Taṇhā

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Template:Short descriptionTemplate:Italic title Template:Buddhist term Template:Sidebar with collapsible lists Template:Cetasika Template:Nidanas Template:See also Template:IAST (from Pāli; Template:Langx {{#invoke:IPA|main}}) is an important concept in Buddhism, referring to "thirst, desire, longing, greed", either physical or mental.<ref name="DavidsStede1921p294"/><ref name=peterharvey53>Template:Cite book</ref> It is typically translated as craving,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and is of three types: kāma-taṇhā (craving for sensual pleasures), bhava-taṇhā (craving for existence), and vibhava-taṇhā (craving for non-existence).<ref name="WilliamsTribe2002p43"/>Template:Sfn

Taṇhā appears in the Four Noble Truths, wherein Template:IAST arises with, or exists together with, dukkha (dissatisfaction, "standing unstable") and the cycle of repeated birth, becoming and death (saṃsāra).<ref name="DavidsStede1921p294"/><ref name=peterharvey53/><ref name="WilliamsTribe2002p43"/>

In the Theravāda Abhidhamma teachings, taṇhā is equivalent to the mental factor lobha (attachment).<ref name=":02">Template:Cite book</ref>

Etymology and meaning

Taṇhā is a Pali word, derived from the Vedic Sanskrit word tṛ́ṣṇā (तृष्णा), which originates from the Proto-Indo-Iranian *tŕ̥šnas, which is related to the root tarś- (thirst, desire, wish), ultimately descending from Proto-Indo-European *ters- (dry).

The word has the following Indo-European cognates: Avestan taršna (thirst), Ancient Greek térsomai (to dry), Lithuanian troškimas (thirst, desire), Gothic þaursus (dry), Old High German durst (thirst), English thirst.<ref name="DavidsStede1921p294">Template:Cite book</ref> The word appears numerous times in the Samhita layer of the Rigveda, dated to the 2nd millennium BCE, such as in hymns 1.7.11, 1.16.5, 3.9.3, 6.15.5, 7.3.4 and 10.91.7.<ref name=mwdtrishna/> It also appears in other Vedas, wherein the meaning of the word is "thirst, thirsting for, longing for, craving for, desiring, eager greediness, and suffering from thirst".<ref name=mwdtrishna>Monier Williams, 1964, p. 454, entry for तृष्, "Template:IAST", "University of Cologne, Germany</ref>

Relation to dukkha

In the second of the Four Noble Truths, the Buddha identified Template:IAST as arising together with dukkha (unease, "standing unstable").Template:Sfn

Taṇhā, states Walpola Rahula, or "thirst, desire, greed, craving" is what manifests as suffering and rebirths.<ref name="walpola1">Walpola Sri Rahula (2007). Kindel Locations 791-809.</ref> However, adds Rahula, it is not the first cause nor the only cause of dukkha or saṃsāra, because the origination of everything is relative and dependent on something else.<ref name="walpola1"/> The Pali canons of Buddhism assert other defilements and impurities (kilesā, sāsavā dhammā), in addition to taṇhā, as the cause of Dukkha. Taṇhā nevertheless, is always listed first, and considered the principal, all-pervading and "the most palpable and immediate cause" of dukkha, states Rahula.<ref name="walpola1"/>

Taṇhā, states Peter Harvey, is the key origin of dukkha in Buddhism.Template:Sfn It reflects a mental state of craving. Greater the craving, more is the frustration because the world is always changing and innately unsatisfactory; craving also brings about pain through conflict and quarrels between individuals, which are all a state of dukkha.Template:Sfn It is such taṇhā that leads to rebirth and endless saṃsāra, stated Buddha as the second reality, and it is marked by three types of craving: sensory, being or non-existence.Template:Sfn In Buddhist philosophy, there are right view and wrong view. The wrong views ultimately trace back to taṇhā, but it also asserts that "ordinary right view" such as giving and donations to monks, is also a form of clinging.Template:Sfn The end of taṇhā occurs when a person has accepted the "transcendent right view" through insight into impermanence and non-self.Template:Sfn

Both appropriate and inappropriate tendencies, states Stephen Laumakis, are linked to the fires of taṇhā, and these produce fruits of kamma thereby rebirths.<ref name=laumakis45/> Quenching and blowing out these fires completely, is the path to final release from dukkha and saṃsāra, in Buddhism.<ref name=laumakis45>Template:Cite book</ref> The Pali texts, states David Webster, repeatedly recommend that one must destroy taṇhā completely, and this destruction is necessary for nirvāṇa.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Template:IAST is also identified as the eighth link in the twelve links of dependent origination. In the context of the twelve links, the emphasis is on the types of craving "that nourish the karmic potency that will produce the next lifetime."<ref name="hopkins1">Dalai Lama (1992), p. 21. (from the introduction by Jeffry Hopkins)</ref>

Types

The Buddha identified three types of taṇhā:<ref name="walpola1"/>Template:Sfn<ref name="sucitto1">Ajahn Sucitto (2010), Kindle Location 943-946</ref>Template:Refn

