What is Stream-Entry?

Entering the stream means entering the stream of the noble path to liberation. Liberation first requires eradicating the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) and wrong views (mithyā-dṛṣṭi) that bind one to birth and death; from then on, one is no longer an ordinary being bound by the three fetters. Among these, meditative concentration (samādhi) is indispensable: only with meditative concentration at or above the preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi) of the desire realm can one eradicate the view of self and enter the stream of the noble path. If one possesses only meditative concentration or even the concentration of the first dhyāna, but has not eradicated the view of self and the three fetters, one cannot enter the stream of the noble path; otherwise, the non-Buddhist practitioners who possess the four dhyānas and eight samādhis would all have entered the stream of the noble path. Would that not mean that cultivating the non-Buddhist four dhyānas and eight samādhis could also lead to liberation? Having already eradicated the three fetters, one enters the stream of the noble path—it is not that one gains the ability to eradicate them only after entering.