The four Dhyānas and the four Noble Fruits compared

The Four Dhyānas are four levels of meditative absorption, from shallow to deep, set out by the Buddha as a standard. The Buddha himself passed through these four levels of absorption to attain the Way. Throughout his life of teaching, he repeated the standard of the four levels again and again to remind his disciples. Then, in his final moments in the Sala grove at Kusinara, the Buddha entered and left the four levels of meditation at will before entering complete Nirvana. That was the essence of the Dharma, entrusted by the Buddha through the act of entering and leaving meditation, without any further words. Whatever else the Buddha's disciples do, they must practise until they can enter and leave the four levels of meditation at will in the same way.

Alongside this remarkable standard of the four levels of meditation, the Buddha also established four noble fruits of liberation, rising from lower to higher. A person who attains one of these four noble fruits is regarded as having the standing of a saint, the nature of a saint, the worth of a saint, and as having risen above the ordinariness of human beings. The standard for assessing the noble fruits is the degree of growth in morality, through eliminating the fetters, which differs from the standard of the Four Dhyānas, which is the depth of absorption.

Many people feel confused about the difference between the Four Dhyānas and the Four Noble Fruits, because both are exalted and great, and both are rungs on the ladder towards liberation.

1. The Four Dhyānas

The Four Dhyānas are four levels of absorption, divided into the First Dhyāna, Second Dhyāna, Third Dhyāna and Fourth Dhyāna. Each of these four levels has an entering and a leaving. That is, when we want to dwell in a given level, we need time and effort; these are not constant states. And when we want to return to our former state, we also have to make an effort to come out; it is not instant. Ordinarily, when not in meditation, a meditator dwells in a quiet, alert inner awareness, but this is not one of the four levels. These four levels are carried out only in a motionless posture. Sometimes, however, a meditator may walk while in very deep meditation. Such a person is then regarded as having awakened supernormal powers, since supernormal power means entering absorption and acting at the same time. We need to understand the nature of the Four Dhyānas before comparing them with the Four Noble Fruits. What is presented here is based on the Sāmaññaphala Sutta (the Discourse on the Fruits of the Contemplative Life) in the Dīgha Nikāya.

The First Dhyāna is the first level of absorption, but it requires that one has already attained mindfulness with clear awareness and has finished eliminating the Five Hindrances. The practitioner seems to slip into a purer state that is automatic, no longer needing the effort to guard it as before. When mindfulness is attained, the practitioner finds that the mind is already pure, but it still has to be kept with a light and skilful touch. From the First Dhyāna onward, however, the practitioner no longer has to guard it; the mind dwells in absorption by itself. The practitioner feels the body change from a stiff state (when the hindrance of restlessness has just been eliminated) to a soft, fluid state, like a mass of viscous liquid, similar to soap.

The practitioner's mind is of course still, but in fact there are still thoughts about their own practice and their own attainment. These thoughts are so quiet that the practitioner hardly knows they are still having thoughts, and believes they are completely pure. The Buddha described this as the state of "joy born of detachment from desire, with applied thought and sustained thought still present", and the whole body is like a lump of bath powder mixed with water (like soapy water today).

In the First Dhyāna the practitioner leaves behind worldly desires, because the inner happiness is both full and pure. The whole body is always in a state of gentle, overflowing delight. This is truly the blessing of the heavenly realms. The hidden thought about one's own effort and attainment gives rise to a kind of understanding of the Dharma and a secret pride. The practitioner will easily answer questions about obscure Zen sayings, or will gladly lose themselves in teaching the Dharma if given the chance. So although the First Dhyāna is truly great, it also holds many dangers for morality.

The Second Dhyāna is the next result if the practitioner has enough merit. The practitioner will feel the whole body like cool, clear water welling up without end. The Buddha described it as a lake fed by a spring and by rain that pour in endlessly, yet never let a drop of water escape from the lake. Of course, water is softer and more fluid than the viscous soapy water. From the stiff whole body of mindfulness, the body softens in the First Dhyāna into viscous soapy water; by the Second Dhyāna it has become completely soft like pure water, with the added feeling of welling up and overflowing, again and again.

