The Four Kinds of Grasping (Upadana)

Grasping at sense pleasures, views, rules and rituals, and theories of a self

Grasping (upadana) means holding on to something so tightly that you cannot put it down. The Buddha divided it into four: grasping at sense pleasures, at views, at precepts and observances, and at theories of a self. In the Analysis discourse (SN 12.2), which explains dependent origination, grasping arises from craving and in turn conditions continued existence, rebirth and all suffering.

Katamañca, bhikkhave, upādānaṁ?
Cattārimāni, bhikkhave, upādānāni:
kāmupādānaṁ, diṭṭhupādānaṁ, sīlabbatupādānaṁ, attavādupādānaṁ.

And what, mendicants, is grasping? There are these four kinds of grasping: grasping at sense pleasures, at views, at precepts and observances, and at theories of a self.

SN 12.2

The four

1. Grasping at sense pleasures: being stuck on pleasing sights, sounds, smells, tastes and touches until you feel you can't do without them.
2. Grasping at views: holding that only your own opinions are right and all else is wrong, until you can no longer listen.
3. Grasping at precepts and observances: believing that following certain rules or rites, by themselves, will make you pure, without training the mind to see things as they are.
4. Grasping at theories of a self: holding that there is a lasting self within body and mind. This is the subtlest grasping, and the hardest to let go.

Where grasping comes from

In the Shorter Discourse on the Lion's Roar (MN 11) the Buddha says some ascetics teach the full understanding of only some kinds of grasping: the first, or the first two or three, but not grasping at a self. He teaches the full understanding of all four. He shows that the four have craving as their source, craving has feeling, feeling has contact, and so on back to ignorance. Then he says:

Yato ca kho, bhikkhave, bhikkhuno avijjā pahīnā hoti vijjā uppannā,
so avijjāvirāgā vijjuppādā neva kāmupādānaṁ upādiyati, na diṭṭhupādānaṁ upādiyati,
na sīlabbatupādānaṁ upādiyati, na attavādupādānaṁ upādiyati.
Anupādiyaṁ na paritassati, aparitassaṁ paccattaññeva parinibbāyati.

Mendicants, when a mendicant has given up ignorance and knowledge has arisen, with the fading of ignorance and the arising of knowledge they don't grasp at sense pleasures, views, precepts and observances, or theories of a self. Not grasping, they are not anxious. Not anxious, they become extinguished within themselves.

MN 11

Noticing grasping in daily life

• Notice when wanting turns into 'I must have it'. That is where craving becomes grasping.
• In an argument, ask whether you are defending the truth or defending your own view.
• Do religious practices as training for the mind, not hoping the ritual will purify you in place of training.
• When you feel 'this is me, this is mine' being hurt, watch how that feeling arises and changes, like the five aggregates.

Since grasping comes from craving, and craving from feeling, training mindfulness to see pleasant, painful and neutral feelings as they are is a way to loosen grasping that you can practise every day.

Based on: Vibhaṅga Sutta (SN 12.2) · Cūḷasīhanāda Sutta (MN 11)