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In Buddhism, a mental fetter or "chain" or "bond" (Pāli: samyojana, saŋyojana, saññojana) shackles a person to samsara, the cycle of endless suffering. By completely cutting through all fetters, one attains Nibbana (Skt.: Nirvana).

In comparison to similar Buddhist concepts, fetters span multiple lifetimes and are difficult to remove, while hindrances are transitory obstacles. Kilesas encompass all mental defilements including both fetters and hindrances.^[1]

Contents 1 Fetter of suffering 2 Ten Fetters 2.1 Fetter 1: Self view 2.2 Fetter 2: Doubt 2.3 Fetter 3: Rites and rituals 2.4 Alternate lists of fetters 3 Cutting through the fetters 4 See also 5 Notes 6 Bibliography

Throughout the Pali canon, the word "fetter" is used to describe an intrapsychic phenomenon that ties one to suffering. For instance, in the Khuddaka Nikaya's Itivuttaka 1.15, the Buddha states:

"Monks, I don't envision even one other fetter — fettered by which beings conjoined go wandering & transmigrating on for a long, long time — like the fetter of craving. Fettered with the fetter of craving, beings conjoined go wandering & transmigrating on for a long, long time."^[2]

Elsewhere, the suffering caused by a fetter is implied as in this more technical discourse from SN 35.232, where Ven. Sariputta converses with Ven. Kotthita:

Ven. Kotthita: "How is it, friend Sariputta, is ... the ear the fetter of sounds or are sounds the fetter of the ear?..."

Ven. Sariputta: "Friend Kotthita, the ... ear is not the fetter of sounds nor are sounds the fetter of the ear, but rather the desire and lust that arise there in dependence on both: that is the fetter there...."^[3]

The Pali canon identifies ten fetters:^[4]

1. belief in an individual self (Pali: sakkāya-diṭṭhi)^[5]
2. doubt or uncertainty, especially about the teachings (vicikicchā)^[6]
3. attachment to rites and rituals (sīlabbata-parāmāso)^[7]
4. sensual desire (kāmacchando)^[8]
5. ill will (vyāpādo or byāpādo)^[9]
6. lust for material existence, lust for material rebirth (rūparāgo)^[10]
7. lust for immaterial existence (arūparāgo)
8. pride in self, conceit, arrogance (māno)^[11]
9. restlessness, distraction (uddhaccaŋ)^[12]
10. ignorance (avijjā)^[13]

Etymologically, kāya means "body," sakkāya means "existing body," and diṭṭhi means "view" (often implying a wrong view, in Buddhism, as exemplified by the views in the table below).

In general, "belief in an individual self" or, more simply, "self view" (Pali: sakkāya-diṭṭhi) refers to a "belief that in one or other of the khandhas there is a permanent entity, an attā."^[14]

Similarly, in MN 2, the Sabbasava Sutta, the Buddha describes "a fetter of views" in the following manner:

"This is how [a person of wrong view] attends inappropriately: 'Was I in the past? ... Shall I be in the future? ... Am I? Am I not? What am I? ...'

"As he attends inappropriately in this way, one of six kinds of view arises in him: ...

• 'I have a self...'
• 'I have no self...'
• 'It is precisely by means of self that I perceive self...'
• 'It is precisely by means of self that I perceive not-self...'
• 'It is precisely by means of not-self that I perceive self...'
• 'This very self of mine ... is the self of mine that is constant...'

"This is called a thicket of views, a wilderness of views, a contortion of views, a writhing of views, a fetter of views. Bound by a fetter of views, the uninstructed ... is not freed, I tell you, from suffering & stress."^[15]

The Views of Six Samana in the Pali Canon
Question: "Is it possible to point out the fruit of the contemplative life, visible in the here and now?" – from the Samaññaphala Sutta1
samaṇa	view (ditthi)
Pūraṇa Kassapa	Amoralism: denies any reward or punishment for either good or bad deeds.
Makkhali Gosāla	Fatalism: we are powerless; suffering is pre-destined.
Ajita Kesakambalī	Materialism: with death, all is annihilated.
Pakudha Kaccāyana	Eternalism: Matter, pleasure, pain and the soul are eternal and do not interact.
Nigaṇṭha Nātaputta	Restraint: be endowed with, cleansed by and suffused with the avoidance of all evil.2
Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta	Agnosticism: "I don't think so. I don't think in that way or otherwise. I don't think not or not not."
Notes:	1. Thanissaro (1997); Walshe (1995), pp. 91-109. 2. Ñāṇamoli & Bodhi (1995), pp. 1258-59, n. 585.

In general, "doubt" (vicikicchā) refers to doubt about the Buddha's teachings, the Dhamma. (Alternate contemporaneous teachings are represented in the table to the right.)