The joy of the Second Dhyāna is deeper and warmer than that of the First, because pride and thought are lessened. The Buddha called the Second Dhyāna "joy and happiness born of concentration", meaning that the joy of the Second Dhyāna really comes from the mind being completely at ease in absorption. At this point the hidden thoughts also disappear, so in daily life the practitioner no longer likes to show off and is very gentle. The Buddha called this the ending of applied and sustained thought. At this stage the practitioner develops very sharp, quick wisdom; their understanding of the Dharma is inexhaustible and unobstructed; whatever they glance at, they understand clearly; they can sit in meditation for very long periods, and often know the hour of their death beforehand. If wrong views do not creep in, the path to liberation of someone who has reached the Second Dhyāna is certain. If wrong views do creep in, and the practitioner mistakenly believes they are complete, thinking they have seen their nature and become a Buddha, then they

use up all their merit in this life and, in the next life, will fall back and sink to a much lower level.

The Buddha described the Third Dhyāna as the whole body like a lotus flower rising from the water, covered by the water, with equanimity and happy dwelling in the mind, and with a bliss that is subtle and inexhaustible.

The joy of the Third Dhyāna is very deep, subtle and pervasive, like a lotus flower submerged in water: soaked, flooded, yet not absorbing the water. In the same way, the joy of the Third Dhyāna is entirely free and peaceful and goes beyond the body, as if all of space were equally happy. The practitioner's body at this stage is like a mass of joyful, peaceful air.

The meaning of "letting go of thought" (xả niệm) here is that the practitioner has gone beyond the aggregate of perception and entered, and gained control of, the aggregate of mental formations. The aggregate of mental formations is the secret unconscious part of each person's mind that we cannot ourselves see. A great deal of creativity, reasoning, searching, calculating and so on belongs to the aggregate of mental formations. The aggregate of perception displays only a very small part of it. The speed of the aggregate of mental formations is extremely fast. Gaining control of it means that the mind is truly stable. The instincts of survival, of enjoyment and so on are all restrained. At this point, when sitting in absorption, the practitioner no longer hears any outside sights or sounds, and dwells firmly and completely in their own inner world, bright, subtle and pure.

The practitioner already has a good number of supernormal powers, and can know many things and do many extraordinary things. The practitioner can also be master of life and death, and can die whenever they wish. However, according to the Buddha's teaching, if the practitioner uses supernormal powers at this point, they will be stopped where they are and find it hard to reach complete liberation. At this level, such a person is truly already an extraordinary saint in the human world. The obstacle remains wrong view. If wrong view leads them to regard themselves as a Buddha, or equal to a Buddha, they will fall back in another life, some thousands of years later.

The Fourth Dhyāna is the last level of meditation for realisation. The Buddha described it as a state of pure equanimity and mindfulness, neither pleasant nor painful. The "letting go of thought" here differs from that of the Third Dhyāna. In the Third Dhyāna it means going beyond the conscious mind in order to enter the unconscious. In the Fourth Dhyāna it means going completely beyond the mind, including both the unconscious and the conscious.

Because the ego is contained in the mind, when there is no mind the ego ends too. The Ego exists in mind, so once mind comes to end, Ego disappears, too. The Buddha described the Fourth Dhyāna as being like a person sitting with a white cloth covering the whole body. In the same way, the whole body is no longer stiff like the log of mindfulness, no longer viscous like the soapy water of the First Dhyāna, no longer entirely fluid like the pure water of the Second Dhyāna, no longer supple like the whole expanse of air of the Third Dhyāna, but has become a mass of pure light. The whole body is clear awareness, the whole body is wisdom. We should not be mistaken, though. The body becoming a mass of pure light is different from the beginner in meditation whose whole body gives off a radiance that other people can see.

