In Buddhism, an anāgāmi (Pali for: "one who does not return") is a person who has approached enlightenment or bodhi by having broken the first five chains that bind the mind to the cycle of life, death and rebirth or Saṃsāra. Anāgāmi is the third of four stages of nirvāna.
Anagamis are not reborn into the human world after death, instead they are reborn in the suddhāvāsa paradises of Buddhist cosmology, where only anagamis live. There they attain the degree of arhat.
The Pali terms for the specific chains from which the anagamis are free are:
Sakkāya-diṭṭhi: belief in a self; not understanding anātman.
Vicikicchā: skeptical doubt.
Sīlabbata-parāmāsa: attachment to rites and rituals.
Kāma-rāga: craving for sensuality.
Byāpāda: malevolence, hatred, anger.
The chains from which an anāgāmi is not yet free are:
Rūpa-rāga: cravings for material existence (the first 4 jhanas).
Arūpa-rāga: cravings for immaterial existence (the last 4 jhanas).
Māna: arrogance
Uddhacca: anxiety
Avijjā: ignorance
Anāgāmi is an intermediate state between sakadagami and arhat. Arhats enjoy complete freedom from the ten fetters.
Achieving the state of anāgāmi was shown, in the early texts, to be the ideal goal for lay people.
