..续本文上一页filements is not difficult at all, because they are just primitive qualities possessed by primitive, under-developed people. In anyone who has studied well and made progress, these three elements should not be present; and if they are, then that person”s mind should be considered still primitive. Anyone ought to be able to give up these three defilements and become an Aryian. If he can”t he is still a foolish and deluded person, or, to use the best term, a worldling (Puthujjana), someone with a thick blindfold covering the eye of insight . When any inpidual has managed to give up these defilements, his mind is freed from bondage to the world. These three are ignorance and delusion obscuring the truth and are fetters binding the mind to the world. Giving them up is like rendering ineffective three kinds of bondage or three blind folds, then slipping free and rising above and beyond the world, into the first supramundane level. This is what it is to become an Aryian of the first degree, to attain the first level in the supramundane plane. Such an inpidual is called a "Stream - enterer," one who has attained for the first time the Stream that flows on to Nirvana. In other words an inpidual at this stage is certain to attain Nirvana at some time in the future. What he has attained is only the Stream of Nirvana, not Nirvana itself. This Stream is a course that flows right on to Nirvana, inclining towards Nirvana just as the water-course of a river slopes down towards the sea. Though it may still take some time, a mind which has once entered the Stream is certain to achieve Nirvana eventually. Attaining the second level in the supramundane plane implies giving up the three fetters just mentioned, and further, being able to attenuate certain types of craving, aversion and delusion to such a degree that the mind becomes elevated and only very feebly attached to sensuality. It is traditionally held that an inpidual who achieves this level will return to this world at most only once more, hence he is known as a "Once - returner." A Once - returner is closer to Nirvana than a Stream - enterer, there remaining in him no more than a trace of worldliness. Should he return to the sensual human world, he will do so not more than once, because craving, aversion and delusion, though not completely eliminated, have become exceedingly attenuated.

　　The third stage is that of the Never - returner. This grade of Aryian, besides having succeeded in giving up the defilements to the extent necessary for becoming a Once - returner, has also managed to give up the fourth and fifth fetters. The Fourth fetter is sensual desire and the fifth is ill will. Neither the Stream - enterer nor the Once - returner has completely given up sensual desire. In both of them there is still a remnant of satisfaction in alluring and desirable objects. Even though they have managed to give up self belief, doubt and superstition, they are still unable to relinquish completely their attachment to sensuality of which some traces remain. But an Aryian at the third stage, a Never - returner, has succeeded in giving it up completely, so that not a trace remains. The defilement called ill will, which includes all feelings of anger or resentment, has been washed out to a large extent by the Once - returner so that there remains only a trace of ill humor to obstruct his mind; but the Never - returner has got rid of it altogether. Thus the Never - returner has thrown off both sensual desire and ill will.

　　This sensual desire or attachment to and satisfaction in sensuality was explained adequately in the section on sensual attachment. It is a chronic defilement, firmly fixed in the mind as if it were a very part of it, of the same substance. For the ordinary man, it is hard to understand …

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