{{short description|Mental defilements in Buddhism}} {{About|the Buddhist philosophical term|the philosophical term in Jainism|Asrava}} {{See also|Five hindrances|Taṇhā}} {{Buddhism|collapsed=1}} '''Āsava''' is a Pali term (Sanskrit: Āsrava) that is used in Buddhist scripture, philosophy, and psychology, meaning "influx, canker." It refers to the mental defilements of sensual pleasures, craving for existence, and ignorance, which perpetuate ''samsara'', the beginningless cycle of rebirth, ''dukkha'', and dying again.
''Asavas'' are also translated as "karmic predilections" and "karmic propensities" in Buddhism.<ref name="Lusthaus2014p73">{{cite book|author=Dan Lusthaus|title=Buddhist Phenomenology: A Philosophical Investigation of Yogacara Buddhism and the Ch'eng Wei-shih Lun|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j0TKAgAAQBAJ|year=2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-97342-3|pages=73–74 with notes 1 and 4}}</ref> The term is also common in Jainist literature, and sometimes appears equivalently as ''Asrava'' or ''Anhaya''.<ref>{{cite book|author=Govind Chandra Pande|title=Studies in the Origins of Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=__1kiAonBzIC|year=1995|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-1016-7|pages=361–362 with note 253}}</ref> However, Buddhism rejects the karma and asava theories of Jainism, and presents a different version instead.<ref name="Lusthaus2014p73"/>
==Etymology== According to Bhikkhu Bodhi, {{quote|The commentaries derive the word from a root ''su'' meaning "to flow." Scholars differ as to whether the flow implied by the prefix ''ā'' is inward or outward; hence some have rendered it as "influxes" or "influences," others as "outflows" or "effluents."{{sfn|Bhikkhu Bodhi|2005|p=229}}}}
Ajahn Sucitto in his book '' Kamma and the end of Kamma'' describes āsavas as "underlying biases" (that fabricate things, emotions, sensations, and responses), which condition grasping through which samsara operates.
==Meaning==
===Samsara=== {{main|Samsara (Buddhism)}} The āsavas are mental defilements that perpetuate ''samsara'', the beginningless cycle of rebirth, ''dukkha'', and dying again. Carr and Mahalingam: {{quote|inflow, influx, influence; mental bias or canker, cankers that keep one bound to the world of ''samsāra''; used particularly in Jainism and Buddhism.{{sfn|Carr|Mahalingam|1997|p=948}}}}
Bhikkhu Bodhi: {{quote|A stock passage in the suttas indicates the term's real significance independently of etymology when it describes the ''āsavas'' as states "that defile, bring renewal of existence, give trouble, ripen in suffering, and lead to future birth, aging and death" (MN 36.47; I 250). Thus other translators, bypassing the literal meaning, have rendered it "cankers," "corruptions," or "taints."{{sfn|Bhikkhu Bodhi|2005|p=229}}}}
De Silva further explains: The word canker suggests something that corrodes or corrupts slowly. These figurative meanings perhaps describe facets of the concept of ''āsava'': kept long in storage, oozing out, taint, corroding, etc.{{sfn|De Silva|2000|p=75}}
===Number of ''āsavas''=== Some Pali canons mention three ''āsava'' that sustain karmic flow. These three mentioned in the Nikāyas are "karmic propensities for sensual pleasures (''kāmāsava''), karmic propensities for existence (''bhavāsava''), and karmic propensities for ignorance (''avijjāsava'')".<ref name="Lusthaus2014p73"/>{{sfn|Bhikkhu Bodhi|2005|p=229}}
Other Pali texts mention four ''āsava'', adding ''diṭṭhāsava'' or "karmic propensities for a viewpoint or perspective".<ref name="Lusthaus2014p73"/>{{sfn|De Silva|2000|p=75}}
In either case, these texts assert that the complete destruction of all these asavas is synonymous with complete Awakening.<ref name="Lusthaus2014p73"/>
===Liberation=== According to Rhys Davids & Stede (1921–25), "Freedom from the 'Āsavas' constitutes Arahantship."{{sfn|Rhys Davids|Stede|1921–25|p=115-16}} According to Bhikkhu Bodhi, {{quote|When the disciple's mind is liberated from the taints by the completion of the path of arhantship, he reviews his newly won freedom and roars his lion's roar: "Birth is destroyed, the spiritual life has been lived, what had to be done has been done; there is no more coming back to any state of being."{{sfn|Bhikkhu Bodhi|2005|p=229}}}}
==Textual appearance== Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, in his translation of the Dhammapada, notes that the word "asava" appears in the ''Dhammapada'' in verses 93, 226, 253, 272, 292, and 293.{{sfn|Radhakrishnan|1950|p=189}} Verse 226 (chapter 17, verse 6) has been translated by Acharya Buddharakkhita as follows: {{quote|Those who are ever vigilant, who discipline themselves day and night,<br> and are ever intent upon Nibbana – their defilements fade away.{{sfn|Buddharakkhita|1985|p=39}}{{refn|group=note|Radhakrishnan: "6. sadā jāgaramānānam, ahorattānusikkhinam<br>nibbāṇam adhimuttānam, atthaṁ gacchanti āsavā 226."{{sfn|Radhakrishnan|1950|p=132}}}}}}
==Notes== {{reflist|group=note}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==Sources== {{refbegin}} * {{Citation | editor-last =Bhikkhu Bodhi | year =2005 | title =In the Buddha's Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pāli Canon| publisher =Wisdom Publications | place =Boston}} * {{Citation | last =Buddharakkhita | year =1985 | title =The Dhammapada: The Buddha's Path of Wisdom | publisher =Buddhist Publication Society | place =Kandy, Sri Lanka}} * {{Citation | last =De Silva | first =Padmasiri | authorlink =Padmasiri De Silva | year =2000 | title =An introduction to Buddhist psychology | publisher =Rowman & Littefield | isbn =978-0-7425-0857-6}} * {{Citation | last =Carr | first =Brian |last2 =Mahalingam | first2 =Indira | year =1997 | title =Companion Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy | publisher =Routledge | location =London; New York | isbn =0-415-03535-X | url =https://www.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0648/96029027-d.html}} * {{Citation | last =Radhakrishnan | first =Sarvepalli | year =1950 | title =The Dhammapada}} * {{Cite web | last1 =Rhys Davids | last2 =Stede | year =1921–25 | title =''Āsavas'' | url =https://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.0:1:3098.pali |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080403070106/https://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.0:1:3098.pali |archive-date=3 April 2008}} {{refend}}
== External links == * [https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/a-history-of-indian-philosophy-volume-1/d/doc209747.html {{IAST|Avijjā}} and {{IAST|Āsava}}], Surendranath Dasgupta, 1940
Category:Buddhist philosophical concepts