Four Stages to the Nibbana (Becoming a Buddha)

In Buddhism, the path to Nibbāna (Nirvana) is achieved through four progressive stages of enlightenment. These stages represent measurable awakenings that are defined by the permanent destruction of specific mental chains known as fetters (saṁyojanas).

1. The Stream-Enterer (Sotāpanna)

The Three Fetters Broken

To become a stream-enterer, a practitioner must permanently destroy or overcome the first three of the ten "fetters" (mental bindings) that tie beings to suffering and cycles of rebirth:

1. Identity Self View (sakkaya-ditthi): The illusion of a permanent, unchanging self or "soul." Sakkāya-ditthi (Pali), commonly translated as "self-identity view" or "personality belief," is the fundamental delusion of identifying a permanent, independent "self" or "soul" within the five ever-changing aggregates of body and mind. It is the first of the ten fetters that bind beings to the cycle of rebirth.
2. Doubt (vicikiccha): Skeptical doubt about the teachings of the Buddha or the effectiveness of the path to enlightenment. Vicikiccha (or vicikitsa in Sanskrit) is a foundational Buddhist term for "doubt" or "indecision." In traditional Buddhist philosophy, it is defined as the inability to resolve between belief and disbelief, often manifesting as skepticism regarding the teachings, the path, or one's own capability to attain enlightenment.
3. Clinging to Rites and Rituals (silabbata-paramasa): The belief that one can achieve liberation merely through external ceremonies, habits, or unexamined ascetic practices. Sīlabbata-parāmāsa (Pali) refers to the attachment or clinging to mere rites, rituals, rules, or vows, under the mistaken belief that simply following them mechanically can lead to enlightenment. In Buddhist teachings, it is the third of the ten mental fetters (samyojanas) that bind beings to the cycle of rebirth.

The Four Factors for Stream Entry

According to early Buddhist teachings, practitioners can cultivate the conditions for stream-entry by focusing on four practices:

• Associating with virtuous or spiritually mature people.
• Hearing, reading, and contemplating the teachings (the Dharma).
• Proper attention and investigating the nature of reality.
• Practicing the teachings diligently and appropriately (e.g., following the Noble Eightfold Path).

A stream-enterer is guaranteed never to be reborn in lower realms. They will attain full enlightenment within a maximum of seven more human or heavenly lifetimes.

2. The Once-Returner (Sakadāgāmi)

The practitioner will be reborn in the human realm just one more time before achieving complete liberation.

No new fetters are entirely broken at this stage, but the mind’s binding passions (sensual desire and aversion) are severely diminished.

3. The Non-Returner (Anāgāmi)

A non-returner will never be reborn in the human realm again. Upon passing away, they are reborn in a heavenly realm known as the "Pure Abodes", where they will attain Nibbāna without returning to the cycle of human existence.

4. The Arahant (Arahant)

Ten Fetters (Saṁyojanas)

Saṁyojanas (or samyojanas) refer to the ten mental fetters, chains, or bondages that shackle sentient beings to the cycle of rebirth and suffering (saṃsāra). Cutting through all of these fetters is the ultimate prerequisite for attaining enlightenment (nibbāna).

1. The Five Lower Fetters (Orambhāgiya-samyojana)

These bind beings to the lower, sensory realms of existence:

1. Sakkāya-diṭṭhi: Identity view or belief in a permanent, independent self.
2. Vicikicchā: Skeptical doubt, particularly regarding the Buddha's teachings.
3. Sīlabbata-parāmāsa: Attachment to rules, rites, and rituals as a means of salvation.
4. Kāma-rāga: Craving and attachment to sensual pleasures.
5. Vyāpāda: Ill will, aversion, anger, or hatred.

2. The Five Higher Fetters (Uddhambhāgiya-samyojana)

These tie enlightened or spiritually advanced beings to the higher realms of existence (form and formless worlds):

1. Rūpa-rāga: Attachment to the world of fine material form.
2. Arūpa-rāga: Attachment to the formless realm.
3. Māna: Conceit, pride, or self-comparison.
4. Uddhacca: Restlessness or mental agitation.
5. Avijjā: Ignorance or fundamental misunderstanding of the Four Noble Truths.

In the Theravada tradition, completely eradicating these fetters corresponds directly to an individual's spiritual awakening:

1. Stream-Enterer (Sotāpanna): Frees oneself from the first 3 fetters.
2. Once-Returner (Sakadāgāmi): Removes the first 3 and significantly weakens the 4th and 5th.
3. Non-Returner (Anāgāmī): Eradicates all 5 lower fetters.
4. Arahant: Eradicates all 10 fetters, resulting in full liberation, nibbana.

