Taṇhāvagga · Craving · Gāthā 351
Kāmesu vinaya rāgaṁ, bhavataṇhā pahāya ca; Bhavataṇhā pahīnānaṁ, natthi bhavaṁ punappunaṁ.
Kāmesu vinaya rāgaṁ, bhavataṇhā pahāya ca; bhavataṇhā pahīnānaṁ, natthi bhavaṁ punappunaṁ.
Master passion in pleasures, abandon thirst for becoming; for those who have abandoned thirst for becoming, there is no becoming again and again.
Bhavataṇhā — thirst for becoming. We want to be something, someone, somewhere. This thirst projects future existences.
Natthi bhavaṁ punappunaṁ — there is no repeated becoming. When thirst for becoming extinguishes, the cycle stops. It is not that it “ends,” there is simply no impulse to continue.