Rites and Rituals – The Third Fetter

The third fetter is attachment to rules, rites and rituals. The ritual itself is not the problem. What is interesting is how we identify with what we do and don’t do – and how this supports the idea of a separate self.

The third of the Ten Fetters is attachment to rules, rites and rituals.

This does not mean that meditation, prayer, yoga or other rituals are a problem.

The third fetter describes how we identify with what we do and what we don’t do – and how this supports the idea of a separate self.

The First Three Fetters of Stream Entry

1. The Self – The First Fetter
2. Doubt – The Second Fetter
3. Rites and Rituals – The Third Fetter

The Buddha called the third fetter sīlabbata-parāmāsa – attachment to rules and rites.

The first three fetters – self, doubt, and attachment to rites and rituals – together form the basis of Stream Entry.

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You can find an overview and a starting point for the investigation in the main article:

🔹 Seeing Through the Self Illusion

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What Are Rites and Rituals?

In the time of the Buddha, people followed many rules and rituals.

They believed that if they followed these rules exactly, they could gain the favour of the gods.

They hoped this would give them a better life and that the gods would receive them after death.

We still know many of these rites today.

They include religious services, ceremonies, religious festivals, prayers or mantras, certain dances and songs.

They can also include asking oracles, invocations, ritual washing, circumcision and similar practices.

But rituals are not only found in religion.

Morning and evening routines, meditation or yoga practice can also be rituals.

Sīlabbata-parāmāsa describes the belief that liberation can be reached simply through good deeds or virtues, following rules and keeping certain rituals.

The third fetter is not investigated separately.

It falls together with seeing through the first fetter.

Without an assumed self, there is no one who could be liberated through rituals.

Attachment to Rules and Rites

In the third fetter, we see how much we identify with our rituals.

Through our likes and dislikes – the fourth and fifth fetters – we have developed our own way of going through life.

We are drawn to some things and pushed away by others.

This also affects our spiritual practice.

And the everyday rituals we have.

We use them as confirmation that we are the way we believe ourselves to be:

This is what I do	This is what I don’t do

The Third Fetter and Our Identity

The rules we live by are a powerful force.

Even if we don’t really notice this in everyday life.

Something in us reacts to certain values and rituals.

Some appeal to us.

Others don’t.

One thing feels right.

Another doesn’t.

We define ourselves through this.

We learn who we are.

In this way, our own particular way of going through life develops.

We experience ourselves as individual, independent and free.

Rites and rituals serve a particular purpose:

They support the idea that there is a self.

We come to the conclusion that all our likes and dislikes, our values and ideas about what is right and wrong, belong to someone.

That there is someone who performs the rituals.

Someone who likes one thing.

And doesn’t like another.

Someone who controls our likes and dislikes.

This leads directly back to the first fetter, where we draw a line:

This is me	This is not me

You can read more about this here:

🔹 The Self – The First Fetter

Who Am I Really?

Looking more closely at our rites and rituals can sometimes lead us to try to find out “who we really are”.

We look at what we like and what feels good to us.

Then we do what we want to do – and push away what we don’t want.

But this strengthens the self illusion.

Because this is how it was created.

And so our beloved ritual helps to strengthen the self.

Even though the ritual itself is not a problem.

Of course we can meditate, practise yoga, pray or follow our morning routine.

The question is whether this is simply something we like doing.

Or whether we define ourselves through it.

And in doing so, strengthen the idea that we are an independent and unique person.

What Falls Away With the Third Fetter?

When the first fetter is seen through, attachment to rules and rites falls away too.

We see that there never was a person who was strengthened by these rituals.

Meditation can still happen.

Yoga can still happen.

A prayer can still be spoken.

The morning coffee can still be made in exactly the same way.

The ritual does not have to disappear.

The idea that I could develop, grow or awaken through a particular practice turns out to be mistaken.

The falling of the first three fetters is the fruit of Stream Entry (Sotāpanna).

Further Reading

Seeing Through the Self Illusion

If you want to understand how the first three fetters are connected and what happens when the self illusion is seen through:

🔹 Seeing Through the Self Illusion

The First Three Fetters

🔹 The Self – The First Fetter

🔹 Doubt – The Second Fetter

The Ten Fetters

If you want to understand all Ten Fetters and how they are connected:

🔹 Through the Ten Fetters to Awakening

Investigating the Self Illusion

If you don’t just want to read about it, but want to look directly:

🔹 Investigating the Self Illusion

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← The Self – The First Fetter

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