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10 Fetter Model of Enlightenment

10 Fetter Model of Enlightenment

Theravada is based on the oldest extant texts of Buddhism. Fetters are mental processes that lead towards suffering.

Fetters are in grey.

Starting - Stream-seeker, looking for deliverance/salvation/freedom from suffering.

  1. skeptical doubt (of path, the Buddha, the practice, the fruits, etc.)

  2. rites and rituals (not understanding mechanics, why stuff works, engaging in practices that don’t relieve suffering)

  3. belief or consequences from self-view (basic duality, belief in independent self, belief in a soul, ignorance about basic impersonal causality)

1st Path - Sottapana - Knows what the path is, on the path, using fruit of the path, understands all parts of identity are fair game. Has had a clean taste of arhatship, to show the path isn’t just possible, but inevitable.

First three fetters are removed.

2nd Path - Sakadagami - Understands that craving and aversion drive a lot of unwholesome behaviors – is working to remove them – has a lot of them already removed.

First three fetters removed, ill-will and sense-desire are greatly reduced.

  1. ill-will (aversion based on not understanding impersonal causality)

  2. sense-desire (craving based on not understanding impersonal causality)

3rd Path - Anagami - Does not experience ill-will, hatred, greed, aversion, craving, or sense-desire. Lives in the sublimes, exits to understand self-ignorance.

First five fetters removed.

  1. desire for material rebirth (craving to be someone else, material existence, usually rich)

  2. desire for immaterial rebirth (craving to be someplace else, immaterial existence, usually heaven)

  3. restlessness (the urge towards doing vs being, inability to accept what is vs what could be)

  4. conceit1 (“I am this. I am better. I am worse. I am the same.”)

  5. ignorance (any conditioned action from karma, any gap in full mental and bodily awareness)

4th path - Arhatship - All contents and processes of mind are known, centerless, free from suffering of any kind.

All ten fetters removed.

References (Other Models)

List of Ten Fetters - Sutta Pitaka
Models of the stages of awakening - Daniel Ingram
Nine Levels Of Increasing Embrace In Ego Development - Susanne R. Cook-Greuter
Seven Stages of Enlightenment - Thusness/PasserBy’s
Enlightenment - Culadasa
Ten Bhumi Model - Mahayana

v1.3 - Last edit 23-Apr-2022
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  1. Conceit (and it’s antidote) is defined in SN 22.89 With Khemaka
    I wrote a blog post on conceit. ↩︎