The five are:

1. the stage of preparation (資糧位),
2. the stage of application (加行位),
3. the stage of proficiency (通達位),
4. the stage of practice (修習位) and
5. the stage of completion (究竟位).

In the stage of preparation 資糧位, one cultivates all kinds of positive behaviors and practices, accumulating this virtue for future, more strenuous and subtle meditation and so forth. It is also stage in which one arouses the intention for selfless enlightenment 發心 and where one develops conviction 信解 in the value of such efforts. This is the start of the three incalculable eons of practice. The actual major transformations of the Yogâcāra path do not occur until the entry into the stage of proficiency 通達位 (or path of seeing 見道), but in order to reach to this level, it is necessary to develop various kinds of virtues (especially through moral behavior and so forth).

Once sufficient practice techniques have been assimilated, in order to get to the stage of natural application as seen in the stage of proficiency, one needs to spend time in arduous application of the three disciplines of morality, meditation, and wisdom, and this stage in the process is known as the stage of application 加行位. It is here that one actually begins to deal in earnest with the two kinds of hindrances—the afflictive hindrances 煩惱障 (based on attachment to the selfhood of person 我執) as well as the cognitive hindrances 所知 障 (based on attachment to the selfhood of phenomena 法執). These two attachments/hindrances are also distinguished into those that are arisen based on the conceptual imputations made in this lifetime 分別起, and those which are innately possessed from prior lifetimes 倶生起. In the stages of preparation and application, the manifest activity 現行 of the afflictive and cognitive hindrances arisen based on conceptual activity in the present life is quelled 伏, but their seeds still remain in the store consciousness 阿賴耶識.

In the stage of proficiency 通達位, the seeds of conceptually-arisen hindrances are eliminated 斷, and the practitioner gives rise to uncontaminated cognition 無漏智, resulting in the ability to bring about changes in the activity of consciousness. In order to bring about further transformation, one proceeds to the stage of practice.

In the stage of practice 修習位, one quells the active processes of the innately contained two hindrances, and gradually proceeds in the work of eliminating their seeds 種子. This stage is understood as having ten levels. Up to the seventh level it is understood that one must apply effort in order for progress to occur, but from the eighth level onward, one progresses naturally without effort.In this way, bodhisattvas, from the stage of preparation up through the stage of practice gradually quell 伏 more superficial afflictions and cognitive obscurations, and then move to eliminate 斷 the deeper level of seeds, and then finally cast off 捨 the habit energies 習氣 that remain from these hindrances. Once this process is complete, they move to the final stages.

The final stage 究竟位 is equivalent to the attainment of Buddhahood—including nirvana and bodhi. In this case, nirvana 涅槃 can be understood to refer specifically to the condition peace resultant of dissolution of the afflictive hindrances 煩惱障, while bodhi 菩提 refers specifically to the spontaneous wisdom that arises upon the final clarification of cognitive hindrances 所知障. Arriving to this final stage, one accomplishes the transformation of the afflicted consciousness, into pure states of cognition 轉識得智.

In the Abhidharmakośa-bhāṣya, they are

1. the stage of accumulation (資糧位),
2. the stage of preparation (加行位),
3. the stage of seeing the Way (見道位),
4. the stage of cultivating the way (修道位),
5. and the stage of no more learning (無學位).