Gradual training

Not to be confused with Gradual instruction or Threefold Training.

The Buddha sometimes described the practice of his teaching as a gradual training (Pali: anupubbasikkhā), gradual performance (anupubbakiriyā), and gradual progression (anupubbapatipadā) because the Noble Eightfold Path involves a process of mind-body transformation that unfolds over a prolonged period rather than through an abrupt attainment of final knowledge.

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“ Just as the ocean has a gradual shelf, a gradual slope, a gradual inclination, with a sudden drop-off only after a long stretch, in the same way this Dhamma-Vinaya has a gradual training (anupubbasikkhā), a gradual performance (anupubbakiriyā), a gradual progression (anupubbapatipadā), with a penetration to gnosis only after a long stretch. ” — Uposatha Sutta, Ud 5.5

The emphasis on gradual training reflects the understanding that just as unwholesome behavioral patterns and mental defilements have been accumulated over a long duration, undoing them requires sustained, step-by-step commitment to mental culture.