Heart Sutra

Maha Prajna Paramita Hrdaya Sutra

When Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva practices the profound Prajnaparamita, he sees that the five aggregates are empty; through this understanding, one transcends all suffering.

Śāriputra, form is not different from emptiness; emptiness is not different from form; form is emptiness, and emptiness is form, the same for feelings, perceptions, intentions, and consciousness.

Śāriputra, all things have the characteristics of emptiness, no birth, no death; no purity, no impurity; no increasing, no decreasing.

Therefore, looking at the perspective of emptiness, there is no form, no feeling, no perception, no intention, and no consciousness; no eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, or mind; no form, sound, smell, taste, touch, or thought.

From no eye element to no mind-consciousness element, there is no ignorance, nor is there the cessation of ignorance, and so forth, up to no old age and death, nor is there the cessation of old age and death. There is no suffering, no origination of suffering, no cessation of suffering, no path to cessation of suffering; there is no wisdom to attain.

Because nothing can be obtained, Bodhisattvas, relying on Prajnaparamita, have no hindrance in their minds; because they have no hindrance, they have no fear. Away from deluded dreams, ultimately achieving nirvana.

All Buddhas of the past, present, and future attain anuttara-samyak-sambodhi by relying on prajnaparamita.

Therefore, it is known that Prajnaparamita is the great divine mantra, the great bright mantra, the supreme mantra, the unequaled mantra, capable of removing all suffering; this is truly not false.

Therefore, the Prajnaparamita mantra is recited, and the mantra is as follows:

Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Svaha (3 times)

Manomaya Kaya (Gandhabba)

https://puredhamma.net/dhamma/buddha-dhamma-a-scientific-approach/brain-and-the-gandhabba/gandhabba-in-a-human-body-an-analogy/

For the duration of a human bhava, one will have ONLY ONE mental body (manomaya kāya), also known as gandhabba. Gandhabba may undergo some changes. But it will last the whole duration of that human bhava.

A human existence (bhava) could last hundreds or even thousands of years. Many human births (jāti) can occur during that time

In rebirth stories, there is always a “time gap” (typically several years) between successive human births (jāti). Between those successive lives, that lifestream lives as a gandhabba without a physical body.

Even during a given human life (jāti), the gandhabba may come out of the physical body under certain conditions; Out-of-Body Experience (OBE)

The human bhava is hard to attain. However, there can be many births within a given human bhava until the kammic energy for that human bhava runs out. Otherwise, how can one explain all these rebirth accounts, where a human is reborn only a few years after dying in the previous human life?

https://puredhamma.net/living-dhamma/mental-body-gandhabba/

Kamma-vipāka (Pali: intentional action and its consequence) is the Buddhist moral law of cause and effect. Kamma refers to any intentional volitional action (through body, speech, or mind), while vipāka is the ripening, fruit, or result of that action.

All living beings are born with a “mental body” (called “trija kāya” or three bodies) consisting of the kammaja kāya, cittaja kāya, and utuja kāya.

1. kammaja kāya refers to the subtle, mental body (or "karmic body") generated by past kammic energy, which carries one's life stream and karmic blueprint across different existences. It serves as the foundation that directs physical rebirth.
2. cittaja kāya translates to the "mind-born body" or the continuous stream of thoughts and consciousness. It is a core concept in Buddhist psychology and phenomenology used to describe how mental phenomena assemble and form our moment-to-moment experience of the world.
3. "utuja kāya" translates to "body born of heat" or "temperature-born body".

Connection to the "Gandhabba": The utuja kāya combines with the kammaja and cittaja kāyas to form the energetic blueprint of a being, often referred to in Pali as the manomaya kāya or gandhabba (the subtle "mind-made" body that survives death and seeks a new womb for rebirth).

This trija kāya in human and animal realms is given a unique name, “gandhabba.” It is well-shielded by the dense physical body. Thus, even an ānantarika kamma can not bring vipāka until the death of the physical body.

Mahānidānasutta (DN 15)

“.With consciousness as a condition, there is mentality-materiality (nāmarūpa). How that is so, Ānanda, should be understood in this way: If viññāṇa were not to descend into the mother’s womb, would mentality-materiality (nama rūpa) take shape in the womb?” “Certainly not, venerable sir.” “If the descended viññāṇa were to depart, would mentality-materiality be generated into this present state of being?” “Certainly not, venerable sir.”

