Is it necessary to join the monastic order to realize enlightenment?
Sudatta Anathapindika, a layperson that achieved the enlightenment stage of “once-returner”
The Sangha was established by the Buddha specifically in order to provide the optimum conditions for those men and women wishing to commit themselves wholeheartedly to his path of awakening. For this reason, the Sangha is the most supportive vocation for those truly serious about Buddhist practice. However, not everyone is suited to monastic life, and many people serious about Buddhist practice have obligations that make ordination impossible. Fortunately for those who cannot or do not wish to lead a monastic life, following the path to enlightenment as a householder, although difficult, may lead to a satisfactory conclusion. Over the past centuries, many lay Buddhist have led exemplary lives and even reached stages of enlightenment, particularly the first level, known as “Stream Entry”.
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Source:
- Without and Within – Ajahn Jayasaro
Ryokan Says
The monastic life provide specific conditions for the practice of Dhamma, conductive for the development of virtue and wisdom, however, each monastic have their own pace and level of development according with their own basic individual particularities: sensibility for the teachings, life experiences, motivation, innate features, etc.
In this same sense there are laypersons with exceptional basic individual particularities that, united with Buddha teachings, lead those to different enlightenment stages in spite of the responsibilities, distractions and sensual obstacles of the householder life. In the Mahaparinibbana Sutta the Buddha mentions the stream-entry and once-returner achievement of more than 500 and 90 lay people respectively:
“The bhikkhu Salha, Ananda, through the destruction of the taints in this very lifetime has attained to the taint-free deliverance of mind and deliverance through wisdom, having directly known and realized it by himself. [17]
“The bhikkhuni Nanda, Ananda, through the destruction of the five lower fetters (that bind beings to the world of the senses), has arisen spontaneously (among the Suddhavasa deities) and will come to final cessation in that very place, not liable to return from that world.
“The layman Sudatta, Ananda, through the destruction of the three fetters (self-belief, doubt, and faith in the efficacy of rituals and observances), and the lessening of lust, hatred, and delusion, has become a once-returner and is bound to make an end of suffering after having returned but once more to this world.
“The laywoman Sujata, Ananda, through the destruction of the three fetters has become a stream-enterer, and is safe from falling into the states of misery, assured, and bound for Enlightenment.
“The layman Kakudha, Ananda, through the destruction of the five lower fetters (that bind beings to the world of the senses), has arisen spontaneously (among the Suddhavasa deities), and will come to final cessation in that very place, not liable to return from that world.
“So it is with Kalinga, Nikata, Katissabha, Tuttha, Santuttha, Bhadda, and Subhadda, and with more than fifty laymen in Nadika. More than ninety laymen who have passed away in Nadika, Ananda, through the destruction of the three fetters, and the lessening of lust, hatred, and delusion, have become once-returners and are bound to make an end of suffering after having returned but once more to this world.
“More than five hundred laymen who have passed away in Nadika, Ananda, through the complete destruction of the three fetters have become stream-enterers, and are safe from falling into the states of misery, assured, and bound for Enlightenment.” – The Four Specific Attainments
Addionally, in the Milindapanha (from the burmese canon), those lay persons who achieved the arahantship ordained or died within the next 7 days after the achievement.
~Ryokan
