Spiritual Bypass

Hi Deeele, mind that the type of lust the Buddha is referring to in the case of a sakadagami and anagami is a very refined one and relates to the potential for getting entangled or stuck in the material and immaterial absorptions - deep samadhi experiences. That is why they were called higher fetters.

An example of this is what we find in the descripition of Maechee Kaew’s anagami fruition mentioned in this other topic/post:

The mind’s usual sense of physical limitation and embodiment completely disappeared. She felt her being dissolve, expand outward and merge with all things, as though forming one essence with the universe; resting within, unfettered by any dependency, was a supreme emptiness — clear, bright and still."

Later on in the book you will see that Luangta Maha Boowa had to guide her to move on further in her practice:

"She spoke of her progress over the past year, carefully detailing the consecutive stages of her experience, and concluded with her “lion’s roar”, the radiant emptiness of mind that permeated the entire cosmos and transcended all conditions.

When she stopped speaking, Ajaan Mahā Boowa looked up and calmly asked, “Is that all?” Mae Chee Kaew nodded. Ajaan Mahā Boowa paused for a moment and then spoke:

(…)

Returning to the nunnery that evening, Mae Chee Kaew reflected on how the radiant mind had become her sole lingering attachment.

Cherishing and safeguarding it more than anything else, she hardly wanted to interfere with it. Within the entire mind and body, nothing stood out so prominently as that luminance. It provoked such a riveting sense of inner amazement — and consequently, such a protective feeling of attachment — that she wanted nothing to
disturb it.

Because of Mae Chee Kaew’s delusion about the mind essence that knows all things, she forgot to investigate and pass judgment on the true nature of that essence. When the scope of the mind drew inward, it gathered itself into a radiant nucleus — bright, cheerful and bold. Every mental act arose from that nucleus. Consciousness flowed from that nucleus. Thoughts formed there.

All happiness seemed to gather there. So she had believed that it must be Nibbāna, the center of her being that was so bright and clear all the time. But she now realized that it was actually the nucleus of the origin of suffering."
–page 194-198

Hence, yes, this is the sort of “spiritual bypass by lust” possible to a anagami.

Much better than the usual spiritual bypass by desire for pizza, ice cream and even internet debating of us unenlightened things! :yum:

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