• Here, it is clear that by “a viññāṇa descending to the womb,” the Buddha meant the descent of the manōmaya kaya (gandhabba), not the paṭisandhi citta. A paṭisandhi viññāṇa cannot come out (depart) of the womb! 
• A gandhabba has all five khandhas.
• The Pāli word “Okkanti” is often mistranslated as “rebirth.” But it means the “descend” of an already formed manōmaya kaya (gandhabba). Rebirth happens (and a gandhabba is born) within a thought moment, at the cuti-paṭisandhi moment.

Paṭisandhi (“paṭi” is to “bind,” and “sandhi” is a “joint” in Pāli or Sinhala.) Thus, paṭisandhi means joining a new life at the end of the old. That happens a thought-moment after the last citta of the current existence (bhava.)

Old kamma bring vipāka with various ārammaṇa. Mind gets attached to such ārammaṇa and engage in more kamma. That is why the rebirth cycle never ends, UNTIL one fully grasps that process and takes steps to stop attaching to such ārammaṇa.

Births in 29 realms happen instantaneously, i.e, a fully formed figure is born at the very instant of death in the previous life. An intermediate “gandhabba state” with a manōmaya kaya that needs to wait for a suitable womb is involved only for birth in human and animal realms.

Do not lose this opportunity to get out of this Saṃsāric suffering when we have this precious human life, which will last on average less than 100 years.

Even if we are reborn humans, what guarantees will we have to listen or read about Buddha Dhamma?

Dhammapada 146 ~ 152 (Old Age & Death is Awaiting)

This particular section of the Dhammapada touches me deeply tonight. It may have to do with the fact I am getting old and my body is not functioning as well as in the past.

第 11 章. 노모품(老耗品) – 늙음의 장 OLD AGE 11. 늙 음

146. Why is there laughter, why is there joy while this world is always burning? Why do you not seek a light, you who are shrouded in darkness (ignorance)? [Note: Fire is used by the Buddhists to represent the empirical process which is full of suffering.]

何喜何笑 世常熾然 深蔽幽冥 不如求錠.

하희하소 세상치연 심폐유명 불여구정

무엇을 웃고 무엇을 기뻐하랴 세상은 끊임없이 불타고 있는데 그대는 암흑에 둘러싸인 채 어찌하여 등불을 찾지 않는가

147. Look at this dressed-up lump, covered with wounds, joined together, sickly, full of many thoughts, which has no strength, no hold!

見身形範 倚以爲安 多想致病 豈知非眞 (견신형범 의이위안 다상치병 기지비진)

보라, 이 꾸며 놓은 몸뚱이를 육신은 상처 덩어리에 불과한 것 병치레 끊일 새 없고 욕망에 타오르고 단단하지도 영원하지도 못한 껍데기

148. This body is wasted, full of sickness, and frail; this heap of corruption breaks to pieces, life indeed ends in death.

老則色衰 所病自壞 形敗腐오 命終自然 (노즉색쇠 소병자괴 형패부오 명종자연)

이 몸은 늙어서 시들고 터지기 쉬운 질병의 주머니 썩은 육신은 마디마디 흩어지고 삶은 반드시 죽음으로 끝난다.

149. Those white bones, like gourds thrown away in the autumn, what pleasure is there in looking at them?

自死神徙 如御棄車 肉消骨散 身何可호

자사신사 여어기거 육소골산 신하가호

목숨이 다해 정신이 떠나면 가을 들녘에 버려진 표주박, 살은 썩고 흰 뼈다귀만 뒹굴 텐데 무엇을 기뻐할 것인가

150. After a stronghold has been made of the bones, it is covered with flesh and blood, and there dwell in it old age and death, pride and deceit.

身爲如城 骨幹肉塗 生至老死 但藏규慢

신위여성 골간육도 생지노사 단장규만

뼈로써 성곽을 이루고 살과 피로 포장이 되었다 그 안에 늙음과 죽음, 자만과 거짓만 도사리고 있다.

151. The splendid chariots of kings wear away; the body also comes to old age but the virtue of the good never ages, thus the good teach to each other.

