Saṃyojanas

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Saṃyojanas (Pāli, sam-yuj, ‘to bind to’). In Buddhism, bonds or fetters that tie a being to the Wheel of Becoming. Traditionally there are ten: belief in self (sakkāya-diṭṭhi), doubt (vicikicchā), attachment to works and ceremonial observances (sīlabbata-parāmāsa), attachment to sense-desire (kāma-rāga), anger (vyāpāda), attachment to the world of form (rūpa-rāga), attachment to the formless world (arūpa-rāga), pride (māna), excitability (uddhacca), and ignorance (avijjā). The first five are named the ‘lower fetters’ (orambhāgiya-samyojana) as they bind a person to rebirth in the world of desire (kama-loka), the last five are named the ‘higher fetters’ (uddhambhāgiya-samyojana) because they tie a person that has escaped the world (loka) of desire to the upper regions of the Wheel of Becoming. Therefore a being must escape all the fetters to achieve nirvāna.