To become a Sotapanna, do you have to know Paticca Samuppada?

Yes. Of course.

Paticca Samuppada explains how one can be born in different realms according to the vinnana that one cultivates via different types of sankhara.

“Paticca samuppada”

You may want to read, “Gati to Bhava to Jāti – Ours to Control”

In the new series of posts, I am discussing Paticca Samuppada starting from the beginning:
“Worldview of the Buddha“

upekkha wrote: “This worries me. I have trouble understanding the Paticca Samuppada. All this time I thought it was mainly the Tilakkhana one had to understand.
Does one have to know the ins and outs in detail or is a general understanding fine?”

Tilakkhana and Paticca Samuppada are inter-related. One cannot understand one without the other.

We need to understand the following facts:

1. Even a Buddha cannot change Nature’s laws. A Buddha just discovers them by his own efforts. He himself was subjected to Nature’s laws. He got old, was subjected to illnesses, and finally passed away.
– But he found the way to permanently stop any FUTURE suffering from arising. And he taught us how to do that.

2. Attaining the Sotapanna stage (and stopping the suffering within a few lives after that) is an accomplishment that is infinitely better than any other achievement anyone can have. Understanding Nature’s laws is not an easy task.
– Think about how much effort a person puts into getting into a college or to get a job.
– Just like one cannot pass a high school test without going through years of learning at primary school, one needs to learn the basics first.

Those are not directed personally to upekkha. Those are general statements. I have no idea where anyone else is at, with respect to their progress on the Path.
– Furthermore, I did not make those points to discourage anyone. I just wanted to point out the reality.
– Furthermore, any effort one puts in does not go to waste. Even if one cannot get there in this lifetime, it will help in future lives.
– In fact, that is why some people get there faster than others. They had done much work in past lives. So, it is not that some are “luckier than others.”

I hope this explanation would help clarify some issues. Please feel to comment or ask questions. This is a concern that many people have.

Upekkha,

Try to see it like this. Tilakkhana starts with anicca. Any life anywhere, however enjoyable, in a human, deva or brahma realm will come to an end, will end in death. And there is no telling what will follow (unless one has set foot on the Path). And in the PS process, all the chain making for the abhisankhara that leads to that realm ends with old age and death..then bhava, jati all over again, and again, and again.

This is how ‘Tilakkhana and Paticca Samuppada are inter-related’. I sincerely hope this helps.

You may not be aware of names or how to explain it with technical terms but you should know and see by your experience even if you are not able to understand that you are really seeing PS cycle happening and that it’s actually now broken with permanent switch of wisdom. You may be thinking “after Sotapanna should I know automatically what is on this site about PS cycle?” – No, you will know PS cycle but not as that if you do not educate yourself in that and you may see it even better which may leads to deeper insight and Sakadagami or Anagami etc.