1) the path to stream-entry; (2) the fruition of stream-entry;
- II
(3) the path to once-returning ; (4) the fruition of once-returning;
- III
(5) the path to non-returning ; (6) the fruition of non-returning;
- IV
(7) the path to arahantship ; (8) the fruition of arahantship.
Taking each attainment singly gives eight "individuals."
[edit] Stream-enterer
The first stage is that of Sotāpanna (Pali; Sanskrit: Srotāpanna), literally meaning "one who enters (āpadyate) the stream (sotas)," with the stream being the Noble Eightfold Path regarded as the highest Dharma. The stream-enterer is also said to have "opened the eye of the Dharma" (dhammacakkhu, Sanskrit: dharmacakṣus).
A stream-enterer usually reaches enlightenment within seven successive rebirths upon opening the eye of the Dharma.
Due to the fact that the stream-enterer has attained an intuitive grasp of Buddhist doctrine (samyagdṛṣṭi or sammādiṭṭhi, "right view"), and has complete confidence or Saddha in the Three Jewels: Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, he will not be reborn in any of the unhappy states or rebirths (an animal, a preta, or in hell).
[edit] Once-returner
The second stage is that of the Sakadāgāmī (Sanskrit: Sakṛdāgāmin), literally meaning "one who once (sakṛt) comes (āgacchati)". The once-returner will return to the human world only one more time, and will attain Nirvana in that life.
[edit] Non-returner
The third stage is that of the Anāgāmī (Sanskrit: Anāgāmin), literally meaning "one who does not (an-) come (āgacchati)". The non-returner does not come back into human existence, or any lower world, after death. Instead, he is reborn in one of the worlds of the Rūpadhātu called the Śuddhāvāsa worlds, or "Pure Abodes", where he will attain Nirvāṇa; Pāli: Nibbana; some of them are reborn a second time in a higher world of the Pure Abodes.
An Anāgāmī has abandoned the five lower fetters that bind the mind to the cycle of rebirth. An Anāgāmī is thus partially enlightened, and on the way to perfect and complete Enlightenment.
[edit] Arahant
The fourth stage is that of Arahant, a fully enlightened being who has abandoned all fetters, and who upon death (Sanskrit: Parinirvāṇa, Pāli: Parinibbāna) will not be reborn in any world, having wholly abandoned saṃsāra.
[edit] References
- ^ See, for instance, the "Snake-Simile Discourse" (MN 22), where the Buddha states:
'... [F]or those who are arahants, free of taints, who have accomplished and completed their task, have laid down the burden, achieved their aim, severed the fetters binding to existence, who are liberated by full knowledge, there is no (future) round of existence that can be ascribed to them.... [T]hose monks who have abandoned the five lower fetters will all be reborn spontaneously (in the Pure Abodes) and there they will pass away finally, no more returning from that world.... [T]hose monks who have abandoned three fetters and have reduced greed, hatred and delusion, are all once-returners, and, returning only once to this world, will then make an end of suffering.... [T]hose monks who have abandoned three fetters, are all stream-enterers, no more liable to downfall, assured, and headed for full Enlightenment.' (Nyanaponika, 2006)
- ^ The "fruit" (Pali: phala) is the culmination of the "path" (magga). Thus, for example, the "stream-enterer" is the fruit for one on the "stream-entry" path; more specifically, the stream-enterer has abandoned the first three fetters, while one on the path of stream-entry strives to abandon these fetters.
- ^ Both the stream-enterer and the once-returner abandon the first three fetters. What distinguishes these stages is that the once-returner additionally attenuates lust, hate and delusion, and will necessarily be reborn only once more.
- ^ Iti 90 http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/sangha.html
- ^ http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/sangha.html
- ^ http://www.tharpa.com/us/meditation-buddhist-books.html
[edit] Sources
- Ñāṇamoli, Bhikkhu (trans.) and Bodhi, Bhikkhu (ed.) (2001). The Middle-Length Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Majjhima Nikāya. Boston: Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0-86171-072-X.
- Nyanaponika Thera (trans.) (1974). Alagaddupama Sutta: The Snake Simile (MN 22). Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society. Retrieved 15 Aug. 2010 from "Access to Insight" (2006) at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.022.nypo.html .
