[alvino96]

Hello Mr Lal and everyone in this forum,

I was reading this post “https://puredhamma.net/three-levels-of-practice/sotapanna-stage-of-nibbana/myths-about-the-sotapanna-stage/”

And I find point #4 quite confusing:

One could be of any race or even religion and still be a jāti Sōtapanna (and even that person may not be aware of it).

A question came to my mind: How does it work? wouldn’t a jāti Sōtapanna find something is not Dhamma, and therefore won’t choose to follow it, let alone belive in it or preach it? Does it mean there could be a Christian jāti Sōtapanna or a Atheist jāti Sōtapanna somewehere?

[Lal]

Your assumption is correct. A baby born into a family of a certain faith usually adopts that faith/religion; if it’s an atheist family, the baby is also likely to start off as an atheist.

• A jati Sotapanna will overcome that as they grow up. The attainment of the Sotapanna stage of Nibbana will never be lost.
• However, when I think about it, it seems unlikely that a Sotapanna could even be born into a non-Buddhist family. One’s gati plays a huge role in the conception process. Usually, the gati of the parents (especially the mother) must match that of the gandhabba (manomaya kaya) entering the womb. See “Buddhist Explanations of Conception, Abortion, and Contraception” and “Cloning and Gandhabba.”
• Even if such a ‘non-matching birth’ takes place for some other reason, they will never engage in an ‘apayagami deed’ or an immoral deed that can lead to rebirth in one of the four lowest realms (apayas). However, it is possible that they may not make progress on the Noble Path in that life. Yet, he is guaranteed to attain Arahanthood within seven bhava.

[Author]

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