Primitive Buddhist beliefs insist that whether or not a person abandons secular life determines the degree to which he can become enlightened. There are four such degrees or stages—known as the four merits: entrance into the stream of sanctification (sotapanna), the state in which the person will be born once again into this world (sakadagamin), the state in which no return to this world is necessary (anagamin), and the state of perfect enlightenment (arhat). (Page 103)