The Stage of Arahantship

This chapter does not trace the historical development of the concept of Arahant. Instead, it presents Arahantship as found in the early Buddhist discourses. It argues that arahantship is considered as the perfection of a spiritual journey insofar as the early Buddhist discourses are concerned, and ideal was viewed as an attainable goal in this very lifetime (diṭṭhe va dhamme), albeit, it was not made mandatory to be attained in one lifetime. It also argues that the attainment of arahantship was mainly limited among the monastics in early Buddhism. It refutes the view that there were lay arahants in the earliest phase of Buddhism. It discusses different types of arahants, primarily paññāvimutta and ubhatobhāgavimutta. It traces cultural contests behind the development of these two types of arahants.