老則形變 喩如故車 法能除苦 宜以力學

노즉형변 유여고거 법능제고 의이력학

화려한 왕의 수레도 닳아 없어지고 이 몸도 그와 같이 늙어 버리지만 선한 이의 가르침은 시들지 않는다 선한 사람끼리 진리를 말하므로

152. A man who has learnt little, grows old like an ox; his flesh grows, but his knowledge does not grow.

人之無聞 老苦特牛 但長肌肥 無有智慧

인지무문 노고특우 단장기비 무유지혜

배움이 적은 사람은 황소처럼 늙어간다 육신의 살은 찌지만 그의 지혜는 자라지 않는다.

Dhammapada 153 & 154 (Words of Exultation of the Buddha)

https://www.tipitaka.net/tipitaka/dhp/verseload.php?verse=153

The Story Concerning the "Words of Exultation of the Buddha"

These two verses are expressions of intense and sublime joy felt by the Buddha at the moment of attainment of Supreme Enlightenment (Bodhi nana or Sabbannuta nana). These verses were repeated at the Jetavana monastery at the request of the Venerable Ananda.

Prince Siddhattha, of the family of Gotama, son of King Suddhodana and Queen Maya of the kingdom of the Sakyans, renounced the world at the age of twenty-nine and became an ascetic in search of the Dhamma (Truth). For six years, he wandered about the valley of the Ganges, approaching famous religious leaders, studying their doctrines and methods. He lived austerely and submitted himself strictly to rigorous ascetic discipline; but he found all these traditional practices to be unsound. He was determined to find the Truth in his own way, and by avoiding the two extremes of excessive sensual indulgence and self-mortification*, he found the Middle Path which would lead to Perfect Peace, Nibbana. This Middle Path (Majjhimapatipada) is the Noble Path of Eight Constituents, viz., Right view, Right thought, Right speech, Right action, Right livelihood, Right effort, Right mindfulness and Right concentration.

Thus, one evening, seated under a Bo tree on the bank of the Neranjara river, Prince Siddhattha Gotama attained Supreme Enlightenment (Bodhi nana or Sabbannuta nana) at the age of thirty-five. During the first watch of the night, the prince attained the power of recollection of past existences (Pubbenivasanussati-nana) and during the second watch he attained the divine power of sight (Dibbacakkhu nana). Then, during the third watch of the night he contemplated the Doctrine of Dependent Origination (Paticcasamuppada) in the order of arising (anuloma) as well as in the order of cessation (patiloma). At the crack of dawn, Prince Siddhattha Gotama by his own intellect and insight fully and completely comprehended the Four Noble Truths. The Four Noble Truths are: The Noble Truth of Dukkha (Dukkha Ariya Sacca), the Noble Truth of the Cause of Dukkha (Dukkha Samudaya Ariya Sacca), the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Dukkha (Dukkha Nirodha Ariya Sacca), and The Noble Truth of the Path Leading to the Cessation of Dukkha (Dukkha Nirodha Gamini Patipada Ariya Sacca). There also appeared in him, in all their purity. The knowledge of the nature of each Noble Truth (Sacca nana), knowledge of the performance required for each Noble Truth (Kicca nana), and the knowledge of the completion of the performance required for each Noble Truth (Kata nana); and thus, he attained the Sabbannuta nana (also called Bodhi nana) of a Buddha. From that time, he was known as Gotama the Buddha.

In this connection, it should be noted that only when the Four Noble Truths, under their three aspects (therefore, the twelve modes), had become perfectly clear to him that the Buddha acknowledged in the world of Men, the world of Devas and that of Brahmas that he had attained the Supreme Enlightenment and therefore had become a Buddha.

At the moment of the attainment of Buddhahood, the Buddha uttered the following two verses:

Verse 153: 

I, who have been seeking the builder of this house (body), failing to attain Enlightenment (Bodhi nana or Sabbannuta nana) which would enable me to find him, have wandered through innumerable births in samsara. To be born again and again is, indeed, dukkha!

나는 이 집 지은 이를 찾아 이리 기웃 저리 기웃 하였지만 찾지 못한 채 여러 생을 보냈다 생존은 어느 곳에서나나 괴로움이었다.

Verse 154: 

Oh house-builder! You are seen, you shall build no house (for me) again. All your rafters are broken, your roof-tree is destroyed. My mind has reached the unconditioned (i.e., Nibbana); the end of craving (Arahatta Phala) has been attained.

집을 지은 이여 이제 그대를 알게 되었다 그대는 또다시 나의집을 짓지 않으리. 기둥은 부서지고 서까래는 내려앉았다 마음은 만물에서 떠나고 육체의 욕망은 말끔히 씻어 버렸으니.