Terminology of Desire In the Pali Suttas the words taṇhā, chanda, rāga and nandi often appear together, as in the phrase yo chando yo rāgo yā nandi yā taṇhā ya upāyupādanā (Bhavanetti-sutta, Saṁyuta-nikāya 23.3). Very often chanda, rāga and nandi…

Apart from craving for pleasant sights, sounds, smells, tastes and touches, there is also a craving for pleasant mental images or ideas (dhamma). In Pali this is called dhammataṇhā. Thus craving for ‘I am’ would be dhammataṇhā; so would craving…

We see in experience that of kāmataṇhā, bhavataṇhā and vibhavataṇhā, the last two are more potent than the first; and that is because bhavataṇhā and vibhavataṇhā involve ‘self’ more than kāmataṇhā does. Being ‘I’, ‘mine’ and ‘self’ are of more…

If we extend this simile we may say that the sore (vana) is the conceit ‘(I) am’ (asmimāna); waning to scratch is the craving-for-sensuality (kāmataṇhā) scratching is the indulgence in sensuality (kāma); and the pleasure and satisfaction derived from scratching…

The cravings in the puthujjana’s experience are of three types: craving-for-‘being’ (bhavataṇhā) craving-for-‘unbeing’ (vibhavataṇhā) craving-for-sensuality (kāmataṇhā) “There are, monks, these three cravings. What three? craving-for-sensuality, craving-for-‘being’ and craving-for-‘unbeing’. These, indeed, are the three cravings.” — Taṇhāsutta (Ittivutaka 58) Sensuality is…

Now, whenever the puthujjana finds that he needs to intensify the pleasurability of his ‘being’, the only means he has for it is through the intensity of pleasure which occurs in the realm of the five sense-bases: eye, ear, nose,…