The Ten Fetters

In early Buddhist teachings, the path to full liberation is often described in terms of gradually cutting through ten fetters (saṃyojana) that bind beings to the cycle of birth and death (samsara). These fetters represent deep-rooted patterns of ignorance, attachment, and delusion that obscure the true nature of reality.

1. Belief in a separate self (sakkāya-diṭṭhi): The view that there is a permanent, unchanging “I.”

2. Attachment to rites and rituals (sīlabbata-parāmāsa): Clinging to external forms and practices as inherently liberating in themselves.

3. Doubt (vicikicchā): Uncertainty regarding the teachings, the path, or one’s own capacity for liberation.

4. Sensual desire (kāmacchanda): Craving for sensual pleasures and gratification.

5. Ill-will (vyāpāda): Aversion, hatred, and hostility towards others or oneself.

6. Attachment to form existence (rūparāga): Clinging to refined states of meditative absorption related to form.

7. Attachment to formless existence (arūparāga): Craving for even subtler formless absorptions and states of being.

8. Conceit (māna): The subtle comparing mind—pride, superiority, inferiority, or equality relative to others.

9. Restlessness (uddhacca): Subtle agitation and lack of full stillness within the mind.

10. Ignorance (avijjā): Fundamental misperception of the nature of reality; not seeing things as they truly are.

Progress on the path involves gradually weakening and ultimately severing these fetters. As each is abandoned, suffering diminishes, clarity increases, and freedom deepens. The full cutting of all ten fetters is equivalent to complete awakening (arahantship).

“When the fetters are cut, there is no more returning.”
— Sutta Nipāta