Four Stages of Sainthood

In Buddhism, there are the four stages of sainthood that leads to the fourth stage, that is the Arahant stage. A person is considered as have entered the stream when he or she has attained the first stage, which is the Sotapanna. He or she is then considered to be on "safe ground". The maximum rebirths between the first and fourth stage is seven. In Theosophy, the fourth stage is known as the Arhat, and the fifth stage is an Adept, which is also called the Perfected Man. This is something which spiritual aspirants aim for. But to achieve even the first stage of a Sotapanna, one has to attain quite a relative high degree of purity of one's vehicles, such as on the mental, emotional, etheric, and physical levels. Mindfulness is another key component. All these require strong faith, practice, discipline, character building and the cultivation of virtues.