The Five Stages of the Mahayana
I have chosen to describe the Mahayana path in five stages, rather than ten, or twenty, for convenience alone. Each stage lays the foundation of wissdom needed for the following stage, into which there is a smooth gradation.
To embark on the five stages one must have the prerequisites of a human form (a genuine love of reason), along with a desire to attain absolute perfection (bodhicitta), and therefore be of high scope.
1. The stage of the accumulation of merit
One can only truly enter the first stage if one has pure renunciation, or bodhicitta. During this stage, reason, concentration, and bodhicitta are further developed, and continue to increase through all the following stages. This is the "merit" which accumulates, qualifying one to proceed to the next stage. Here one abandons gross intellectually formed delusions, and the accompanying attachment to the samsaric pleasures they fuel.
The four noble truths are realized, that is:
- That our world is in the nature of suffering, discontentment and imperfection.
- That the causes of suffering and discontentment are our own delusions, or false concepts of reality.
- That freedom and perfection are possible by abandoning false thoughts.
- That a path can be followed to be systematically rid of false thoughts.
During this first stage one becomes strongly acquainted with causes and consequences, and one's actions become correspondingly skillfull. One's concentration develops to the level where the full power of mind is available for use whenever one wishes to examine anything.