When the practitioner reaches this stage, they are naturally bound to go through the experience of the Three Knowledges. First is remembering their own countless past lives in every small detail, which accomplishes the Knowledge of Past Lives. Next is seeing the passing of countless beings through birth and death in the various realms according to their good and bad karma, which accomplishes the Divine Eye. Finally is seeing clearly the nature of the suffering of the cycle of birth and death, the cause of suffering, the nature of Nirvana and the path leading to Nirvana, which accomplishes the Knowledge of the Destruction of the Taints.

After accomplishing the Three Knowledges, this person is completely a transcendent, liberated saint, an Arhat. Thus, by the path of the Four Dhyānas, the practitioner still arrives at the fourth noble fruit, that of the Arhat.

1. The Four Fruits

The Four Noble Fruits, by contrast, do not refer to the level or state of absorption; they rely on the standard of breaking the fetters, that is, on the degree of progress in morality. The Buddha also did not give a fixed formula linking morality and meditative concentration, although in the end the Fourth Dhyāna together with the Three Knowledges equals the Fourth Noble Fruit:

Fourth Dhyāna + Three Knowledges = the Fourth Noble Fruit

For the earlier stages we find no clear connection.

The First Fruit, Stream-enterer (Sotāpatti), is the first noble stage, reached after a disciple of the Buddha has broken the three fetters of the view of self, attachment to rules and rituals, and doubt.

The view of self means selfishness. Someone who has not attained the First Fruit is often governed by a selfish mind and thinks only of their own benefit. Someone who attains the First Fruit finds that the selfish mind disappears, replaced by a life full of living for others. This altruistic mind is not yet the selfless mind of the Arhat, although it is very ready to sacrifice. In fact, a person must train in morality to have an altruistic mind before they can attain the First Fruit. A mind that has found stillness and enjoys the happiness of meditative concentration also helps the practitioner lighten the selfish mind.

Attachment to rules and rituals means a rigid, clinging mind. A person who breaks this fetter does not cling to forms, to unreasonable customs, to mistaken rules, to limiting methods, or to outside opinion. They do only what is right according to the Way, to the goal of awakening and to morality. A mind at ease in meditation also helps break this fetter.

Doubt means not yet being resolved about the ideal of awakening, not yet being resolved in one's reverence for the Buddha, and not yet being sure that one has found the right direction. Someone who attains the First Fruit is the opposite: they have resolved their direction, their ideal and an absolute reverence for the Buddha. A person must have settled results in meditation to have such positive qualities. Therefore those who attain the First Fruit must also be people who have gained some result in meditative concentration. They may have attained mindfulness with clear awareness, or the First Dhyāna, but not necessarily.

A person who attains the First Fruit may have the meditative level of mindfulness, or the First Dhyāna, or even the Second Dhyāna. But conversely, a person who has attained such a meditative level has not necessarily attained any noble fruit. That is why followers of other paths can attain meditative concentration but cannot attain noble fruits. A noble fruit differs from meditative concentration in that it requires wisdom, morality and view. Meditative concentration only requires a still mind, although we know that for the mind to enter stillness one must have merit, morality and qigong.

Most of those who attain noble fruits have a cause in a distant past life, when they wholeheartedly revered some awakened saint. It is like saint succeeding saint in an endless line. Accomplishing meditative concentration, by contrast, requires only the merit of bringing much happiness to people.

However, nearly everyone who attains one also attains the other: they have reverence for the Buddha, have brought happiness to people, and have trained themselves in strict moral standards.

Another difference between the noble fruits and the four levels of meditation is the promise about the future. For the levels of meditation, the Buddha only described and praised the state of mind. For the noble fruits, the Buddha promised complete liberation in the future, according to each different fruit. For the First Fruit, Stream-enterer, the Buddha confirmed that such a person will surely be liberated but gave no specific time. The materials of Northern Buddhism, however, hold that a person who attains the First Fruit will still have seven rebirths into the human realm and then will

attain Arhatship. This is a point of difference between the two Buddhist systems.

