The Four Stages Exalted to a Peak of Spiritual Attainment in Pāli Abhidhamma and Pāli Commentarial Literature

This chapter considers the further development of the four stages in the Abhidhamma and the Pāli commentaries. It argues that the presentation and even motivation of the four stages completely shifted in the Abhidhamma and Pāli commentaries from the canonical literature. In the Pāli canonical literature, the theory of four stages was a path from an ordinary, mundane person to sainthood (arahantship). From the attainment of the first stage to the last stage, a person may enjoy many mundane successes and pleasures, both human and divine. With the later shift of the character of these stages developed the requirement for the attainment of the first stage. Whereas, in the Pāli Nikāyas, stream-entry is easily attainable even by an ordinary lay Buddhist, in the Pāli commentaries, even a lifetime monk could not be confident that he could be a stream-entrant. Thus, the original motivation behind the formation of the four stages in the Pāli canonical literature is completely forgotten in the Pāli commentarial period. Consequently, it was unclear where to place the four stages within Buddhist soteriology. In the end, these commentaries identified them as a momentary peak experience.