Sensual desire (kāmacchanda)
Unskillful qualities / Five Hindrances / Sensual desire
Part of tag cluster Sensual desire in key topic Unskillful Qualities
Subsumes: Craving for sensuality (kāma-taṇhā), Sensuality (kāmāsava), Sensuality-clinging (kāmupādāna), Danger of sensual pleasure (kāmānaṃ ādīnava)
Glosses: Sensual pleasure, Sexual desire, Lust
Also a subtag of Fetters
See also: Renunciation
56 excerpts, 4:02:08 total duration

All excerpts (58) Most relevant (38) Questions about (21) Answers involving (22) Stories (12) Quotes (7) Readings (3) Texts (1)

Metta Retreat, Session 2 – Sep. 10, 2008

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9. “Could you talk more about working with the hindrance of doubt?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Doubt ] // [Fear] [Aversion] [Sensual desire] [Mindfulness of body] [Tranquility] [Mindfulness of feeling] [Right Speech] [Delusion]

Simile: A dish of muddy water placed in a dark cupboard (SN 46.55). [Similes]


Abhayagiri Monastic Retreat 2013, Session 7 – Nov. 29, 2013

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20. “Can you talk about path and fruit in regards to the stages of awakening? What are they? How are they different?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Stages of awakening ] // [Insight meditation] [Relinquishment] [Fetters] [Stream entry] [Self-identity view] [Aggregates] [Attachment to precepts and practices] [Doubt] [Once return] [Sensual desire] [Ill-will] [Non-return] [Arahant]


2014 Thanksgiving Monastic Retreat, Session 4 – Nov. 25, 2014

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4. “I find the mind especially distractable during meal times. Partly this reflects longstanding habits of talking, reading, listening to news, etc, while eating. In the retreat context, it’s also due to the heightened ‘social’ aspect of meal time (even though in silence). Can you give some suggestions for staying more present and mindful while eating? A deep bow of gratitude for your wonderful teachings…” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Food ] [Proliferation] [Habits] [Meditation retreats] [Present moment awareness] // [Mindfulness of body] [Sensual desire] [Perception] [Nutriment]


Abhayagiri 2015 Winter Retreat, Session 6 – Jan. 11, 2015

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2. “Why are some body parts omitted from this list?” Answered by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Unattractiveness] // [Commentaries] [Sensual desire] [Self-identity view]

Reference: Abhayagiri Chanting Book, p. 37.


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4. “What do the Pāḷi terms translated as impurity and foulness mean?” Answered by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Pāli] [Translation] [Aversion] [Unattractiveness] // [Etymology] [Sensual desire]

Simile: MN 119.7: Sack of grains.

Comment: Words themselves like “impure” are culturally loaded. [Language] [Cultural context] [Culture/India]


Abhayagiri 2015 Winter Retreat, Session 7 – Jan. 14, 2015

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6. Comment: When I go though the list [of the 32 parts], I separate the object from my body and evision my body with it absent. [Visualization] [Unattractiveness]

Response by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Ajahn Chah] [Not-self] [Sensual desire] [Calming meditation] [Sloth and torpor]


Abhayagiri 2015 Winter Retreat, Session 8 – Jan. 15, 2015

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7. “Why are the first five parts chosen for special contemplation?” Answered by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Unattractiveness] // [Ajahn Mun] [Sensual desire]


Abhayagiri 2015 Winter Retreat, Session 49 – Mar. 22, 2015

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5. Examples of signs and secondary characteristics of sense objects? Answered by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo and Ajahn Pasanno. [Sense bases] [Proliferation] [Perception] // [Ven. Analayo] [Sensual desire] [Conditionality] [Food] [Appropriate attention]

Sutta: Thig 14.1: Subhā.

Comment about the feedback loop of perceptions looking for reinforcing perceptions. [Views] [Clinging]

Quote: “The underlying tendency to aversion is like a search engine.” — Ajahn Sucitto. Quoted by Beth Steff. [Ajahn Sucitto] [Aversion] [Similes]


Jhāna: A Practical Approach, Session 2 – Oct. 10, 2015

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2. “Is there ever a dominant hindrance, but then in the service of that, the mind picks up other hindrances?” Answered by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Aversion] [Hindrances] // [Sensual desire] [Sloth and torpor]


2015 Thanksgiving Monastic Retreat, Session 5 – Nov. 25, 2015

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15. “Can you clarify the difference between desire and intention? It seems that either could lead to suffering due to attachments to the results. Yet we are encouraged to have intentions for well-being, health, happiness, etc. Isn’t our intention also a desire?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Desire ] [Volition ] [Clinging] [Cause of Suffering] // [Pāli] [Kamma] [Craving ] [Bases of Success] [Sensual desire] [Energy]

Sutta: SN 22.22: Dhammacakkappavattanasutta (Chanting Book translation)


Thanksgiving Retreat 2016, Session 1 – Nov. 19, 2016

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7. “At the Friday evening talk, you mentioned the three poisons/kleshas of greed, hatred and delusion. But you also added fear. Fear seems to me more like a result. Please explain.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Unwholesome Roots ] [Fear] [Conditionality] // [Biases] [Sensual desire] [Abhayagiri]