  • Kāma-taṇhā (sensual pleasures craving):Template:Sfn craving for sense objects which provide pleasant feeling, or craving for sensory pleasures.<ref name="sucitto1"/> Walpola Rahula states that taṇhā includes not only desire for sense-pleasures, wealth and power, but also "desire for, and attachment to, ideas and ideals, views, opinions, theories, conceptions and beliefs (dhamma-taṇhā)."<ref name="walpola1"/>
  • Bhava-taṇhā (craving for being):Template:Sfn craving to be something, to unite with an experience.<ref name="sucitto1"/> This is ego-related, states Harvey, the seeking of certain identity and desire for certain type of rebirth eternally.Template:Sfn Other scholars explain that this type of craving is driven by the wrong view of eternalism (eternal life) and about permanence.<ref name="WilliamsTribe2002p43">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Thepyanmongkol2012p314">Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Vibhava-taṇhā (craving for non-existence):<ref name="WilliamsTribe2002p43"/> craving not to experience unpleasant things in the current or future life, such as unpleasant people or situations.Template:Sfn This sort of craving may include attempts at suicide and self-annihilation, and this only results in further rebirth in a worse realm of existence.Template:Sfn This type of craving, states Phra Thepyanmongkol, is driven by the wrong view of annihilationism, that there is no rebirth.<ref name="Thepyanmongkol2012p314"/>

Cessation of taṇhā

The third noble truth teaches that the cessation of Template:IAST is possible. The Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta states:<ref>Ajahn Sucitto (2010), Kindle Locations 1341-1343</ref>

Bhikkhus, there is a noble truth about the cessation of suffering. It is the complete fading away and cessation of this craving [taṇhā]; its abandonment and relinquishment; getting free from and being independent of it.

Cessation of Template:IAST can be obtained by following the Noble Eightfold Path. In Theravada Buddhism, the cessation results from the gaining of true insight into impermanence and non-self.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn The 'insight meditation' practice of Buddhism, states Kevin Trainor, focuses on gaining "right mindfulness" which entails understanding three marks of existence - dukkha (suffering), anicca (impermanence) and anatta (non-self).<ref name="Trainor2004p74"/> The understanding of the reality of non-self, adds Trainor, promotes non-attachment because "if there is no soul, then there is no locus for clinging".<ref name="Trainor2004p74"/> Once one comprehends and accepts the non-self doctrine, there are no more desires, i.e. taṇhā ceases.<ref name="Trainor2004p74">Template:Cite book</ref>

Taṇhā versus chanda

Buddhism categorizes desires as either taṇhā or chanda.Template:Sfn Chanda literally means "impulse, excitement, will, desire for".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Bahm states that chanda is "desiring what, and no more than, will be attained", while taṇhā is "desiring more than will be attained".Template:Sfn However, in early Buddhist texts, adds Bahm, the term chanda includes anxieties and is ambiguous, wherein five kinds of chanda are described, namely "to seek, to gain, to hoard, to spend and to enjoy".Template:Sfn In these early texts, the sense of the word chanda is the same as taṇhā.Template:Sfn

Some writers such as Ajahn Sucitto explain chanda as positive and non-pathological, asserting it to be distinct from negative and pathological taṇhā.<ref name="succito"/> Sucitto explains it with examples such as the desire to apply oneself to a positive action such as meditation.<ref name="succito">Ajahn Sucitto (2010), Kindle Locations 933-944, quote= Sometimes taṇhā is translated as “desire,” but that gives rise to some crucial misinterpretations with reference to the way of Liberation. As we shall see, some form of desire is essential in order to aspire to, and persist in, cultivating the path out of dukkha. Desire as an eagerness to offer, to commit, to apply oneself to meditation, is called chanda. It’s a psychological “yes,” a choice, not a pathology. In fact, you could summarize Dhamma training as the transformation of taṇhā into chanda.</ref> In contrast, Rhys Davids and Stede state that chanda, in Buddhist texts, has both positive and negative connotations; as a vice, for example, the Pali texts associate chanda with "lust, delight in the body" stating it to be a source of misery.<ref>Rhys Davids and Stede (1921), pp. 275-6, entry for "Chanda" Template:Webarchive</ref>

Chanda, states Peter Harvey, can be either wholesome or unwholesome.Template:Sfn

Relation to the three poisons

Template:IAST (desire) can be related to the three poisons:<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

  • Avijjā (avidyā) or moha (ignorance), the root of the three poisons, is also the basis for taṇhā.
  • Rāga (attachment) is equivalent to bhava-taṇhā (craving to be) and kāma-taṇhā (sense-craving).
  • Dosa (dveṣa) (aversion) is equivalent to vibhava-taṇhā (craving not to be).

According to Rupert Gethin, taṇhā is related to aversion and ignorance. Craving leads to aversion, anger, cruelty and violence, states Gethin, which are unpleasant states and cause suffering to one who craves. Craving is based on misjudgement, states Gethin, that the world is permanent, unchanging, stable, and reliable.Template:Sfn

For example, in the first discourse of the Buddha, the Buddha identified taṇhā as the principal cause of suffering. However, his third discourse, the Fire Sermon, and other suttas, the Buddha identifies the causes of suffering as the "fires" of rāga, dosa (dveṣa), and moha; in the Fire Sermon, the Buddha states that nirvāṇa is obtained by extinguishing these fires.Template:Sfn

See also

Notes

Template:Reflist

References

Template:Reflist

Sources

Further reading

  • Philosophy of the Buddha by Archie J. Bahm. Asian Humanities Press. Berkeley, CA: 1993. Template:ISBN.
    • Chapter 5 is about craving, and discusses the difference between Template:IAST and chanda.
  • Nietzsche and Buddhism: A Study in Nihilism and Ironic Affinities by Robert Morrison. Oxford University Press, 1998.
    • Chapter 10 is a comparison between Nietzsche's Will to Power and Tanha, which gives a very nuanced and positive explanation of the central role taṇhā plays in the Buddhist path.

Template:S-start Template:Succession box Template:S-end

Template:Buddhism topics

Retrieved from "https://wiki.sarg.dev/index.php?title=Taṇhā&oldid=372768"