What does stream entry mean? In Buddhism, it describes the falling away of the first three fetters: self, doubt and attachment to rules and rituals.
understand
Articles that explain context and background.
They offer clarity and understanding of the Buddhist framework, the ten fetters, and direct experience.
The Illusion of Self – My Dialogue
What happens when you actually look for the “I” that seems to think, decide and control?
This is the original dialogue in which I investigated the self illusion and eventually saw through the First Fetter.
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.
Doubt and Perplexity – The Second Fetter
The second fetter is doubt and perplexity – the apparent ability to resist or deflect what challenges our idea of who we are. It falls away together with the first and third fetters when the self illusion is seen through.
Seeing through the self illusion
Seeing through the self illusion means looking directly at present experience and discovering that no separate thinker, chooser or doer can be found. Nothing mystical happens. Life continues, but the assumption of a central “me” begins to fall away.
Who are you?
Who are you, really? Most answers are stories. Name, job, past. But what is actually here, right now?
Awakening is probably not what you think it is
What do you imagine when you hear the word “awakening”?
Something big?
Something special?
Maybe even something unreachable?
In direct experience, it turns out to be something very different.