➥ bandhana:

• for bandhana:
  • prison
  • imprisonment
  • bond
  • bondage
  • bonds of lay life
  • bondage [to individual existence]
  • bond [to individual existence]
  • stalk
• for kāyabandhana:
  • waistband

Imprisonment

Bandhana means prison or imprisonment.

• He is confined to the prison of hell, or the prison of the animal realm.

nirayabandhane vā bajjhati tiracchānayonibandhane vā. (AN iii 352)

• As long as the five hindrances are unabandoned, a bhikkhu sees himself as… in prison (bandhanāgāraṁ).

Evameva kho mahārāja bhikkhu… yathā bandhanāgāraṁ… evaṁ ime pañca nīvaraṇe appahīne attani samanupassati.

… But when the five hindrances are abandoned, a bhikkhu sees himself as… released from imprisonment.

Seyyathā pi mahārāja… yathā bandhanā mokkhaṁ… ime pañca nīvaraṇe pahīne attani samanupassati. (DN i 73)

Bond or bondage

Bandhana can mean bond or bondage:

• That bond is not strong, say the wise, that is made of iron, wood, or rope.

Na taṁ daḷhaṁ bandhanamāhu dhīrā yadāyasaṁ dārujaṁ babbajañca.

… Passionate attachment to jewellery and earrings, and affection for children and wives, are the strong bonds, say the wise.

Sārattarattā maṇikuṇḍalesu
Puttesu dāresu ca yā apekkhā.
Etaṁ daḷhaṁ bandhanamāhu dhīrā. (SN i 77)

Bonds [of lay life]

Bandhana sometimes needs parenthesising in accordance with this quote:

• Having cut the bonds of lay life, the hero should live the religious life as solitarily as a rhinoceros horn.

Chetvāna vīro gihībandhanāni eko care khaggavisāṇakappo. (Snp 44)

For example:

• [But when] freed [from the bonds of lay life], he runs back to that same bondage.

mutto bandhanameva dhāvati. (Dhp 344)

Commentary: gharāvāsabandhanato mutto.

Bondage to individual existence: explicit

When bandhana means bondage to individual existence, sometimes this is explicit:

• Through understanding your teaching they severed the bondage to individual existence.

Yassa te dhammamaññāya acchiduṁ bhavabandhanaṁ. (SN i 35)

Bondage [to individual existence]: through association

Sometimes the meaning is conveyed through its association with words like saṁyojana:

• Like the elephant that bursts all its fastenings and chains, they severed the ties and bonds [to individual existence] in the sensuous plane of existence, those ties of the Maleficent One so hard to overcome.

Te kāmasaṁyojanabandhanāni pāpimayogāni duraccayāni nāgoca sandānaguṇāni chetvā. (DN ii 274)

Bondage [to individual existence]: through context

Sometimes the context implies it. For example where its link to bhava is proven by its link to taṇhā:

• Craving you call bondage [to individual existence].

taṇhaṁ me brūsi bandhanan ti. (SN i 8)

By comparison:

• Craving that leads to renewed states of individual existence

taṇhā ponobhavikā. (SN iii 26)

Māra’s bond/tie [to renewed states of individual existence]

Māra’s bond is mārabandhana (SN i 24). Māra’s tie is mārasaṁyoga (Snp 733). Māra’s bond/tie means bondage [to individual existence].

• Having overcome Māra’s tie [that ties one to renewed states of individual existence], they do not come to renewed states of individual existence.

Abhibhuyya mārasaṁyogaṁ nāgacchanti punabbhavan ti. (Snp 733)

Māra’s bond means thinking in personal terms:

• By thinking in personal terms one is held captive by Māra. By not thinking in personal terms one is freed from the Maleficent One.

maññamāno kho bhikkhave baddho Mārassa amaññamāno mutto pāpimato. (SN iv 202)

➥ bandhanaṁ: (main article see: bandhana)

Illustration: bandhanaṁ, bondage [to individual existence]

Vile creatures bound [to individual existence] by undiscernment of reality, reinforce that bondage.

Mohena adhamā sattā baddhā vaḍḍhenti bandhanaṁ (AN ii 72)

➥ bandhanan: (main article see: bandhana)

Illustration: bandhanan, bondage [to individual existence]

In the [terminology of the] Noble One’s training system these five varieties of sensuous pleasure are called shackles and bondage [to individual existence].

pañcime kāmaguṇā ariyassa vinaye andū ti pi vuccanti bandhanan ti pi vuccanti. (DN i 245)

Comment:

When attachment to sensuous pleasure is powerful and unsubdued in him, it is a tie to individual existence in the low plane of existence.

tassa so kāmarāgo thāmagato appaṭivinīto orambhāgiyaṁ saṁyojanaṁ. (MN i 433)

➥ bandhanā: (main article see: bandhana)

Illustration: bandhanā, bondage [to individual existence]

Freed [from individual existence], I free [others] from bondage [to individual existence]

mutto mocemi bandhanā. (AN iv 340)

Illustration: bandhanā, bondage [to individual existence]

That wise person free of bondage [to individual existence]

Taṁ dhīraṁ bandhanā muttaṁ. (Uda 77)

➥ bandhana: (main article see: bandhana)

Illustration: bandhana, bondage [to individual existence]

The craving of a person of distracted thoughts, who is full of attachment and contemplates the loveliness [of the female body] will only develop. Such a person reinforces his bondage [to individual existence].

