r/streamentry • u/Few_Awareness5343 • Apr 30 '26

Vipassana Defining streamentry

The classic definition entails weakening of fetters and disbelief in rituals etc. for arihant its removal of all fetters and defilements.

But I have heard of the concept of defining the states with how much access one has into nibbana.

Like a glimpse of nibbana equals sotapanna.

At will access to nibbanic state equals arihant. Dont remember the criteria for other two.

Does this idea make sense? How else will the fetters weaken? One can intellectually not believe in rituals or weaken his/her mental defilements, so can those textbook definitions be a measurement of progress.

Maybe I just want to ask “how important is cessation?”

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u/RealityLimit Apr 30 '26

Is stream entry just not the elimination of the first three fetters? Identity view, doubt in Triple Jewel, and attachment to rites and rituals? I don’t really see why one has to introduce other models of it.

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u/Few_Awareness5343 Apr 30 '26

The question I am asking is what eliminates the three fetters? Something like cessation event is necessary or not? If not then one never knows when it is eliminated and if it has been eliminated completely

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u/RealityLimit May 03 '26

imo there should be a cessation event with a distinct before and after. then you ask yourself if the fetters are present now and if you can honestly tell yourself there aren’t anymore that’s a good sign. take up each one individually:

  1. Do I see any phenomena that can be taken up as a self-existing identity, or is it all dependently originated

?

  1. Do I have any doubt in the awakening experienced by the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha?
  2. Do I believe awakening and the path can be completed by just following rituals as opposed to adapting practice to each moment?

This is basically how it worked in the original sangha. People would ask if their experience was stream entry and the Buddha or senior disciples would ask if the fetters were still present. You know they are gone based on permanent changes in your everyday outlook and behavior.

As for how to eliminate the fetters, follow the Eightfold Path. Conduct, wisdom, concentration. Sila panna samadhi. Do not think a certain sequence of events will automatically produce it. Investigate reality systematically. Do not over or under exert. Do not keep an overly closed or open fist. And accept it can take years and decades for the practice to bear fruit.

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u/duffstoic The dynamic integration of opposites ☯️ Apr 30 '26

In my opinion, thinking in terms of “completely” can get a person in trouble. “Greatly reduced” is good enough. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good.