The Notion of Fetter in Early Buddhism

Abstract

This study explores the notion of fetter (<i>saṃyojana</i>) in the <i>Sutta</i> and the <i>Abhidhamma Piṭaka</i>-s of the Pāli Canon, by showing its three main functions as householder binding, as intra-psychic binding, and as existential binding. The study deliberates that the Theravāda tradition links the existential binding with the ten fetters which define the four stages of liberation; namely, stream-entry, once-returning, non-returning, and arahatship. It demonstrates this notion is a doctrinal development in the Pāli Canon. It examines different descriptions of the attainment of the four stages of liberation, the lexicons of which do not uniformly employ fetter as the standardized description of soteriological hierarchy in the <i>Sutta</i>-s, but the concept became widespread in the <i>Abhidhamma</i>. The Theravāda tradition simply inherits the <i>Abhidhammic</i> explanation of the Four Noble Persons with reference to giving up of the traditional ten fetters, and disregards other descriptions available in the <i>Sutta</i>-s. It is hypothesized that the earlier connotations of fetter in its mundane and psychological sense was almost superseded by its existential usage.