Non-return (anāgamī)
Skillful qualities / Stages of awakening / Non-return 
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Part of tag cluster Stages of awakening in key topic Fruits of the Practice
10 excerpts, 53:03 total duration



Metta Retreat, Session 4 – Sep. 12, 2008

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7. “Was Ajahn Chah an anāgamī when Ajahn Chah got angry with that young monk? I thought the root of anger was uprooted at that stage.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Non-return] [Aversion]


Abhayagiri Monastic Retreat 2013, Session 7 – Nov. 29, 2013

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20. “Can you talk about path and fruit in regards to the stages of awakening? What are they? How are they different?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Stages of awakening ] // [Insight meditation] [Relinquishment] [Fetters] [Stream entry] [Self-identity view] [Aggregates] [Attachment to precepts and practices] [Doubt] [Once return] [Sensual desire] [Ill-will] [Non-return] [Arahant]


Our Roots in the Thai Forest Tradition, Session 40 – Mar. 2, 2014

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5. “What is the difference between abandoning craving and realizing the abandoning of craving?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Jotipālo. [Impermanence] [Aggregates] [Cause of Suffering] [Cessation of Suffering] // [Commentaries] [Doubt] [Relinquishment] [Concentration] [Gladdening the mind] [Desire] [Becoming] [Non-return] [Right View]

Sutta: SN 56.11 Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta. [Four Noble Truths]

Sutta: AN 9.36 Jhāna Sutta: Passion for Dhamma leads to non-return. [Dhamma] [Rapture] [Non-return]

Sutta: MN 121 Cūḷa Suññata Sutta: The Shorter Discourse on Emptiness [Emptiness]

Quote: “The characteristic of cessation is not just ending something and annihilating [it], but it’s being willing and able to stop. The nature of the mind is that it doesn’t like to stop. And it’s [through] that not stopping that we keep creating that sense of me.” — Ajahn Pasanno. [Cessation] [Nature of mind] [Self-identity view]


The Four Foundations of Mindfulness, Session 5 – Jan. 10, 2015

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1. “Do you need to be a non-returner to be free from the fear of death?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Non-return] [Fear] [Death] [Sensual desire] // [Arahant] [Conceit] [Stream entry] [Faith]


Readings from The Island, Session 2 – Jan. 8, 2025

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3. “Does it mean that these three stages [of awakening] are still shaky? Like they can still go back to thingness?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Stages of awakening] [Arahant] // [Stream entry] [Realms of existence] [Impermanence] [Once return] [Sensual desire] [Ill-will] [Non-return] [Fetters] [Ajahn Chah]

Reference: Śhūrangama Sūtra, Fifty Skandha Demon States.


Readings from The Island, Session 6 – Jan. 16, 2025

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10. “There are people who tend to teach a lot about the deva realm. One story says that in the first discourse thousands of devas were enlightened. I wonder if they were non-returners?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Deva] [Buddha/Biography] [Non-return] // [Great disciples] [Stream entry] [Ven. Ananda Maitreya]

Sutta: SN 56.11: Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta: The devas rejoicing.


Readings from The Island, Session 7 – Jan. 17, 2025

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1. Story: Reprinting The Enlightened Nuns from the Time of the Buddha by Panadure Vajira Silmatha. Told by Ajahn Amaro. [Dhamma books] [Bhikkhunī] [Buddha/Biography] // [Ajahn Amaro] [Artistic expression] [Non-return] [Bodhisattva]

Story: Upaka falls in love with Cāpā, marries her, then returns to the Buddha, ordains as a monk, and becomes a non-returner.

Vinaya: Mahāvagga 1.6: Upaka meets the Buddha.

Sutta: Thig 13.3: Cāpātherīgāthā (Upaka is apparently called Kāḷa here).

Reference: Upaka, The Dictionary of Pāli Proper Names by G P Malalasekera.

Sutta: SN 2.24 mentions Upaka as a non-returner.


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2. “Did you just mention in The Dictionary of Pāli Proper Names that [Upaka] became an arhant on landing?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Non-return] [Arahant] // [Pure Land] [Rebirth] [Brahma gods]

Follow-up: “So people can get enlightened in different realms?” [Realms of existence] [Liberation]


Readings from The Island, Session 13 – Jan. 26, 2025

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4. “One of the descriptions I’ve heard associated with stream entry is turning over or correcting something that was wrong....” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Stream entry] [Similes] // [Sutta]

Suttas: DN 10, MN 100, SN 7.22, AN 8.11, and many others end with: “...as if he were to place upright what was overturned....”

Follow-up: “Is there a description for the unfettering from sensual desire and ill-will?” [Non-return]

Responses by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Kaccāna. [Brahma gods] [Non-return]

Sutta: AN 7.55: Chip from a heated metal bowl.


Readings from The Island, Session 14 – Jan. 27, 2025

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2. “As the ten fetters start to be cut, can you expect to not get so lost in feelings and thoughts? Does the time you get lost reduce?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Fetters] [Heedlessness] // [Stream entry] [Realms of existence] [Non-return] [Sensual desire] [Ill-will] [Once return] [Fame and disrepute] [Conceit] [Blame and praise] [Craving for material existence] [Craving for immaterial existence]

Reference: Śhūrangama Sūtra, Fifty Skandha Demon States.