Sotāpanna

The word sotāpanna literally means "one who entered (āpanna) the stream (sota); stream-enterer", after a metaphor which calls the noble eightfold path a stream which leads to a vast ocean, nibbāna. It describes a person who has grasped the dharma and thereby dropped the first three fetters (Pāli: samyojana), namely self-view (sakkāya-ditthi), skeptical indecision (vicikicchā), and clinging to rites and rituals (sīlabbata-parāmāsa). A stream entrant is said to be free from possible rebirth in one of the three lower realms.

Attainment

Having dropped the first three fetters, a person who has just begun on the path of stream-entry (sotāpatti-magga) is called a sotāpanna.

The sotāpanna is said to attain an intuitive grasp of the dharma—this wisdom being called right view (sammā diṭṭhi)—and has unshakable confidence in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha; this trio is sometimes taken to be the triple refuge, and are at other times listed as being objects of recollection. In general though, confirmed confidence in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha is considered to be one of the four limbs of stream-winning (sotāpannassa angāni). The sotāpanna is said to have "opened the eye of the Dhamma" (dhammacakkhu), because they have realized that whatever arises will cease (impermanence). Their conviction in the true Dharma would at this point be unshakable.

The sotāpanna has had their first glimpse of the unconditioned element, the asankhata, in which they see the goal, in the moment of the fruition of their path (magga-phala). Whereas the stream-entrant has seen nibbāna and therefore has verified confidence in it, the arahant can drink fully of its waters, to use a simile from the Kosambi Sutta (SN 12.68) of a "well" encountered along a desert road. The sotāpanna "may state this about himself: 'Hell is ended; animal wombs are ended; the state of the hungry shades is ended; states of deprivation, destitution, the bad bourns are ended! I am a stream-winner, steadfast, never again destined for states of woe, headed for self-awakening!'"

The remaining three paths—namely: once-return (sakadāgāmin), non-return (anāgāmin), and sainthood (arahatta)—become "destined" (sammatta niyāma) for the stream-entrant, whose enlightenment as a disciple (ariya-sāvaka) becomes inevitable within seven lives transmigrating among gods and humans. If they are diligent (appamatta, appamāda) in the practice of the Teacher's (satthāra) message, they may fully awaken within their present life. They have very little future suffering to undergo.

The early Buddhist texts (e.g. the Ratana Sutta) say that a stream-entrant will no longer be born in the animal womb, or hell realms, nor as a hungry ghost. The pathways to unfortunate rebirth destinations (duggati) have been closed to them.

Joy Manné notes that early Buddhist texts spoke of two stages, a 'convert', who has just joined the community, and the arhat, who is liberated. As the account of Buddhist praxis developed, two extra steps were added and the 'convert' stage became known as sotāpanna.

According to Theravada Buddhism, in the period of 5,000 years after the parinirvana of Buddha, we can still attain sotāpanna or even Arhat through practicing satipatthana, and satipatthana is the only way out.

Three fetters

In the Pali Canon, the qualities of a sotāpanna are described as:

...those monks who have abandoned (the first) three fetters, are all stream-winners, certain, never again destined for the lower realms, headed for self-awakening. This is how the Dhamma well-proclaimed by me is clear, open, evident, stripped of rags.

— Alagaddupama Sutta

The three fetters which the sotāpanna eradicates are:

1. Self-view — The view of substance, or that what is compounded (sankhata), could be eternal in the five aggregates (form, feelings, perception, intentions, cognizance) and thus possessed or owned as 'I', 'me', or 'mine'. A sotāpanna lacks a view about self (sakkāya-ditthi) because this view is proclaimed to be a subtle form of clinging.
2. Clinging to rites and rituals — The view that one becomes pure simply through performing rituals (animal sacrifices, ablutions, chanting, etc.), adhering to rigid moralism, or relying on a god for non-causal delivery (issara nimmāna). Rites and rituals now function more to obscure than to support the right view of the sotāpanna's now-opened dharma eye. The sotāpanna realizes that deliverance can be won only through the practice of the Noble Eightfold Path. It is the elimination of the notion that there are shortcuts to perfecting all virtues.
3. Skeptical doubt (Vicikitsa) — Doubt about the Buddha, his teaching (dharma), and his community (sangha) is eradicated because the sotāpanna personally experiences the true nature of reality through insight, and this insight confirms the accuracy of the Buddha's teaching. Seeing removes doubt, because the sight is a form of vision (dassana), that allows one to know (ñāṇa).

Defilements

According to the Pali commentary, six types of defilement are eventually abandoned by a sotāpanna:

1. Envy
2. Jealousy
3. Hypocrisy
4. Fraud
5. Denigration
6. Domineering

Rebirth

A sotāpanna is safe from falling into the states of misery (they will not be born as an animal, ghost, or hell being). Their lust, hatred, and delusion are not strong enough to cause rebirth in the lower realms. A sotāpanna will have to be reborn at most only seven more times in the human or heavenly worlds before attaining nibbāna. It is not necessary for a sotāpanna to be reborn seven more times before attaining nibbāna, as an ardent practitioner may progress to the higher stages in the same life in which he/she reaches the sotāpanna level by making an aspiration and persistent effort to reach the final goal of nibbāna.

According to Buddha, there are three types of sotāpannas, classifiable according to their possible rebirths:

1. "If a man, after the disappearance of the 3 fetters [the samyojana: personality-belief, skeptical doubt, attachment to rules and rituals], has entered the stream [to Nibbāna], he is no more subject to rebirth in lower worlds, is firmly established, destined to full enlightenment. After having passed amongst the heavenly and human beings only seven times more through the round of rebirths, he puts an end to suffering. Such a man is called 'one with 7 births at the utmost' [sattakkhattu-parama]."
2. "If a man, after the disappearance of the 3 fetters.... is destined to full enlightenment, he, after having passed among noble families two or three times through the round of rebirths, puts an end to suffering. Such a man is called 'one passing from one noble family to another' [kolankola]."
3. "If a man, after the disappearance of the 3 fetters.... is destined to full enlightenment, he, after having only once more returned to human existence, puts an end to suffering. Such a man is called 'one germinating only once more' [eka-bījī]."

Six actions that are not committed

A sotāpanna will not commit six wrong actions:

1. Murdering one's own mother.
2. Murdering one's own father.
3. Murdering an arahant.
4. Maliciously injuring the Buddha to the point of drawing blood.
5. Deliberately creating a schism in the monastic community.
6. Taking another Teacher [besides Buddha].