Stages of awakening
Includes tags: Stages of awakening, Stream entry, Once return, Non-return, Arahant
4. “You read, ‘he realizes with the body’ (MN 70.23), and I read in one of the suttas (perhaps AN 4.113 or SN 48.53) that arahants touch Nibbāna with their body. Could you elaborate on this?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Body/form] [Arahant] [Nibbāna]
5. “Yesterday you mentioned that arahants as well take on some of these practices of the gradual path. What happens in their mind with these practices?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Arahant ] [Gradual Teaching] // [Liberation]
1. “Where is the path [of stream entry etc.] clearly defined?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Stages of awakening] // [Aids to Awakening] [Stream entry] [Recollection/Saṅgha] [Ajahn Chah]
Reference: Amaravati Chanting Book, p. 7: “The four pairs, the eight kinds of noble beings.”
Sutta: MN 70.20-21: Definitions of faith follower and Dhamma follower.
4. “When the Buddha addressed AN 7.61 to Mahā Moggallāna, was Mahā Moggallāna already and arahant?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Great disciples] [Arahant] // [Fetters] [Almsround] [Perception of a samaṇa]
Vinaya: Mahāvagga 1.23: Sāriputta meets Assaji and realizes stream entry after hearing a brief verse. [Stream entry]
1. “When you explained the four kinds of clinging, you said that sensual desire is more obvious [than the others]. But in terms of the different stages of realization, it’s not the first to go. Can you explain?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Clinging] [Sensual desire] [Stages of awakening] [Attachment to precepts and practices] // [Stream entry] [Once return] [Non-return] [Self-identity view]
Sutta: AN 3.68: Sensual desire fades slowly but has lesser negative consequences.
7. Comment by Tan Cittasaṃvaro: A stock phrase associated with stream entry is ‘independent of the teaching.’ It seems that although they are independent, [stream enterers] can still benefit from guidance. [Stream entry] [Self-reliance] [Hearing the true Dhamma]
Sutta: AN 3.128.
Response by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Faith] [Doubt] [Teaching Dhamma] [Ajahn Sumedho]
Sutta: MN 74.14: Sāriputta’s awakening. [Great disciples]
2. “You said that when a negative, unpleasant thought comes up, the noble being doesn’t want it but doesn’t act upon it. Is this taṇhā? Is it a mild form of craving, not wanting the thought?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Proliferation] [Arahant] [Craving] // [Knowledge and vision] [Non-identification] [Ajahn Dune] [Spaciousness]
Suttas: AN 9.7-8: What an arahant can’t do.
3. “When you are talking about Dependent Origination and craving, I thought that all of that had ceased for an arahant.” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Dependent origination] [Craving] [Arahant] [Cessation] // [Feeling] [Unskillful qualities] [Ignorance] [Māra]
Suttas: SN 4.6; SN 4.20: The Buddha’s encounters with Māra. [Buddha/Biography]
Sutta: MN 50: Mahā Moggallāna rebukes Māra. [Great disciples]
Sutta: SN 10.3: Sūciloma. [Non-human beings]
4. “In the mind of an arahant, are unwholesome states immediately seen through the filter of the Four Noble Truths so they are immediately let go?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Arahant] [Unskillful qualities] [Four Noble Truths] [Relinquishment] // [Māra]
Sutta: MN 49.29 [Brahma gods]
5. “I was trying to imagine what it would be like to look into the world through the eyes of an arahant. Something like looking through The Matrix or looking at people as children …” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Arahant]
Quote: “What is the mind of an arahant like?”—“Only compassion.” — Ajahn Mahā Boowa. Quoted by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [Arahant] [Compassion]
Reflection by Ajahn Pasanno: Ajahn Chah’s form of compassion could be pretty demanding sometimes. [Ajahn Chah] [Fierce/direct teaching] [Patience] [Humor]
Reflection by Ajahn Kaccāna: From the perspective of an arahant, what drives the entire world is feeble (MN 112.6). [Arahant] [Aggregates] [Dispassion]
6. “When an arahant passes, is there a process for that passing? Is there some description of it in the suttas?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Arahant] [Death] [Sutta] // [Cessation] [Language] [Kamma]
Follow-up: “So there’s no advice to rest in meditation in the dying process?” [Meditation]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno: “Each moment should be a rehearsal of dying.” [Present moment awareness] [Recollection/Death] [Mindfulness]
Sutta: AN 6.19: Mindfulness of Death.
