4 stages of enlightenment?
Upvote:0
It appears you have confused the self-view (Sakkaya Ditthi) from self-identification (Asmi mana) This quite a common misconception. I learn this from our Kalyanamitta Santa some few years back.
Upvote:3
The four stages are not related to "reflexively respond forcefully to never allow it to arise again and give rise to suffering". To volitionally not allow defilements to arise is called 'mindfulness & clear comprehension' and also 'sense restraint', as follows:
Thus associating with good persons, becoming full, fills up hearing the good Dhamma. Hearing the good Dhamma, becoming full, fills up faith. Faith, becoming full, fills up careful attention. Careful attention, becoming full, fills up mindfulness & clear comprehension (satisampajañña). Mindfulness & clear comprehension, becoming full, fill up restraint of the sense faculties (indriyasaṃvara). Restraint of the sense faculties, becoming full, fills up the three kinds of good conduct. The three kinds of good conduct, becoming full, fill up the four establishments of mindfulness. The four establishments of mindfulness, becoming full, fill up the seven factors of enlightenment. The seven factors of enlightenment, becoming full, fill up true knowledge and liberation (vijjāvimutti). Thus there is nutriment for true knowledge and liberation and in this way they become full.
The four stages occur due to direct insight or "true knowledge (vijjā) leading to liberation (vimutti)".
Other Pali terms for "direct knowledge", of which there are many, include:
Vipassanā
Yathābhūtañāṇadassana
Sammāñāṇa
"Vipassana" means the mind constantly experiences the impermanence of sense phenomena. When constant impermanence of sense phenomena is experienced, the mind becomes "disenchanted" ("nibbidā") with sense phenomena because it sees nothing (except non-attachment/Nibbana) can provide stable happiness & security. The mind also ends ignorance because it sees the truth of impermanence (aniccam), the truth of lack of happiness (dukkham) and the truth of not-self (anatta). This disenchantment plus its associated "dispassion" ("viraga") and direct seeing of not-self causes craving and conceit to end via direct seeing.
Compare the above, for example, to constantly seeing images of the consequences of war, such as destroyed buildings; dead, burned, injured, raped, thin, sick and homeless people; etc. Merely seeing these images results in a lack of desire towards war. No forceful effort is required to give up enthusiasm for war because the mind sees directly the horrors of war. Vipassana is the same. The mind directly sees the horror of impermanent not-self conditioned sense phenomena and loses desire & identification towards these phenomena.
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