I’d just like to mention more traditional Thai approaches to sotapatti that I like from a practical perspective:
- Ajahn Anan Akincano: Sotapattimagga
- The following recipes come from Ajahn Dtun: This is the Path
A sotāpanna is one who, to some extent, has let go of attachment to the body by clearly realizing that this body is not the mind and the mind is not the body. The kilesa of greed has been lessened to some extent by the fact that one’s actions and speech will always be within the bounds of the five precepts or, if one is a monastic, within the bounds of the eight, ten or 227 precepts. Sotāpannas are content with what they already have. That does not mean that they have no interest to do anything, but rather, that they will apply their mindfulness and wisdom towards any duties, work, or responsibilities that they may have by doing them to the best of their ability. The kilesa of anger is also weakened on account of its strongest properties, that of ill-will and vindictiveness, being completely let go of – never to return. For the sotāpanna anger will manifest in the form of dissatisfaction or displeasure.
This they can let go of very quickly due to there being no residue of anger’s intensity, ill-will, remaining in their heart. Within the heart they are continually cultivating loving-kindness and forgiveness. A sotāpanna has no fear of sickness or death for they have contemplated death before it actually comes to them…
This is one of the characteristics of a sotāpanna: the strong conviction that they will not do any unwholesome, immoral deeds, for they know the harm or danger that comes from performing unwholesome kamma.
To become a sotāpanna one may use the contemplation of death, but to realize the level of sakadāgāmī one’s contemplation and investigation have to be more refned by either contemplating the thirty-two parts of the body or using the asubha reflections on the loathsomeness or unattractiveness of the body.