Rebirth of a Sotapanna

[SarathW]

I have read very many ocations that the Sotapanna person will be reborne less than seven times. However
Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw said as follows. Can some one clarify this for me.
"The defilements and kammas are then done away with, once and forever. The yogis who attain sotapatti stage overcome the defilements and kammas that lead to the lower worlds, and those that may cause good rebirth for more than seven lifetimes, the yogis at the sakadagami stage overcome those that may cause more than two rebirths while the yogis at the anagami stage remove those that lead to rebirth in sensual worlds. Finally, the yogi who attains arahatta stage eradicates the remaining defilements and kamma. In other words, he becomes an Arahat, the Noble one who is worthy of honour because he is wholly free from defilements."
http://www.budsas.org/ebud/mahasi-patic ... cca-06.htm

[LonesomeYogurt]

I have read very many ocations that the Sotapanna person will be reborne less than seven times. However
Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw said as follows. Can some one clarify this for me.
"The defilements and kammas are then done away with, once and forever. The yogis who attain sotapatti stage overcome the defilements and kammas that lead to the lower worlds, and those that may cause good rebirth for more than seven lifetimes, the yogis at the sakadagami stage overcome those that may cause more than two rebirths while the yogis at the anagami stage remove those that lead to rebirth in sensual worlds. Finally, the yogi who attains arahatta stage eradicates the remaining defilements and kamma. In other words, he becomes an Arahat, the Noble one who is worthy of honour because he is wholly free from defilements."
http://www.budsas.org/ebud/mahasi-patic ... cca-06.htm

He is saying is that a Sotapanna has purified their mind to the point where they will never do anything that would lead them to be reborn in a lower realm, or anything that would make them reborn more than seven times. The same goes for the other stages, except that they will be born even fewer times. Finally, an Arahant will never be born again because they are completely free from anything defiled.

Does that make sense?

[SarathW]

Thank you for your clrification Lonesome. Do you know the reason or logic behind why that Sotapanna will be reborn for less than seven times?

[mikenz66]

Hi Sarah,

The maximum of seven rebirths can be deduced from a few Suttas, such as:
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html

However, as far as I know, there are no suttas that describe a particular person being reborn in the human realm, whereas there are a number of suttas describing rebirth in higher realms.


Mike

[LonesomeYogurt]

Thank you for your clrification Lonesome. Do you know the reason or logic behind why that Sotapanna will be reborn for less than seven times?

Because, when one becomes a Sotapanna, or "stream-enterer," they have entered the stream that will take them to the ocean, i. e. Nibanna. They have cleared their minds of the defilements that could possibly lead to actions that cause rebirth in Hell. With Sotapannas, it's only "a matter of time" so to speak because they have changed their minds to the point where the seeds for destructive actions just aren't there anymore.

Do you have any experience with farming? Sometimes, if soil is bad, one crop might be okay one year but terrible the next; the quality just goes up and down forever. But when you take time to really enrich the soil with fertilizer or other means, when you remove the stuff that is holding your crop back, then it's only a matter of time before a great crop arises. It might take a little work, maybe a few seasons, but once the soil is really healthy, it can't go back to being bad until a great crop is born of it. That is what Sotapannas have done; they've made the soil of their minds wholesome to the point where they can't go back until the perfect harvest - Nibbana.

Does that make sense?

[SarathW]

Thanks Lonesome and Mike. The Sotapanna has eliminated the first three fetters and only seven more fetters to be eliminated. So I wonder whether “seven lives” is just a metaphor to show the small effort (in comparison) required to achieve the final goal.

[LonesomeYogurt]

Thanks Lonesome and Mike. The Sotapanna has eliminated the first three fetters and only seven more fetters to be eliminated. So I wonder whether “seven lives” is just a metaphor to show the small effort (in comparison) required to achieve the final goal.

You'll probably upset a lot of really conservative people by saying so, but I'm in agreement with you - I doubt a universal natural law keeps track of those lives.

[mikenz66]

Thanks Lonesome and Mike. The Sotapanna has eliminated the first three fetters and only seven more fetters to be eliminated. So I wonder whether “seven lives” is just a metaphor to show the small effort (in comparison) required to achieve the final goal.

Certainly, it might well be one of those random "quite large" (and prime) numbers. There are a lot of "sevens" in the Suttas (e.g. in the Satipatthana suttahttp://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.010.soma.html), as I realised when trying to find a sutta specifying seven lives...

site:http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka seven
https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3A ... =firefox-a


Mike

[parth]

Dear Mike,

Lets not doubt things just because they are prime nos. more than this doubt lets put efforts for maintaining that required mindfulness for just 7 days. Mind you what Buddha means is keeping that mindfulness unbroken continuously for 7 days and intervening nights.

Metta

Parth

[xtracorrupt]

I have read very many ocations that the Sotapanna person will be reborne less than seven times. However
Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw said as follows. Can some one clarify this for me.
"The defilements and kammas are then done away with, once and forever. The yogis who attain sotapatti stage overcome the defilements and kammas that lead to the lower worlds, and those that may cause good rebirth for more than seven lifetimes, the yogis at the sakadagami stage overcome those that may cause more than two rebirths while the yogis at the anagami stage remove those that lead to rebirth in sensual worlds. Finally, the yogi who attains arahatta stage eradicates the remaining defilements and kamma. In other words, he becomes an Arahat, the Noble one who is worthy of honour because he is wholly free from defilements."
http://www.budsas.org/ebud/mahasi-patic ... cca-06.htm

a sotapanna does not have to be reborn 7 times in order to attain nirvana, any sentient being can attain nirvana in any life, it all depends on the will