7. “You hear about the teachings about the different stages of enlightenment—these fetters going at these stages. When I first heard about it, it was kind of helpful, but it sounded so complicated. Luang Por [Sumedho] would teach that it is here and now, it’s right now, and that was so liberating. … How can you use this talk of the fetters and different stages in a way that is helpful?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Stages of awakening] [Fetters] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Liberation] // [Relinquishment] [Direct experience]
9. “Because a sotāpanna is supposed to have finished sakkāyadiṭṭhi, does that mean that if they do any actions which involve [unskillful qualities], they don’t carry any kamma?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Stream entry] [Self-identity view] [Unskillful qualities] [Kamma] [Volition] // [Habits] [Personality] [Virtue]
Sutta: SN 14.15: Caṅkama Sutta.
1. [Considering the large numbers of lay disciples who the Buddha declared to have realized stages of awakening in DN 18.1] “I guess they were culturally more open to the path?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Lay life] [Stages of awakening] [Culture/India] // [History/Indian Buddhism] [Cultural context] [Buddha]
Sutta: DN 1: The 62 wrong views. [Views]
Sutta: DN 14.1.4: A fortunate aeon. [Previous Buddhas]
2. “Are once-returners always reborn in the human realm? … So they have a long human life?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Once return] [Human]
Texts: Seven-year old arahants: Dabba Mallaputta (Bhikkhu Saṅghādisesa 8), Sopāka (Thag 480), Sumana (Thag 429), Bhaddha (Thag 473).
Sutta: Ud 1.10: Bāhiya.
3. “Before arriving at [the noble] attainments, is it expected to exist and have a gradual progression of pāramīs and come closer to stream entry?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Stages of awakening] [Perfections] [Stream entry] // [Factors for stream entry] [History/Early Buddhism]
6. Reflection by Ajahn Pasanno: A stream enterer is someone who embodies the Noble Eightfold Path (SN 55.5). [Stream entry] [Eightfold Path]
7. Reflection by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno: Stream entry is a really good retirement plan. [Stream entry] [Purpose/meaning] [Retirement] // [Factors for stream entry] [Meditation] [Association with people of integrity] [Hearing the true Dhamma]
7. Comment: I find it striking that Aṅgulimāla, who killed so many people, managed to achieve arahantship. [Killing] [Arahant] [Kamma]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Parents]
[Session] Readings by Ajahn Pasanno: [Stream entry]
The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 16, pp. 280-281 and pp. 292-293:
Sutta: AN 3.85.
Sutta: MN 34: Shorter Discourse on the Cowherd.
Vinaya: Mahāvagga 1.23-24; read from The Life of the Buddha According to the Pāli Canon by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli (pdf unavailable) Chapter 5.
Sutta: MN 74: Dīghanakha Sutta; read from The Life of the Buddha According to the Pāli Canon by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli (pdf unavailable) Chapter 5.
1. “Can you explain more about the difference between faith followers and Dhamma followers?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Stages of awakening] [Faith] [Discernment] [Stream entry] // [Culture/West] [Relinquishment]
Reading: Bhikkhu Bodhi’s footnote 369 to MN 34.10.
