Chapter 1: Introduction to the 10 Fetters
Our Approach
The next important point about working with the Fetters is that in some formulations they are referred to as a step-wise ladder. In other words, you will investigate the first, see through it, break it, and it will never return again. As we said earlier, in many formulations it’s also asserted that the first three fetters fall all at once. And again, once they have been seen through, they are gone forever, and will never rear their shady little heads again. One then moves on to working with the 4th and 5th, and so on, one after another, patiently waiting to ascend the ladder to meet the Buddhas who have levitated off the top rung.
We use a different approach, because this does not jibe with the actual experience that we have had, nor the experience we see in the people who we have worked with. What we see looks less like a ladder and more like a wheel. Because everything is better with a catchy title, we call this "The Wheel of Identification". All 10 Fetters are visible at different points of each day. We are not just cycling across the wheel over months and years, we are also cycling through them minute to minute. It is like fractals of identification.
It is possible to see through the 1st Fetter in a way that feels very convincing. You discover intimately that there is no self, and like that, the illusion is broken. So you begin working with 4th and 5th Fetter, Craving and Aversion, and perhaps even feel that you see through them. You're no longer craving your favorite sweets, you have nearly infinite tolerance for the things that used to send you into fits of rage - all is well with the world. But weeks later, you might receive a tax bill, your basement floods, your car breaks down, and your teenage daughter gets a piercing. You are suddenly challenged in a new way. Old behavioral conditioning comes back online, and you feel that you are back to square one with the Fetters. So what happened?
The Fetter model was built for monks who were isolated in monasteries, with intentionally limited human challenges. Being a householder, or a modern lay person dealing with road rage, shopping malls, and PTA meetings, you are in a different setting, wrought with chances for reactivity. So we find the Awakening Path to be more circular for modern people. Most of us also don't have the unobstructed hours to dedicate to this practice as cloistered monks and nuns do.
Even if you have not been reactive for months or years, you may suddenly find subtle aspects of selfing creeping back in. Maybe there is still a belief in the person who is going to get something out of this process, or become a better human being in some way. Perhaps you realize that you still have a love-hate (or mostly-hate) relationship with your body. Or that you are still feeling resistance to chronic pain because it now feels like there is a “you” versus the body, or that you should be beyond the ability to experience pain or chronic conditions.
This doesn’t mean that you need to be shamed and sent back to the first grade. It just means that there is a more subtle level of identification that wasn’t able to be seen before because the layers were just too dense. And now that many of them have cleared, you can be observant again, and inquire into the remaining aspects of identification that arise.
No matter what happens, it's important to note that it is all causes and conditions! If we make it personal, we're selfing again. You behave the way you do right now because of every experience and thought that has passed through that mind-body organism. And it can take a while for new neuronal pathways to be forged and reinforced. It can take years for old conditioned habits to be reconditioned. Again, it's not personal, so it's fine! The more you fight against it, striving for instant enlightenment, the more you are reinforcing those old selfing pathways and extending your journey.
The key is to not spiritually bypass by pretending that hindrances or reactivity or selfing no longer exists. Honesty is the most important trait when it comes to doing inquiry. No benefit comes from relying on the memory of having seen through the self years ago if it’s no longer your current reality. If it feels like there is selfing going on, be honest, and investigate.
