The Three Forms of Craving in Buddhism : หน้า 80/263

The Three forms of Craving The Lord Buddha taught that there are three sorts of craving: craving for sense-pleasure [kāmaṭhaṇa], craving for the form realms [bhavatānha] and craving for the formless realms [vibhavatānha]. 1. Craving for Sense-Pleasure [kāmaṭhaṇa] Craving for sense-pleasure is the grasping of the mind when it is under the influence of greed or desire for the objects of the senses i.e. images, sounds, perfumes, tastes and touch. It is the craving of those who think that true happiness can be obtained via sense pleasure. Such people may wish to be reborn in the human realm or one of the heavens, all of which are in the Sphere of Sense Pleasure [kāmaobhāva]1. Those with such an attitude to life, try to do as many meritorious actions as possible (e.g. keeping the Precepts or being generous) in order to be reborn in heaven. Such is the attitude of one motivated by craving for sense-pleasure and the Lord Buddha enumerated it as one of the Noble Truths of the Origin of Suffering. 2. Craving for the Form Realms [bhavatānha] Craving for the Form Realms is the attitude of those who wish to be reborn in the Brahma-world or the Realms of Form [rūpabhava]. Such people believe that being able to attain the Brahma-world will allow them to escape from the suffering of birth, old age, sickness and death. Such people devote all their efforts to the attainment of the form-absorptions [jhāna] in order to pass away into the Brahma-world at death. ________________________ 1. The Sphere of Sense Pleasure [kāmaobhāva] contains all the realms of existence where pleasure is obtained via the senses — i.e. the four hell realms, the human realm and the lower six levels of heaven — a total of 11 realms. 78