Taṇhā (the 'grab')
Buddhist accounts describe a quick 'grabbing' or clenching toward pleasant and away from unpleasant sensations.
Felt experience
What does this concept feel like in the body and behavior? Read, notice, then try.
Taṇhā manifests as a quick, often unconscious movement toward pleasant experiences and away from unpleasant ones. This isn't just psychological—it has a felt, embodied quality. Learning to catch this reflex in real-time is the first step in working with it skillfully.
The 'grab' isn't just mental—it creates physical tension. You might notice shoulders tensing when avoiding difficulty, or a reaching quality when pursuing pleasure. Vasocomputation suggests these tensions are vascular compressions that literally hold predictions in place.
Mechanism
What the animation teaches: Watch how the green zone pulses (breathing) - this shows the quick 25-100ms grab reflex that's reversible. The pink zone stays steady - once you hold too long, it latches and becomes sticky.
At the physiological level, taṇhā corresponds to rapid changes in vascular smooth muscle tone. When we grasp toward pleasure or push away from pain, specific patterns of vessel constriction emerge that literally 'hold' the prediction in the body's tissues.
Once you notice taṇhā in action, you can experiment with releasing it. This doesn't mean suppressing the experience, but rather letting go of the grabby reflex itself. Often this creates immediate relief and opens up new possibilities for response.
Try it
Reflection: Notice the next time you experience something pleasant or unpleasant. Can you catch the subtle 'grab' or 'push' in your body-mind?
Start with strong experiences where the grab is more obvious, then work toward subtler ones.
Try it: When you notice grasping, try consciously softening without changing the experience itself.
The goal isn't to stop having preferences, but to hold them more lightly.
Interactive Exploration
Experiment with the mechanism to build intuition:
Stage 1: Basic Grab Recognition
Notice how the "grab" reflex creates tension. Can you release it before it latches?