Noble persons and the nature of their fetter-breaking-experiences

Abstract

Having established in Chapter 4, the significance of the fact that there is a distinction between the fetter-breaking-experience and its effect, Chapter 5, “Noble persons and the nature of their fetter-breaking experience” proceeds to analyze the nature of different types of fetter-breaking-experiences and their respective effects. It sets out in detail: 1) Types of Noble persons 2) Analysis of the “fetter-breaking-experience” both in terms of the Pāli Nikāyas and Visuddhimagga and in terms of the expressions found in the field research such as “cessation,” “complete emptiness” “a strange experience” “tapering off” etc 3) Differences between the fetter-breaking-experience and other religious experiences: Differentiating the fetter-breaking-experience from similar Buddhist and non-Buddhist religious experiences such as turiya inthe Upaniṣads or the Islamic sufi experiences 4) An analysis of the re-experiencing of the fetter-breaking-experience [phala-samāpatti] 5) Differences between phala-samāpatti and cessation of perception and feeling [nirodha-samāpatti]: This includes a comparison of these two states and it contrasts them with the fetter-breaking-experience.