Also See: Meaning of Stream-Entry


Anattā at Stream-Entry vs. Non-Buddhist “No-self”

The understanding of anattā (no-self) for a stream-enterer (sotāpanna) is not the same as non-Buddhist versions of “no-self” that rest only on a seamless nondual experience, that reify some luminous substrate or non-dual awareness, or that posit a luminous matter and an external world. For example, some modern teachings like Actual Freedom may be based on concepts (and a partial experience and insight of no-self) such as an inherently existing, luminous physical matter, or on the direct and gapless experience of non-duality alone.

In the early discourses, stream-entry is precipitated by a direct realization of dependent origination, encompassing both arising and cessation—the Buddha’s “this/that conditionality” (idappaccayatā). This is the noble method that one “rightly sees and penetrates,” as expressed in AN 10.92:

“When this is, that is; from the arising of this, that arises; when this isn’t, that isn’t; from the cessation of this, that ceases.”

Source: AN 10.92, SuttaCentral

John Tan shared before: "Anatta allows recognition of appearances as one's radiance.  But that is still not anatta proper without recognition of dependent arising.

What the “Stream” Is

The Buddha explicitly identifies the stream as the Noble Eightfold Path. Entering it is not merely adopting a view; it’s the onset of the path-process itself (magga → phala). By seeing the dependent nature of phenomena, the disciple enters this stream that leads to full liberation.

Trigger and Effect: The Arising of the Dhamma-Eye That Sees Dependent Origination

At the moment of direct realization of dependent origination, the “Dhamma-eye” arises. This insight into [dependent] origination-and-cessation cuts the first three fetters—self-identity view (sakkāya-diṭṭhi), doubt (vicikicchā), and grasping at rites and rituals (sīlabbata-parāmāsa). This is how the Nikāyas mark stream-entry.

This Dhamma-eye is epitomized in the Buddha's First Discourse, where the Venerable Kondañña had his breakthrough:

“And while this discourse was being spoken, there arose in the Venerable Kondañña the dust-free, stainless vision of the Dhamma: “Whatever is subject to origination is all subject to cessation.””

Source: SN 56.11, SuttaCentral

This same core insight led to the conversion of the future chief disciple, Sāriputta. The Venerable Assaji first gave this brief exposition of the Dhamma:

Whatever phenomena arise from cause: their cause & their cessation. Such is the teaching of the Tathagata, the Great Contemplative.

The text then describes the immediate result as Sāriputta listened:

Then to Sariputta the wanderer, as he heard this Dhamma exposition, there arose the dustless, stainless Dhamma eye: "Whatever is subject to origination is all subject to cessation."

Source: Vinaya, Mahavagga, 1.23.1-10, Access to Insight

Direct Insight into the Twelve Links

In another sutta, it details how a stream-entrant has direct insight into the twelve links of dependent origination:

"I have seen properly with right discernment, as it actually is present, that 'From ignorance as a requisite condition come fabrications. From fabrications as a requisite condition comes consciousness. From consciousness as a requisite condition comes name-&-form. From name-&-form as a requisite condition come the six sense media. From the six sense media as a requisite condition comes contact. From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. From feeling as a requisite condition comes craving. From craving as a requisite condition comes clinging/sustenance. From clinging/sustenance as a requisite condition comes becoming. From becoming as a requisite condition comes birth. From birth as a requisite condition, then aging & death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair come into play. Thus is the origination of this entire mass of stress & suffering.'"

Source: SN 12.68, Access to Insight

How the Supportive “Factors” Fit

The canon speaks of two complementary four-fold sets related to this attainment:

• Supportive conditions leading to stream-entry: associating with good friends, hearing the true Dhamma, appropriate attention, and practicing in accord with the Dhamma. These are often cultivated before the breakthrough.
• Endowments possessed by a stream-winner: verified confidence in the Buddha, Dhamma, and Saṅgha, and possessing the virtues dear to the noble ones—together with the rightly seen noble method (idappaccayatā). These are present with stream-entry, not as mere book-learning.

Direct Realization vs. Conceptual Analysis

The texts contrast this direct, personal knowledge with learning through inference, tradition, or reasoning by analogy. Stream-entry depends on directly seeing this process of arising and ceasing, not merely analyzing it conceptually.

Seeing the Goal vs. Completing the Work

This breakthrough doesn’t finish the path. Although the stream-enterer directly realizes the Dependent Origination of the twelve links, they have not yet brought about the cessation of that entire chain—from ignorance up to becoming, birth, aging, and death.

The Nikāyas compare this to seeing water in a desert well without yet being able to touch it. One knows the goal with certainty, but the effluents (āsava) are not fully ended until arahantship. The same bhikkhu in SN 12.68 explains his situation with this powerful analogy: 💧

"My friend, although I have seen properly with right discernment, as it actually is present, that 'The cessation of becoming is Unbinding,' still I am not an arahant whose fermentations are ended. It's as if there were a well along a road in a desert, with neither rope nor water bucket. A man would come along overcome by heat, oppressed by the heat, exhausted, dehydrated, & thirsty. He would look into the well and would have knowledge of 'water,' but he would not dwell touching it with his body. In the same way, although I have seen properly with right discernment, as it actually is present, that 'The cessation of becoming is Unbinding,' still I am not an arahant whose fermentations are ended."

Source: SN 12.68, Access to Insight