Thanksgiving Retreat 2016, Session 2 – Nov. 20, 2016

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1. “Isn’t desire needed for lay life, starting a family, a business etc? And what about polio? Would there be things like a vaccine for polio without desire? Did the Buddha have something else in mind?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Desire ] [Health care] [Lay life] // [Cause of Suffering] [Craving] [Aids to Awakening] [Bases of Success] [Hindrances] [Sensual desire] [Language]


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9. “Can Ajahn Pasanno teach us how Ajahn Chah teaches or gives techniques on physical states and mental states? Can you tell us more about Ajahn Chah’s biography, for example, when and how Ajahn Chah wanted to become a monk?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Form] [Heart/mind] // [Christianity] [Conditionality]

Recollection: Ajahn Chah engaged in conversation with the villagers before the meal to reveal the junior monks’ desires around food. [Idle chatter] [Food] [Sensual desire]

Advice from Ajahn Chah: “Don’t admonish anybody before the meal.” [Admonishment/feedback]

Update about the progress on the new Ajahn Chah biography. [Dhamma books] [Ajahn Jayasaro]

Reference: Stilness Flowing

Story: Nine year old Ajahn Chah goes to the monastery after getting fed up with household chores. [Culture/Thailand] [Geography/Thailand] [Faith] [Monasteries] [Family] [Work]


Practice in a Global Context – Aug. 12, 2017

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5. “Can you say more about how disenchantment can be uplifting?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Disenchantment] [Gladdening the mind] [Politics and society] // [Translation] [Bhikkhu Bodhi] [Suffering] [Skillful qualities] [Progress of insight]

Quote: “There’s no known defense against cheesecake.” — Ajahn Sucitto. [Ajahn Sucitto] [Food] [Sensual desire]


Can We Function without Attachement?, Session 4 – Oct. 1, 2017

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3. “Can you speak about the relationship between renunciation and moderation?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Renunciation ] // [Habits] [Suffering] [Sensual desire] [Spiritual urgency] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Faith] [Conditionality] [Appropriate attention] [Perfections]


The Teaching and the Training, Session 11 – Mar. 29, 2018

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5. “I was reading the book Hooked about desire, consumerism, and society. The author writes about the desire to know things. How does the desire to know relate to practice?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Desire] [Monastic life] // [Cause of Suffering] [Cessation of Suffering] [Bases of Success] [Sensual desire] [Craving]

Sutta: SN 51.15: The path has an end. [Great disciples]


Developing Skill in Reflective Meditation, Session 2 – Dec. 1, 2019

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7. “How would I apply the perception of unattractiveness in my daily life?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Unattractiveness] [Everyday life] [Recollection] // [Sensual desire] [Ageing] [Proliferation] [Dispassion] [Appropriate attention]


Abhayagiri 25th Anniversary Retreat, Session 19 – Jun. 14, 2021

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14. “Have you ever suffered from some sort of addiction and how did you recover from it? What would be your advice for someone suffering from an addiction?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Addiction] [Suffering] // [Sensual desire] [Self-identity view] [Spiritual friendship] [Three Refuges] [Happiness] [Appropriate attention]


Abhayagiri 25th Anniversary Retreat, Session 22 – Jun. 15, 2021

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4. “Why do you think we sometimes don’t know what to do with our lives? Did you experience this before becoming a monk and do you sometimes still experience it? What helped you when you felt that way?” Answered by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Purpose/meaning] [Ajahn Karuṇadhammo] [Monastic life] // [Delusion] [Sensual desire] [Māra] [Impermanence] [Clinging] [Truth] [Determination]


Madison Insight Retreat 2023, Session 2 – Oct. 14, 2023

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1. “By moving to lovingkindness [meditation], I may be missing some of the deeper insights and wisdom that are present in feelings of angher, ill-will, and resentment. I think this is what is referred to as spiritual bypassing. Can you speak to this distinction or provide suggestions for accessing the wisdom that may be present within or underneath the hindrances?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Goodwill] [Aversion] [Ill-will] [Spiritual bypass ] [Discernment] [Hindrances] // [Truth] [Suffering] [Gratification]

Quote: “Sensual desire is just trying to get a relief from suffering. Even anger and ill-will...and the same with all the rest of the hindrances. They are looking for some relief from suffering in some way, shape, or form.” [Sensual desire]


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]


Interreligious Retreat-Seminar on Dhamma and Non-duality, Session 4 – Nov. 26, 2023

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1. “What is the translation of sabbaṃ dukkhaṃ? The way you translate it seems psychological. In Sanskrit, dukkhaṃ means out of the cosmic flow of Dhamma. But perhaps dukkhaṃ is best left untranslated. If untranslated, does dukkhaṃ mean the same thing in Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Suffering] [Pāli] [Equanimity] [Dhamma] [Translation] [Advaita Vedanta] // [Thai] [Human] [Aggregates] [Clinging ] [Knowing itself] [Relinquishment]

Ancient etymology of dukkha: du = bad, unwanted, unpleasant, uncomfotable, not easy; kha = where the axle fits into the wheel. [Language] [History/Indian Buddhism]

Sutta: SN 22.22: Dhammacakkappavattanasutta (Chanting Book translation)

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Teaching: The four forms of clinging. [Clinging ] [Sensual desire] [Impermanence] [Naturalness] [Happiness] [Neutral feeling] [Attachment to precepts and practices] [Views] [Doctrine-of-self clinging] [Not-self]

Quote: “Nibbāna is the reality of non-grasping.” — Ajahn Chah. [Nibbāna] [Cessation of Suffering]