2. “When AN 3.95 mentions that a [stream enterer] may still break some minor rules but not the heavier rules, do you see where the cutoff is?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Precepts] [Vinaya] [Stream entry]
Sutta: AN 4.50: Reasons why a samaṇa doesn’t shine forth. [Intoxicants] [Not handling money] [Sexual misconduct]
4. “What were the follow-on stories of how Sāriputta and Moggallāna attained arahantship?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Great disciples] [Arahant] [Stream entry]
Reading: MN 74: Sāriputta fans the Buddha. [Upatakh]
Sutta: AN 7.61: The Buddha instructs the dozing Moggallāna.
Reading: MN 37: Nothing is worth adhering to. [Clinging]
5. Story: Ajahn Mun realizes stream entry on almsround in Bangkok in bad weather. Told by Ajahn Cittavīro. [Ajahn Mun] [Stream entry]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Recollection/Dhamma]
[Session] Readings by Ajahn Pasanno: [Stream entry]
The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 16, pp. 293:
Sutta: SN 12.68.
Reading: AN 6.97: Benefits of stream entry.
The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, Chapter 17, pp. 294-296:
Suttas: DN 5.29-30; MN 56.18; SN 12.70.
Sutta: SN 12.70: Susīma.
1. Comment: Someone mentioned that the certainty [of a stream enter realizing arahantship in seven lifetimes] was not a certain certainty. [Rebirth] [Arahant] [Stream entry]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Stream entry] [Great disciples] [Saṃsāra]
2. “Sometimes in the suttas people are aware that the eye of Dhamma has opened and they are now stream enterers. From my experience, sometimes people think they are sotāpanna but are not. What is the experience [of entering the stream]?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Stream entry] // [Thai Forest Tradition] [Suffering]
Reference: The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro Chapters 16–19.
Story: “Better than being a dog.” [Ajahn Chah] [Stream entry] [Fierce/direct teaching] [Aversion]
Follow-up: “Is it normal for a stream enter to know that he’s a stream enterer?” [Stream entry]
Sutta: AN 3.12: One never forgets the place of stream entry.
3. “I remember being at Suan Mokh and seeing in the spiritual library the Dhamma eyes painted on the wall. I heard that Ajahn Buddhadāsa taught ānāpānasati and Dependent Origination because he wanted to open the Dhamma eyes of as many people as possible. Would those who resonated with these teachings continue learning through that path?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Wat Suan Mokkh] [Ajahn Buddhadāsa] [Mindfulness of breathing] [Dependent origination] [Stream entry] // [Meditation/Techniques] [Faith] [Ajahn Chah] [Zen]
Quote: “Everything is teaching us.” — Ajahn Chah.
Follow-up: “So it’s not like you practice asubha and that’s it for the rest of your life.” [Nature of mind]
3. “I’ve always found the simile of the great earth (SN 56.51) encouraging and aspirational. Is [the great mass of suffering] eroded over time or abruptly end when the view changes?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Similes] [Suffering] [Right View] [Stream entry] // [Saṃsāra]
Sutta: DN 2.102: King Ajātasattu’s crime prevents stream entry. [Killing] [Stream entry]
Sutta: Iti 22: Puñña is another word for happiness. [Merit] [Happiness]
1. Comment by Ajahn Pasanno: It’s impossible to tell from the suttas where the intellectual recognition of impermanence tips over into the path of a Dhamma follower. [Sutta] [Impermanence] [Discernment] [Stream entry]
Sutta: SN 25.1.
10.1. Reflection by Ajahn Pasanno: The qualities of the Buddha: wisdom, compassion, purity. [Recollection/Buddha ] [Arahant] [Discernment] [Compassion] // [Pūjā]
Reference: Amaravati Chanting Book, p. 3: Homage to the Buddha.
14.1. Reflection by Ajahn Pasanno: The arahant disciples of the Buddha were able to free their minds, but they all had different personalities. [Arahant] [Buddha] [Great disciples ] [Personality]
Sutta: SN 14.15 Caṅkama Sutta: Monks with different personalities gather around the great disciples.
Note: Ajahn Pasanno mentions the similarly-themed Cūḷagosiṅga Sutta (MN 31) by name, but describes the content of the Caṅkama Sutta.