Scientifically defining ecological stability holds significant theoretical value and practical guidance. However, due to its inherent complexity and the long-standing misuse of terminology, the academic community has yet to reach a unified definition of its connotation. This study posits that the concept of ecological stability can be divided into two aspects: phenomena (constancy) and mechanisms (persistence). The former includes multiple levels such as state identity, numerical identity, and type identity, while the latter can be decomposed into several dimensions, including resistance, tolerance, and resilience. To reasonably and consistently define these concepts, it is necessary to construct a unified systematic framework. Although the framework based on dynamical systems theory can effectively define resilience and tolerance, its approach of simplifying the environment into a black box makes it difficult to effectively express the essential characteristics of the resistance mechanism. Ecological units co-evolve with their environments to some extent, necessitating a perspective that transcends a pure "dynamical system" view by integrating the system's external functionality. Based on this idea, this study distinguishes between indirect and direct environments, expanding the dynamical systems framework into a dual-coupling framework: the first level involves internal interactions within the ecological unit, and the second level involves the regulations of the ecological unit on environmental intermediary processes. Environmental disturbances are categorized into three operational modes: external indirect disturbances through intermediary processes, surface disturbances affecting system parameters, and penetrative disturbances directly impacting system states. Corresponding stabilization mechanisms are resistance (regulation of external intermediary processes), tolerance (toleration of direct environmental stress), and resilience (restoration of state deviations). This framework deepens our understanding of the concept of ecological stability and provides new perspectives for the'complexity-stability' debate. Fully revealing the complex connotations of ecological stability still relies on developing new frameworks to further define other stabilization mechanisms, including plasticity, adaptability, and regeneration-development.