The Two Bhumi Or Stages

Bhumi means the stage where all creatures find their footing, generate and grow. It is of two kinds, to wit:

1. Puthujjana-bhumi
2. Ariya-bhumi.

Puthujjana-bhumi is the stage of a puthujjana, an ordinary, or normal being, and speaking in the sense of ultimate truth; it is nothing but the hallucination of views. All creatures of the ordinary worldly kind live in the world making this Ditthi-vipallasa or erroneous view their resting place, their main support, their standing ground: "There is in me or in my body something that is permanent, good and essential."

The Ditthi-mannana or fantasy through error, the Ditthigaha or erroneous hold, the Ditthi-papanca or multiplier of error, and the Ditthi-abhinivesa or strong belief induced by error, are also the landing stages, the supports, the resting places, and the standing grounds of all puthujjanas. Hence they will never be released from the state or existence of a puthujjana, so long as they take their firm stand on the ground of the said many-titled error.

As to the Ariya-bhumi, it is a state of an Ariya, a noble and sanctified being, in whom hallucination is eradicated. It is, speaking in the ultimate sense, nothing but this Right View, this Right Apprehension, the Right Understanding: "There is in me or in my body nothing permanent, good, and essential". As an Ariya lives making Right View his main footing, this Right View may be called the stage of the Ariya. Upon the attainment of this Right View, a being is said to have transcended the Puthujjana-bhumi, and to have set foot on the Aryan stage.

Among the innumerable ordinary beings (Puthujjanas) who have been treading the ground of Puthujjanaship during countless existences that have no known beginning; if a certain person trying to eradicate the hallucination of error to implant the Right View within himself, on a certain day succeeds in his attempts, he is said to have set foot that self-same day upon the ground of the Ariya, and to have become an Ariya, that is a sanctified being. Even if there should remain the hallucinations of mind and perception in some of the Ariyas, they would not commit such evil deeds as would produce for them evil effects in the worlds of misfortune, for they have eradicated the weighty hallucination of error. The two remaining hallucinations would merely enable them to enjoy such worldly pleasures as they have lawfully earned.