Upādāna

Upādāna
is one of the

upādāna (T. len pa ལེན་པ་; C. qu 取) is translated as "clinging," "grasping," "attachment," etc. It is defined as an intensified form of craving (trishna).

Upādāna is the ninth of the twelve links of dependent origination. Within the twelve links, upādāna is preceded by craving (trishna) and followed by becoming (bhava).

Distinction between craving (trishna) and clinging (upādāna)

Steven Goodman states:

The very nature of craving (trishna) tends to result in a firm grasping or overt clinging (upadana). An analogy is commonly used to point up the differences between the motifs of craving and firm grasping: Trishna is that which remains unachieved, like a thief groping for goods in the dark. Upadana, however, is the fruition of this groping, when the thief finally lays hands on the object of searching.

Buddhaghosa states:

Craving (trishna) is the aspiring to an object that one has not yet reached, like a thief's stretching out his hand in the dark; clinging (upādanā) is the grasping of an object that one has reached, like the thief's grasping his objective. These states oppose fewness of wishes and contentment and so they are the roots of the suffering due to seeking and guarding.

Thus, for instance, when the Buddha talks about the "aggregates of clinging," he is referring to our grasping and guarding physical, mental and conscious experiences that we falsely believe we are or possess.

Four types of clinging

Four types of clinging (caturupādāna) are identified in the Abhidharma traditions:

• clinging to sense pleasures (kāmopādāna)
• clinging to wrong views (dṛṣṭyupādāna)
• clinging to rites-and-rituals (śīlavratopādāna)
• clinging to a doctrine of self (ātmavādopādāna)

A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma states:

Of the four kinds of clinging:

• the [clinging to sense pleasures] may be understood as intensified craving for sense pleasures, though the Commentaries point out that this kind of clinging can also be understood more broadly as craving for any of the things of the world.
• Clinging to wrong views is the adoption of any of the morally pernicious views such as nihilism, fatalism, etc., or any of the speculative views about the eternal or non-eternal existence of the world, etc.
• Clinging to rites and ceremonies is the wrong view that the performance of rites and rituals or the undertaking of ascetic practices and related observances can lead to liberation.
• Clinging to a doctrine of self is the adoption of personality view (sakkāyadiṭṭhi), the identification of any of the five aggregates as a self or the accessories of a self. The Suttas mention twenty types of personality view. These are obtained by considering each of the five aggregates in four ways, thus: “One regards materiality as self, or self as possessing materiality, or materiality as in self, or self as in materiality.” The same is repeated with respect to feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness. (See e.g. M. 44/i,300.)

The clinging to sense pleasures is a manifestation of greed (lobha), the other three clingings are modes of the cetasika wrong view (diṭṭhi).

The fourth type of clinging distinguishes Buddhism from other traditions

In the The Shorter Discourse on the Lion's Roar (Cūḷasīhanādasutta), the Buddha compares the understanding of an arhat in the Buddhist tradition with understanding of those who follow other traditions. He states that among other traditions, there are those who have a partial understanding of clinging (upadana), but none of the other traditions explain the fourth type of clinging, clinging to a doctrine of self. Thus, only the Buddhist path leads to full liberation.

Aggregates of clinging (upādāna-skandha)

Main article: Upādānaskandha

The five aggregates (skandha) are also called “aggregates of clinging” (upādānaskandha) when they refer to a non-liberated person.

The Dharmachakra Translation Committee states:

According to the Nibandhana commentary on Distinctly Ascertaining the Meanings, they are called “aggregates of clinging” for different reasons:

• they are “born from the clingings” because the aggregates arise due to the three mental afflictions of attraction, aversion, and confusion, which can also be called “clingings”; or,
• they are so called because the aggregates are under the control of the “clingings,” in the sense that it is due to the three mental afflictions that the aggregates remerge, after death, in a new realm of existence

(Samtani 1971, pp. 87–88; the explanation in the Nibandhana partly follows Abhidharmakośabhāṣya on kārikā 1.8; see Pradhan 1967, p. 5).

Sources

• Bhikkhu Bodhi, ed. (2000), A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma, Pariyatti Publishing 
• Buddhaghosa (2010), The Path of Purification: Visuddhimagga, translated by Bhikkhu Nanamoli, Buddhist Publication Society 
• Buswell, Robert E.; Lopez, Donald S. (2014), The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, Princeton University 
• Goodman, Steven D. (1992), "Situational Patterning: Pratītyasamutpāda", Footsteps on the Diamond Path (Crystal Mirror Series; v. 1-3), Dharma Publishing 

Further reading

• Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (1998b). Upadana Sutta: Clinging (SN 12.52). Retrieved from "Access to Insight" at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn12/sn12.052.than.html.
• Thanissaro Bhikkhu (2000). Life isn't just Suffering. Retrieved from "Access to Insight" at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/lifeisnt.html.

External links

• ཉེ་བར་ལེན་པ་, Christian-Steinert Dictionary
• len pa, Christian-Steinert Dictionary
• len pa bzhi, Christian-Steinert Dictionary
• Upādāna, Wikipedia