สังโยชน์คือเครื่องมือที่ฝ่ายอกุศลใช้ผูกมัดจิตใจให้ตกต่ำ เริ่มจากสักกายทิฏฐิที่ทำให้ยึดขันธ์ 5 ว่าเป็นเรา ไปจนถึงกามราคะและปฏิฆะ ซึ่งล้วนเป็นสังโยชน์เบื้องต่ำ 5 ประการที่ต้องละให้ได้ก่อนจึงจะเป็นพระโสดาบันThe fetters are tools the unwholesome side uses to drag the mind down. They begin with the view of self, which makes us cling to the five aggregates as "me," through to sensual craving and irritation — the five lower fetters that must be abandoned before one can become a stream-enterer.
Someone asked the teacher to explain the ten fetters.
The fetters are tools side uses to press our nature downward. They divide into lower and higher fetters. When one of them possesses us, we feel restless, irritable, caught in a state that is hard to bear.
The first lower fetter is the view of self — seeing the five aggregates (body, feeling, perception, mental formations, consciousness) as "me." In truth the five aggregates are only tools: the body houses the mind, and the mind is simply the instrument of knowing that the three natures — wholesome, unwholesome, and neutral — all compete to seize. If we know that this body and mind are not truly "us," then whatever thought or feeling arises, we simply observe it as not-ourselves, without being shaken. But if we cling to it as "me," the unwholesome side dangles delight and displeasure as bait, trapping us in its dimension.
This is why the five aggregates are a source of suffering: they are the very place the unwholesome side enters and presses down on us, forcing wrong thought, speech, and action. We must first recognize this suffering before we can grow weary of it and let go.
Another tool the unwholesome side uses is doubt — hesitation about the Buddha, the , and the Sangha. It keeps people from knowing that the Triple Gem exists within themselves, or leaves them doubting even when they do know, until they turn instead to other beliefs and empty rituals that can never truly lead to .
Next comes sensual craving — delight in sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touch — which leads to endless greed, and irritation — displeasure when we don't get what we want or when our interests are crossed. Both greed and anger ultimately lead to harming one another.
These five lower fetters — view of self, doubt, attachment to rites and rituals, sensual craving, and irritation — are what every person in the world faces daily and throughout the cycle of rebirth. They must be abandoned before one can attain the stage of stream-entry. The five higher fetters, the teacher noted, would be explained in the next session.