Craving not to become (vibhava-taṇhā)
Skillful qualities / Four Noble Truths / Noble Truth of the Cause of Suffering / Craving not to become
Part of tag cluster Becoming in key topic Dependent Origination
Also a subtag of Craving
See also: Becoming
18 excerpts, 1:29:23 total duration

All excerpts (18) Most relevant (10) Questions about (8) Answers involving (9) Quotes (2)


Metta Retreat, Session 4 – Sep. 12, 2008

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5. “If everything about me is impermanent, and even ‘myself’ is illusory, just the rising and falling of kamma, then who or what am I addressing when I wish myself well-being?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Aggregates] [Impermanence] [Not-self] [Kamma] [Goodwill] // [Conventions] [Craving not to become] [Right View] [Conditionality]


Tudong Stories at Spirit Rock, Session 2 – Jun. 2, 2011

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4. “Can the practice be used in a punitative or punishing way?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Guilt/shame/inadequacy] // [Culture/West] [Habits] [Clear comprehension] [Craving not to become]

Quote: “Having a human mind...it’s amazing how perverse it can be sometimes.” [Human] [Unwholesome Roots]

Story: Ajahn Pasanno can’t translate guilt into Thai. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Translation] [Culture/Thailand] [Suffering]

Quote: “All you need to do is create a cage of mindfulness around [unskillful habits].” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah] [Sense restraint] [Mindfulness] [Unskillful qualities] [Similes]

Follow-up: “What about letting the tiger go instead of keeping it in a cage?”

Follow-up: “What about the case when one feels one is the tiger trapped in a metaphorical cage. How to escape?” [Liberation] [Perception] [Self-identity view] [Spiritual friendship]


Brightening the Mind, Session 3 – Aug. 19, 2012

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2. Comment: I’m looking at contemplating peace as opposed to grasping for peace as a result of aversion to dukkha. There’s not the same result. [Recollection/Peace] [Clinging] [Aversion] [Suffering]

Response by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Noble Truth of Suffering] [Craving not to become] [Relinquishment] [Kamma]


Abhayagiri 2014 Winter Retreat, Session 16 – Jan. 27, 2014

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5. “With investigating sleep, it seems sleeping less is an effect from good meditation practice rather than a cause; is it because there is less proliferation?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Devotion to wakefulness] [Conditionality] [Proliferation] // [Craving not to become] [Sloth and torpor] [Habits] [Ardency] [Energy]


Abhayagiri 2014 Winter Retreat, Session 35 – Feb. 21, 2014

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2. “Is vibhavataṇhā the thought, “I am this way and I don’t want to be this way?”” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Craving not to become]


Abhayagiri 2014 Winter Retreat, Session 37 – Feb. 25, 2014

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5. “When I look at neutral objects, dullness often arises. Is this suffering?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Feeling] [Contact] [Sloth and torpor] [Unskillful qualities] [Suffering] // [Craving not to become] [Delusion] [Ignorance] [Mindfulness] [Clear comprehension]

Comment by Ajahn Jotipālo: Lack of desire is not enlightenment. [Desire] [Liberation]


2014 Thanksgiving Monastic Retreat, Session 2 – Nov. 23, 2014

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15. “The problem of extremes. Yesterday, pīti. This morning, the horrors of the bait and craving for annihilation in all their ugliness. Then, pīti again. The only thing I’ve figured is to back off from meditation when things get too extreme. Any other suggestions?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Meditation/General advice] [Rapture] [Craving not to become]


Abhayagiri 2015 Winter Retreat, Session 21 – Feb. 1, 2015

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1. “Is it easy for a person with attainments to deal with the world?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Stages of awakening] [Everyday life] // [Discernment] [Conceit] [Culture/West] [Wrong concentration]

Quote: “To push away the world is also to reifying it. One gives it power when one is afraid of it.” [Craving not to become] [Proliferation] [Fear]

Laypeople with highly developed meditation practice function well in the world. Comment by Ajahn Ñāṇiko. [Lay life] [Meditation/Results] [Energy]


The Middle Way of Not-Self, Session 2 – May. 27, 2015

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10. Quote: “One of the things I often attend to is the juxtaposition of stillness and movement. It’s not that one is right and the other wrong. We can be still and really dull or the mind can move with clarity and acuity. But stillness and movement, what’s generating it, what’s pushing it? That bhavadiṭṭhi/vibhavadiṭṭhi is the engine behind it and the force behing the arising of a sense of self, a sense of me.” — Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Insight meditation] [Calming meditation] [Right Concentration] [Not-self] [Clear comprehension] [Nature of mind] [Conditionality] [Becoming ] [Craving not to become] [Views] [Self-identity view ]


