Ten fetters
In the Sutrayana there are ten fetters (Pali dasa samyojana; Skt. daśa saṁyojana; Tib. ཀུན་ཏུ་སྦྱོར་བ་ བཅུ་, Wyl. kun tu sbyor ba bcu) that are listed as binding one to the cycle of rebirth. They are:
- The mistaken belief in the existence of a self in relation to the five aggregates (Pali sakkāyadiṭṭhi; Skt. satkāyadṛṣṭi; Tib. འཇིག་ཚོགས་ལ་ལྟ་བ་, Wyl. ’jig tshogs la lta ba).
- Doubt (Pali vicikicchā; Skt. vicikitsā; Tib. ཐེ་ཚོམ་ , Wyl. the tshom) about the efficacy of the path.
- Attachment to rules and rituals (Pali sīlabbata-parāmāsa; Skt. śīla-vrata¬parāmarśa; Tib. ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་དང་བརྟུལ་ཞུགས་མཆོག་ཏུ་འཛིན་པ་ , Wyl. tshul khrims dang brtul zhugs mchog tu ’dzin pa) and the belief that, for example, purificatory rites, such as bathing in the Ganges River or performing sacrifices, can free a person from the consequences of unwholesome actions.
- Craving sense pleasures (Pali kāmacchando; Skt. kāmarāga; Tib. འདོད་པ་ལ་འདོད་ཆགས་, Wyl. ’dod pa la ’dod chags).
- Malice (Pali vyāpādo; Skt. vyāpāda; Tib. གནོད་སེམས་ , Wyl. gnod sems).
- Craving rebirth in the realm of subtle form (Pali rūparāgo; Skt. rūparāga; Tib. གཟུགས་ལ་ཆགས་པ་ , Wyl. gzugs la chags pa) where beings are possessed of refined material bodies and are perpetually absorbed in the bliss of meditative absorption.
- Craving rebirth in the realm of the immaterial (Pali arūparāgo ; Skt. arūpyarāga; Tib. གཟུགས་མེད་པའི་འདོད་ཆགས་ , Wyl. gzugs med pa’i ’dod chags) is the desire to be reborn as a divinity in the immaterial realm, where beings are comprised entirely of mind and are perpetually absorbed in the meditative bliss of the immaterial attainments.
- Pride (Pali māna; Skt. māna; Tib. ང་རྒྱལ་ , Wyl. nga rgyal) that arises from comparing oneself to others.
- Mental restlessness or agitation (Pali uddhacca; Skt. auddhatya; Tib. རྒོད་པ་ , Wyl. rgod pa) that impedes concentration.
- Ignorance (Pali avijjā; Skt. avidyā; Tib. མ་རིག་པ་ , Wyl. ma rig pa).
According to the Pali Canon, the ten fetters are severed in four stages.
If we sever the first three fetters we will become a stream-enterer. If we sever the first three fetters, and let go of our attachment to the fourth and fifth fetter, we will become a once-returner. If we sever the first five fetters completely by learning about the jhanas, the stages of meditative concentration, we will become a non-returner. When we have severed our ties to all ten fetters we will become an arhat.