To What Degree of Cultivation Leads to the Cessation of Suffering?

Question: To what extent must one cultivate before attaining stillness amidst the worldly phenomena of form, sound, scent, taste, and touch, or at least experiencing significantly less distress?

Answer: After severing afflictions, the mind will become still, free from so many troubles and distresses. Upon attaining the first fruition (Sotāpanna), which involves cutting off the three fetters of self-view, adherence to rites and rituals, and skeptical doubt, and subsequently eliminating the five lower fetters, one gains a degree of freedom, though not as complete as that of the fourth fruition (Arahant). The fourth fruition eradicates conceit and self-attachment, rendering one almost completely unburdened.

A bodhisattva who attains this stillness and freedom is also known as a "bodhisattva at the third fruition" (Sakadagami). Having passed the three gates of Chan (Zen), they are qualified to enter the first ground (bhūmi). Before reaching the seventh ground, bodhisattvas remain at the third fruition, deliberately not taking the fourth fruition of Arhatship. They retain a trace of afflictions to remain within the Three Realms. An eighth-ground bodhisattva completely severs all afflictions and self-attachment, and eliminates the majority of attachment to dharmas.

When a bodhisattva at the third fruition returns to the human realm, their afflictions are very subtle. Though they may be influenced by the environment and potentially create some unwholesome karma, such karma is also extremely minor. After studying the Buddha Dharma, it is eliminated through repentance or resolved through understanding without needing repentance, as there is no fundamental afflictive mind. Saints at the third or fourth fruition and above generally prefer not to mingle with the multitude, often dwelling in solitude. They only associate with sentient beings when liberating them. Great bodhisattvas of the past first cultivated themselves in solitude, and only afterward emerged to teach and liberate sentient beings. If they felt their meditative stability was insufficient, manifesting as excessive wisdom but inadequate concentration, they would again retreat into solitude to advance their path. Afterward, they would return to teach among sentient beings. Thus, they alternate periods of self-cultivation with periods of liberating beings; they do not constantly remain with sentient beings. If they were always with sentient beings, their meditative stability would regress, their cultivation would be partially pulled back by sentient beings, and their path power would become insufficient.