What Is Entering the Stream (Sotāpanna)?

Stream-entry is entering the stream of the noble path to liberation. Liberation first requires the elimination of the self-view and false views that bind one to birth and death; from then on, one is no longer an ordinary being bound by the three fetters. Among the prerequisites, meditative concentration is indispensable: only with meditative concentration at or above the threshold concentration (anāgamya-samādhi) of the desire realm can one eliminate self-view and enter the stream of the noble path. If one possesses only meditative concentration, or even the concentration of the first dhyāna, but has not eliminated the three fetters of self-view, one cannot enter the stream of the noble path—otherwise, the non-Buddhists who possess the four dhyānas and eight samādhis would all have entered the stream of the noble path. Would that not mean that cultivating the four dhyānas and eight samādhis of non-Buddhist paths could also bring liberation? Having already eliminated the three fetters, one enters the stream of the noble path; it is not that one gains the ability to eliminate them only after entering.