More specifically, in SN 22.84, the Tissa Sutta,^[16] the Buddha explicitly cautions against uncertainty regarding the Noble Eightfold Path, which is described as the right path to Nibbana, leading one past ignorance, sensual desire, anger and despair.

Etymologically: Sīla refers to "moral conduct"; vata (or bata) to "religious duty, observance, rite, practice, custom";^[17] and, parāmāsa to "being attached to" or "a contagion" and has the connotation of "mishandling" the Dhamma.^[18] Altogether, sīlabbata-parāmāso has been translated as "the contagion of mere rule and ritual, the infatuation of good works, the delusion that they suffice"^[19] or, more simply, "fall[ing] back on attachment to precepts and rules."^[20]

While the fetter of doubt can be seen as pertaining to the teachings of competing samana during the times of the Buddha, this fetter regarding rites and rituals likely refers to some practices of contemporary brahmanic authorities.^[21]

The Khuddaka Nikaya's Culla Niddesa and the Abhidhamma's Dhamma Sangani provide a lesser-known alternate list of ten fetters as:^[22]

1. sensual lust (Pali: kāma-rāga) - similar to kāmacchando
2. anger (paṭigha) - perhaps similar to vyāpādo
3. pride in self (māna)
4. views (diṭṭhi) - presumably similar to sakkāya-diṭṭhi
5. doubt (vicikicchā)
6. rites and rituals (sīlabbataparāmāsa)
7. lust for existence (bhavarāga) - perhaps including both rūparāgo and arūparāgo
8. jealousy (issā)
9. greed (macchariya)
10. ignorance (avijjā).

Uniquely, MN 54, the "Householder Potaliya" Sutta,^[23] identifies eight fetters (which include three of the Five Precepts) as:

1. destroying life (pāṇātipāto)
2. stealing (adinnādānaṃ)
3. false speech (musāvādo)
4. slandering (pisunā)
5. coveting and greed (giddhilobho)
6. aversion (nindāroso)
7. anger and malice (kodhūpāyāso)
8. conceit (atimāno).

In MN 64, the "Greater Discourse to Mālunkyāputta," the Buddha states that the path to abandoning the five lower fetters (that is, the first five of the aforementioned "ten fetters") is through using jhana attainment and vipassana insights in tandem.^[24] In SN 35.54, "Abandoning the Fetters," the Buddha states that one abandons the fetters "when one knows and sees ... as impermanent" (Pali: anicca) the twelve sense bases (āyatana), the associated six sense-consciousness (viññaṇa), and the resultant contact (phassa) and sensations (vedanā).^[25] Similarly, in SN 35.55, "Uprooting the Fetters," the Buddha states that one uproots the fetters "when one knows and sees ... as nonself" (anatta) the sense bases, sense consciousness, contact and sensations.^[26]

The Pali canon traditionally describes cutting through the fetters in four stages:

• one cuts the first three fetters (Pali: tīṇi saŋyojanāni) to be a "stream enterer" (sotapanna);
• one cuts the first three fetters and significantly weakens the next two fetters to be a "once returner" (sakadagami);
• one cuts the first five fetters (orambhāgiyāni samyojanāni) to be a "non-returner" (anagami);
• one cuts all ten fetters to be an arahant.

• Anatta, regarding the first fetter (sakkāya-diṭṭhi)
• Four stages of enlightenment, regarding cutting the fetters
• Five hindrances, also involving the fourth (kamacchanda), fifth (vyapada), ninth (uddhacca) and second (vicikiccha) fetters
• Upadana (Clinging), where the traditional four types of clinging are clinging to sense-pleasure (kamupadana), wrong views (ditthupadana), rites and rituals (silabbatupadana) and self-doctrine (attavadupadana).

