➥ saṁyojana: 'fetters'. There are 10 fetters tying beings to the wheel of existence, namely:

• (1) personality-belief (see sakkāya-diṭṭhi),
• (2) sceptical doubt (vicikicchā),
• (3) clinging to mere rules and ritual (sīlabbata-parāmāsa; see upādāna),
• (4) sensuous craving (kāma-rāga, 4.v.),
• (5) ill-will (byāpāda),
• (6) craving for fine-material existence (rūpa-rāga),
• (7) craving for immaterial existence (arūpa-rāga),
• (8) conceit (see māna),
• (9) restlessness (see uddhacca),
• (10) ignorance (see avijjā).

The first five of these are called 'lower fetters' (orambhāgiya-saṁyojana), as they tie to the sensuous world. The latter 5 are called 'higher fetters' (uddhambhāgiya-saṁyojana), as they tie to the higher worlds, i.e. the fine-material and immaterial world (AN 9.67, AN 9.68; AN 9.68; DN 33, etc.).

He who is free from 1-3 is a Sotāpanna, or Stream-winner, i.e. one who has entered the stream to Nibbāna, as it were. He who, besides these 3 fetters, has overcome 4 and 5 in their grosser form, is called a Sakadāgāmi, a 'Once-returner' (to this sensuous world). He who is fully freed from 1-5 is an Anāgāmī, or 'Non-returner' (to the sensuous world). He who is freed from all the 10 fetters is called an Arahat, i.e. a perfectly Holy One. For more details, see ariya-puggala.

The 10 fetters as enumerated in the Abhidhamma, e.g. Vibhaṅga XVII, are: sensuous craving, ill-will, conceit, wrong views, sceptical doubt, clinging to mere rules and ritual, craving for existence, envy, stinginess, ignorance.