This study explores the notion of fetter (samyojana) in the Sutta and the Abhidhamma Pitaka-s of the Pali Canon, by showing its three main functions as householder binding, as intra-psychic binding, and as existential binding. The study deliberates that the Theravada tradition links the existential binding with the ten fetters which define the four stages of liberation; namely, stream-entry, once-returning, non-returning, and arahatship. It demonstrates this notion is a doctrinal development in the Pali Canon. It examines different descriptions of the attainment of the four stages of liberation, the lexicons of which do not uniformly employ fetter as the standardized description of soteriological hierarchy in the Sutta-s, but the concept became widespread in the Abhidhamma.
