Anāgāmi


In Buddhism, an anāgāmin is a partially enlightened person who has cut off the first five chains that bind the ordinary mind. Anāgāmins are the third of the four aspirants.
The anāgāmin is not reborn into the human world after death, but into the heaven of the Pure Abodes, where only anāgāmins reside. There they attain full enlightenment.

Requisites for becoming an anāgāmin

An anāgāmin is free from the lowest five chains or fetters which are as follows:
  1. Belief in ātman or self
  2. Attachment to rites and rituals
  3. Skeptical doubt
  4. Sensuous craving
  5. Ill will or aversion
The remaining five higher fetters from which an anāgāmin is not yet free are:
  1. Craving for fine-material existence
  2. Craving for immaterial existence
  3. Conceit or pride
  4. Restlessness
  5. Ignorance
Kāmarāga and vyāpāda, which they are free from, can also be interpreted as craving for becoming and non-becoming, respectively.
Anāgāmins are at an intermediate stage between the sakṛdāgāmin and the arhat. An arhat enjoys complete freedom from the ten fetters, while an anāgāmin's mind remains very pure.

Five types of anāgāmin

The Pali Puggalapannatti and the Sanskrit texts Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra and the Sarvāstivādin-Vaibhaṣika Abhidharma both describe five classes of anāgāmin. When an anāgāmin is reborn in the Pure Abodes, one of the five following scenarios will occur:
  1. He will attain arhatship immediately after rebirth or within the first half of his life in the Pure Abodes. Such a being is called "one who reaches Nibbāna within the first half of the life".
  2. He will attain arhatship within the latter half of his life in the Pure Abodes or at the moment of death. Such a being is called "one who reaches Nibbāna after crossing half the life-time".
  3. He exerts himself to the point of attaining arhatship. Such a being is called "one who reaches Nibbāna with exertion".
  4. He does not exert himself, yet attains arhatship. Such a being is called "one who reaches Nibbāna without exertion".
  5. He traverses the five heavens of the Pure Abodes in order from lowest to highest before attaining arhatship. Such a being is called "one who passes up-stream to the highest gods"."

    Anāgāmins in literature

Several figures who appear in the literature achieve the state of an anāgāmin. Some of these people include: