Although the Southern Zen school is famous for promoting the idea of instant enlightenment, this process could also be envisioned as a series of stages leading to final enlightenment.
The famous Ox Herding Pictures in Chinese art depict such this process in Zen Buddhism.
In a series of ten pictures, a man progresses from the first through the last stages of enlightenment, and then returns to the world, now wiser (like a bodhisattva) to help others on the path to enlightenment.