The Second Fruit, Once-returner (Sakadāgāmī, sakid meaning once, āgāmī meaning coming), exists in a person who has finished breaking the three fetters above and continues to thin out greed and hatred. A person who attains the Second Fruit has not yet eliminated the two fetters of greed and hatred; they have only lessened greed and hatred. The greed and hatred here are very deep roots of consciousness, not the ordinary greed and hatred we usually see. So the Second Fruit does not yet need to destroy greed and hatred completely, but thinning them out is enough that we would never see such a person give rise to greed and hatred again. Subtle greed and hatred must wait for the Third Fruit to be completely eliminated.

We will remember that after attaining mindfulness with clear awareness, the practitioner goes on to eliminate the Five Hindrances, which include two hindrances, greed and hatred. The difference between the hindrances of greed and hatred and the fetters of greed and hatred is this:

Hindrance means binding and covering. Fetter means tying and commanding. The two meanings sound similar, and from ancient times the Buddha did not draw a sharp distinction. We only see that among the Five Hindrances that must be broken to enter the First Dhyāna, the hindrance of doubt coincides with the fetter of doubt broken at the First Fruit, and the hindrance of greed and hatred coincides with the fetters of greed and hatred broken at the Second Fruit. Since the Five Hindrances, which are broken before the First Dhyāna, include neither the view of self nor attachment to rules and rituals, we dare not conclude that breaking the Five Hindrances amounts to attaining the noble fruits equivalent to the First, Second or Third Fruit. But we must acknowledge that a person who has broken the Five Hindrances already has the noble qualities of a saint. We may tentatively take it that hindrance has a shallower meaning than fetter, and go on to reason that thinning out the fetters of greed and hatred at the Second Fruit, and completely eliminating them at the Third Fruit, is more complete than breaking the hindrances of greed and hatred. In a world full of greed and hatred, a person with no greed or hatred left is truly a light. We also understand that for the heart to be free of greed and hatred, that person's mind must also be extremely quiet. The Buddha also confirmed that a person who attains the Second Fruit, Once-returner, will have only one more rebirth into this world and then attain Arhatship.

The Third Fruit, Non-returner (anāgāmī, meaning not coming again), appears in a person who has gone on to eliminate the two fetters of greed and hatred completely.

The cause that keeps us entangled with this world is greed, craving, hatred and jealousy. Once the two fetters of greed and hatred are gone, the connection with this world is also gone. Therefore a Non-returner is no longer reborn into this realm; they will be spontaneously born in the Akaniṭṭha (Highest) Pure Abode of the form realm, and after an indefinite period will attain Nirvana there. We need not speculate about the transcendent qualities of a Non-returner; we only compare them with the four levels of meditation to understand the similarities and differences. Nor do we hear that attaining any particular level of meditation amounts to attaining the Non-returner; we simply follow the Buddha's teaching, which says that whoever can eliminate the five fetters, from the view of self, attachment to rules and rituals, doubt, greed and hatred, reaches the Third Noble Fruit.

These are the five unwholesome, immoral things that keep beings imprisoned as ordinary, common people. Whoever escapes these five immoral things becomes a saint who never returns to being an ordinary person. But there are still five more subtle unwholesome things that continue to hold the Non-returner, preventing this saint from reaching absolute liberation and awakening. They are:

• Craving for the form realm: a mind that loves the heavenly realms, especially a lofty heaven such as Akaniṭṭha.

• Craving for the formless realm: a mind that is fond of the formless realm, which is also counted as a heavenly realm but has only a very deep stillness of mind and no longer has a bodily form. These two realms are exalted, subtle and blissful, and everyone mistakenly takes them for the final, absolute resting place and clings to them. Only the Buddha knows that those realms are still limited.

