SN 55.2 — The Objective of the Spiritual Life

“Mendicants, a noble disciple who has four things is a stream-enterer, not liable to be reborn in the underworld, assured, destined for awakening. What four? It’s when a noble disciple has experiential confidence in the Buddha … the teaching … the Saṅgha … And they have the ethical conduct loved by the noble ones … leading to immersion. A noble disciple who has these four things is a stream-enterer, not liable to be reborn in the underworld, assured, destined for awakening.” That is what the Buddha said. Then the Holy One, the Teacher, went on to say: “Those who have faith and ethics, confidence, and vision of the truth, in time arrive at happiness, the objective of the spiritual life.”