Desire or Aspiration, Session 2 – Jun. 14, 2015

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1. “I’ve been struggling with sleepiness while trying to meditate, having the intention to be present and aware, but finding myself dozing off.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Sloth and torpor] [Clear comprehension] [Meditation retreats] // [Conditionality] [Lay life] [Craving not to become] [Directed thought and evaluation]

Story: Ajahn Boon Choo meditates through tiredness after staying up for days. [Ajahn Boon Choo] [Kaṭhina] [Wat Pah Pong] [Energy] [Devotion to wakefulness] [Ardency]

Quote: “The boundaries we set for ourselves are oftentime much smaller than what we can actually deal with, work with, or be with.” [Self-identity view] [Clinging] [Patience]


Two Kinds of Thought and the Removal of Distracting Thoughts, Session 3 – Jun. 4, 2017

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5. “Where does allowing the thought to be there for a little bit come in? For example, if you’re thinking about a past event that means something to you, and you’re trying to stop it, and all of a sudden you realize, ‘Oh, it’s okay. This is meaningful to you.’ And it really loses power.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Present moment awareness] [Directed thought and evaluation] // [Ill-will] [Craving not to become] [Mindfulness] [Clear comprehension]


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6. Comment: I’ve been reflecting on freedom from as opposed to freedom within. Sometimes there’s a secret hope that those thoughts will go away, vibhava-taṇha, as opposed to freedom within, meaning releasing the identification with painful thoughts. [Craving not to become] [Self-identity view] [Release] [Directed thought and evaluation] // [Hindrances]

Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Suffering]

Quote: “Just that much.” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah] [Disenchantment]


The Path of Practice, Session 2 – Jun. 16, 2019

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14. “Even reading scripturally-oriented material can be used as an escape; it’s easier than meditating. I was wondering about the precept on entertainment, beautification and adornment. Can you give some advice on how to interpret this in practical terms?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Learning] [Craving not to become] [Entertainment and adornment] // [Idealism] [Discernment] [Idle chatter] [Spiritual friendship] [Faith] [Media] [Ajahn Soṇa] [Abhayagiri] [Dhamma online] [Ajahn Pasanno]


Love, Attachment, and Friendship, Session 3 – Oct. 12, 2019

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3. “My natural tendency is to push the world away and to have the attitude that enjoyment is wrong. I’m working on trying to enjoy life. Do you have any ideas about this?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Craving not to become] [Christianity] [Hinduism] [Ascetic practices] [Happiness] [Skillful qualities] // [Monastic life] [Ajahn Sucitto] [Guilt/shame/inadequacy] [Culture/West]

The Rule of St. Benedict and Ajahn Sucitto’s talk “Fellow Worms.” [Humility]

Story: A BBC interviewer asks King Rama IX about original sin. [Media] [King Rama IX] [Culture/Thailand] [Nature of mind]

Causal processes leading to sāmadhi and dispassion have different starting points, but they all go through delight and happiness. [Conditionality] [Concentration] [Dispassion]

Quote: “Monks, do not be afraid of puñña.” — Iti 22. [Merit] [Fear] [Liberation]

Quote: “The happy mind is easily concentrated.”


Honoring the Buddha: The Mahāparinibbāna Sutta – Apr. 25, 2021

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3. “Did vibhavatanha arise in any of the monks at the loss of the Buddha? How do we notice vibhavatanha in practice, and what is a wise and compassionate response?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Craving not to become ] [Death] [Grief ] [Sutta] [Buddha/Biography] // [Stream entry] [Stages of awakening] [Recollection/Dhamma] [Three Refuges] [Precepts] [Spiritual friendship] [Devotional practice] [Suffering]

Sutta: DN 16: Mahāparinibbāna Sutta [Nibbāna]

Story: The funeral of a close Wat Pah Nanachat supporter. [Funerals] [Wat Pah Nanachat]


Madison Insight Retreat 2023, Session 3 – Oct. 15, 2023

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7. “What exactly is reborn in Buddhist teachings?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Rebirth ] // [Craving] [Sensual desire] [Becoming] [Craving not to become] [Consciousness] [Relinquishment]


28th Anniversary Practice and Study Day, Session 4 – Jun. 1, 2024

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1. “How do you deal with a friend who has commited suicide and the despair and grief that comes with that? How do you support a friend who has feelings of seeking annihilation and wanting to kill themselves?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Suicide] [Depression] [Grief] [Craving not to become] // [Guilt/shame/inadequacy] [Compassion] [Suffering] [Language] [Cessation of Suffering] [Fear]

Quote: “Compassion is a skillful or beautiful response to the suffering of the world.” [Skillful qualities]


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3. “Could you say more about recollection of death and the healthy desire to have something fall away?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Craving not to become] [Recollection/Death] [Relinquishment] // [Cessation] [Middle Path] [Right View]

Sutta: MN 26.19: The Buddha doubts whether anyone will understand. [Buddha/Biography]