Vitakkapamathitassa jantuno tibbarāgassa subhānupassino
Bhiyyo taṇhā pavaḍḍhati esa kho daḷhaṁ karoti bandhanaṁ. (Dhp 349)

Illustration: bandhana, bond [to individual existence]

Seers, rid of spiritual defilement, with renewed states of individual existence destroyed, having severed the ties and bonds [to individual existence].

Saṁyojanabandhanacchidā anīghā khīṇapunabbhavā isī. (SN i 191; Tha 1234)

➥ bandhanāni: (main article see: bandhana)

Illustration: bandhanāni, bonds [to individual existence]

Having freed himself of all ties and bonds [to individual existence], he is attached to nothing.

Sabbasaṁyoge visajja bandhanāni sabbattha na sajjati. (Snp 522)

➥ bandhanehi: (main article see: bandhana)

Illustration: bandhanehi, bonds

Those royal bull elephants, bound by strong thongs and bonds in the villages, towns, and capital cities, burst and break those bonds.

Yepi te bhikkhave rañño nāgā gāmanigamarājadhānīsu daḷhehi varattehi bandhanehi baddhā tepi tāni bandhanāni sañchinditvā sampadāḷetvā. (AN ii 33)

Illustration: bandhanā, bond

Thus, indeed, there rightly comes to be deliverance from the bond, that is, from the bond of uninsightfulness into reality.

Evaṁ kira sammā bandhanā vippamokkho hoti yadidaṁ avijjābandhanā. (MN ii 44)

Illustration: bandhanaṁ, bond

It is as if a man having destroyed one bond should make himself another.

Seyyathā pi nāma purāṇaṁ bandhanaṁ chinditvā aññaṁ navaṁ bandhanaṁ kareyya? . (DN i 226)

➥ mārabandhanā: (main article see: bandhana)

Illustration: mārabandhanā, Māra’s bond [that binds one to renewed states of individual existence]

Those who meditate, are released from Māra’s bond [that binds one to renewed states of individual existence].

pamuccanti jhāyino mārabandhanā. (SN i 24)

➥ mārassa bandhanaṁ: (main article see: bandhana)

Illustration: mārassa bandhanaṁ, Māra’s bond [that binds one to renewed states of individual existence]

Having cut Māra’s bond [that binds one to renewed states of individual existence]

chetvā mārassa bandhanaṁ. (Tha 298)

➥ bandhanehi: (main article see: bandhana)

Illustration: bandhanehi, bonds; bandhanaṁ, bondage; mārabandhanaṁ, Māra’s bond [that binds one to renewed states of individual existence]

When Vepacitti, Lord of the Asuras, thought ‘The devas are righteous, the asuras are unrighteous…’ he was freed from bonds around his limbs and neck…

yadā kho bhikkhave vepacittissa asurindassa evaṁ hoti dhammikā kho devā adhammikā asurā… atha kaṇṭhapañcamehi bandhanehi muttaṁ…

But when he thought: ‘The asuras are righteous, the devas are unrighteous…’ he was bound by bonds around his limbs and neck…

Yadā ca kho bhikkhave vepacittissa asurindassa evaṁ hoti dhammikā kho asurā adhammikā devā… atha kaṇṭapañcamehi bandhanehi baddhaṁ

So subtle was the bondage of Vepacitti, but even subtler is Māra’s bond [that binds one to renewed states of individual existence].

evam sukhumam kho bhikkhave vepacittibandhanaṁ tato sukhumataraṁ mārabandhanaṁ

By thinking in personal terms one is held captive by Māra. By not thinking in personal terms one is freed from the Maleficent One.

maññamāno kho bhikkhave baddho Mārassa amaññamāno mutto pāpimato. (SN iv 202)

Illustration: bandhanā, stalk

A withered leaf removed from its stalk could not become green again.

paṇḍupalāso bandhanā pamutto abhabbo haritattāya. (Vin.1.96)

➥ kāyabandhana: (main article see: bandhana)

Illustration: kāyabandhana, waistband

The borders of the waistband wore out.

Kāyabandhanassa anto jirati. (Vin.2.136)