1. ^ Gunaratana (2003), dhamma talk entitled "Dhamma [Satipatthana] - Ten Fetters."
2. ^ Thanissaro (2001).
3. ^ Bodhi (2000), p. 1230. Tangentially, in discussing the use of the concept of "the fetter" in the Satipatthana Sutta (regarding mindfulness of the six sense bases), Bodhi (2005) references this sutta (SN 35.232) as explaining what is meant by "the fetter," that is, "desire and lust" (chanda-raga). (While providing this exegesis, Bodhi, 2005, also comments that the Satipatthana Sutta commentary associates the term "fetter" in that sutta as referring to all ten fetters.)
4. ^ These fetters are enumerated, for instance, in SN 45.179 and 45.180 (Bodhi, 2000, pp. 1565-66). This article's Pali words and English translations for the ten fetters are based on Rhys Davids & Stede (1921-25), p. 656.
5. ^ Rhys Davids & Stede (1921-25), pp. 660-1.
6. ^ Ibid., p. 615.
7. ^ See, for instance, Ibid., p. 713, regarding the similar concept of sīlabbata-upādāna, "grasping after works and rites."
8. ^ Ibid., pp.203-4, 274.
9. ^ Ibid., p. 654.
10. ^ Ibid., pp. 574-5.
11. ^ Ibid., p. 528.
12. ^ Ibid., p. 136.
13. ^ Ibid., p. 85.
14. ^ Ibid., pp. 660-1. See also, anatta.
15. ^ Thanissaro (1997a).
16. ^ Thanissaro (2005)
17. ^ Rhys Davids & Stede (1921-25), p. 597.
18. ^ Ibid., p. 421.
19. ^ Ibid., p. 713.
20. ^ Thanissaro (1997b).
21. ^ For instance, see Gethin (1998), pp. 10-13, for a discussion of the Buddha in the context of the sramanic and brahmanic traditions.
22. ^ Rhys Davids & Stede (1921-25), p. 656 references Cula Niddesa 657 and Dhamma Sangani 1113 and 1463. In post-canonical texts, this list can also be found in Buddhaghosa's commentary (in the Papañcasudani) to the Satipatthana Sutta's section regarding the six sense bases and the fetters (Soma, 1998).
23. ^ See Upalavanna (undated) for an English translation; and, SLTP (undated) for a Romanized Pali transliteration.
24. ^ Ñāṇamoli & Bodhi (2001), pp. 537-41.
25. ^ Bodhi (2000), p. 1148.
26. ^ Bodhi (2000), p. 1148. Note that the referenced suttas (MN 64, SN 35.54 and SN 35.55) can be seen as overlapping and consistent if one, for instance, infers that one needs to use jhanic attainment and vipassana insight in order to "know and see" the impermanence and selfless nature of the sense bases, consciousness, contact and sensations. For a correspondence between impermanence and nonself, see Three marks of existence.

• Bodhi, Bhikkhu (2000). The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0-86171-331-1.

• Bodhi, Bhikkhu (18 Jan 2005). MN 10: Satipatthana Sutta (continued) [Ninth dharma talk on the Satipatthana Sutta (MP3 audio file)]. Available on-line at http://www.bodhimonastery.net/MP3/M0060_MN-010.mp3.

• Gethin, Rupert (1998). The Foundations of Buddhism. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-289223-1.

• Gunaratana, Henepola (2003). Satipatthana Sutta [Dharma talks (MP3 on CD)]. High View, WV: Bhavana Society. Orderable on-line at http://www.bhavanasociety.org/resource/satipatthana_sutta_cd/.

• Ñāṇamoli, Bhikkhu & Bhikkhu Bodhi (2001). The Middle Length Discourse of the Buddha: A Translation of the Majjhima Nikāya. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0-86171-072-X.

• Rhys Davids, T.W. & William Stede (eds.) (1921-5). The Pali Text Society’s Pali–English dictionary. Chipstead: Pali Text Society. A general on-line search engine for the PED is available at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/pali/.

• Soma Thera (1998) (6th rev. ed.). The Way of Mindfulness: The Satipatthana Sutta and Its Commentary. Available on-line at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/soma/wayof.html.

• Sri Lanka Buddha Jayanti Tipitaka Series [SLTP] (undated). Potaliya suttaṃ [in Pali] (MN 54). Available on-line at http://www.metta.lk/tipitaka/2Sutta-Pitaka/2Majjhima-Nikaya/Majjhima2/054-potaliya-p.html.

• Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (1997a). Sabbasava Sutta: All the Fermentations (MN 2). Available on-line at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.002.than.html.

• Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (1997). Samaññaphala Sutta: The Fruits of the Contemplative Life (DN 2). Available on-line at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.02.0.than.html.

• Thanissaro, Bhikkhu (trans.) (1997b). Sona Sutta: About Sona (AN 6.55). Available on-line at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an06/an06.055.than.html.

• Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (2001). The Group of Ones § 15 (Iti. 1.15). Available on-line at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/iti/iti.1.001-027.than.html#iti-015.

• Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (2005). Tissa Sutta: Tissa (SN 22.84). Available on-line at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn22/sn22.084.than.html.

• Upalavanna, Sister (trans.) (undated). To The Householder Potaliya (MN 54). Available on-line at http://www.metta.lk/tipitaka/2Sutta-Pitaka/2Majjhima-Nikaya/Majjhima2/054-potaliya-e1.html.

• Walshe, Maurice O'Connell (trans.) (1995). The Long Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Dīgha Nikāya. Somerville: Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0-86171-103-3.