• Restlessness: because the state of realisation of a Non-returner is so lofty, these saints themselves quietly feel self-satisfied. This self-satisfaction is extremely subtle, and the saint is unaware of it unless the

Buddha warns them. Because of this self-satisfaction, although a Non-returner is in absorption, there is still a little of a mind that dwells, a mind that clings, a mind that enjoys. Because of these, the Buddha criticised the Non-returner as still restless.

• Conceit: a trace of the mind that sees itself as surpassing other beings. A completely liberated Arhat sees themselves and other beings as one; a Non-returner, however free, still has an extremely subtle trace of seeing themselves as better than other beings. Because of this fault, the Buddha said the Non-returner still has conceit. Truly, without the Buddha lighting the way, no one could possibly know such extremely subtle faults.

• Ignorance: what ignorance is, only an Arhat and the Buddha know; we can never perceive it. We can only provisionally understand that because of ignorance we cling to a self and do not realise Nirvana. In fact, no one even knows what clinging to a self is. A person may enter absorption for two or three days, with a mind empty as space, and still not see what the ego is. The ego is so deeply hidden, so secret, that few can escape it. Sometimes people sustain the ego through teachings that sound towering and sublime; they exalt their own mind and praise their own nature, without knowing they have surrendered to the ego.

The Arhat (Arahanta) is the final, highest noble fruit, truly liberated, with complete awakening. An Arhat has full, extraordinary and free supernormal powers and is no longer swept into the cycle of birth and death, except when appearing by choice because of a great vow. The greatness of an Arhat cannot be expressed in any words. Each person, according to their own conditions and wisdom, understands only some small part.

When the ego is gone, the Arhat becomes the whole universe and so understands everything in the universe; when the ego has ended, the Arhat becomes all beings and so loves all beings. When the ego is exhausted, the Arhat is no longer bound by any force to the cycle of birth and death and so is completely liberated.

After breaking the last five fetters, a Non-returner attains Arhatship, which means that morality has become absolutely perfect. No god or heavenly being can find any fault in an Arhat. Naturally, an Arhat has also completed the four levels of meditation. The Four Dhyānas and the Four Noble Fruits are thus both fully present in the Arhat.

3. The Five Levels of Concentration

Besides the four levels of meditation and the four noble fruits, we also hear the Buddha speak of five levels of concentration (định). Many people mistakenly think the five levels of concentration are higher than the Four Dhyānas. In fact, the five levels correspond to the four levels of meditation and differ only in how the mind is directed. To accomplish the qualities of Dhyāna, the practitioner must keep the mind close to the body and follow the body. The results attained in Dhyāna also relate to bodily states such as stiff, soft, like air, or like light.

To accomplish the qualities of concentration, by contrast, the practitioner must let the mind go without dwelling anywhere, and in this way the mind readily expands without limit. It is easier to gather the mind by practising Dhyāna than by practising concentration.

The concentration of the sphere of infinite space corresponds to the First Dhyāna; the practitioner sees the mind as empty, vast space.

The concentration of the sphere of infinite consciousness corresponds to the Second Dhyāna; the practitioner sees that within that vast emptiness there is all awareness. Even trees and rocks have awareness.

The concentration of the sphere of nothingness corresponds to the first part of the Third Dhyāna; the practitioner sees that in all of heaven, earth and the universe nothing exists. It is like the phrase "not a single thing" that Zen masters often use.

The concentration of neither perception nor non-perception corresponds to the latter part of the Third Dhyāna. The practitioner's mind seems to exist because it still knows, but also seems not to exist because it is so pure. At this point it knows, yet seems not to know.

The concentration of cessation, or the cessation of feeling and perception, corresponds to the Fourth Dhyāna. A saint who enters this concentration is dwelling in the realm of Nirvana even though they have not yet left the body. This is also the true nature of the universe, the Dharma realm. Only someone who has attained Arhatship can enter this concentration.

Question: If someone says that practising Buddhism is passive, how should one answer?