The last and final fetter that an arahat breaks in order to realize nirvana/nibbana is the fetter of ignorance of the Four Noble Truths. Funny, but among the first things we learn of when studying Buddhism are the Four Noble Truths. Yet these truths are the last things we learn. As the last of the fetters, ignorance of the Four Noble Truths is the only thing that stands between an arahat-to-be and nirvana.
It’s quite obvious that to break this fetter we have to cultivate. No amount of book-learning, as old folks say, will suffice. Cultivation is hard work and it can be painful but if we are to free ourselves of the last fetter, we have to cultivate.
What awaits us when this last fetter is broken and we are completely free of all ten fetters? There is no “us” to be free. What is nirvana like? It is unlike anything we know and every second spent pondering what it must be like is a second that would have been better spent in cultivation.
We need to study the ten fetters in order to become familiar with them. Only when we know what we are up against can we cultivate wisely. To recognize the presence of a fetter is to begin to overcome it.
Here’s a review of the ten fetters:
1. Sakkaya ditthi – the belief in an independent self;
2. Doubt;
3. Attachment to rites and rituals;
4. Sensual desire;
5. Ill will and hatred;
6. Attachment to meditative bliss (the four jhanas) arising from forms (the desire to remain in the world of form);
7. Attachment to meditative bliss (the four immaterial attainments) arising from formlessness (the desire to remain in the world of formlessness;
8. Conceit;
9. Agitation or restlessness; and
10. Ignorance of the Four Noble Truths.
About the only way we can become intimately familiar with these ten fetters is to contemplate them every day. A true cultivator looks at these ten fetters every day and vows to break free of them. However, we do not need to think in terms of fighting to break free of ropes or other things that bind us. Instead, we contemplate the ten fetters and watch them evaporate into nothingness when confronted by the heat of cultivation.
The Sound of Silence: The Selected Teachings of Ajahn Sumedho
