9.
The Discourse on Craving
199.
The Blessed One said this:
"I will teach you, monks, about craving, the ensnarer, flowing, spread out, clinging, by which this world is overgrown and enveloped, become like a tangled ball of thread, become like a matted ball of string, become like muñja grass and pabbaja reeds, and does not pass beyond the realm of misery, the unfortunate realm, the nether world, the round of rebirths.
Listen to that, pay close attention;
I will speak."
"Yes, venerable sir," those monks assented to the Blessed One.
The Blessed One said this:
"And what, monks, is that craving, the ensnarer, flowing, spread out, clinging, by which this world is overgrown and enveloped, become like a tangled ball of thread, become like a matted ball of string, become like muñja grass and pabbaja reeds, and does not pass beyond the realm of misery, the unfortunate realm, the nether world, the round of rebirths? There are, monks, these eighteen thoughts of craving with reference to the internal, and eighteen thoughts of craving with reference to the external.
"What are the eighteen thoughts of craving with reference to the internal? When there is 'I am,' monks, there is 'I am thus,' there is 'I am in this way,' there is 'I am otherwise,' there is 'I am eternal,' there is 'I am transient,' there is 'may I be,' there is 'may I be thus,' there is 'may I be in this way,' there is 'may I be otherwise,' there is 'perhaps I may be,' there is 'perhaps I may be thus,' there is 'perhaps I may be in this way,' there is 'perhaps I may be otherwise,' there is 'I will be,' there is 'I will be thus,' there is 'I will be in this way,' there is 'I will be otherwise.' These are the eighteen thoughts of craving with reference to the internal.
"What are the eighteen thoughts of craving with reference to the external? When there is 'by this I am,' monks, there is 'by this I am thus,' there is 'by this I am in this way,' there is 'by this I am otherwise,' there is 'by this I am eternal,' there is 'by this I am transient,' there is 'by this may I be,' there is 'by this may I be thus,' there is 'by this may I be in this way,' there is 'by this may I be otherwise,' there is 'by this perhaps I may be,' there is 'by this perhaps I may be thus,' there is 'by this perhaps I may be in this way,' there is 'by this perhaps I may be otherwise,' there is 'by this I will be,' there is 'by this I will be thus,' there is 'by this I will be in this way,' there is 'by this I will be otherwise.' These are the eighteen thoughts of craving with reference to the external.
"Thus there are eighteen thoughts of craving with reference to the internal, and eighteen thoughts of craving with reference to the external. These are called, monks, the thirty-six thoughts of craving. Thus of such kind there are thirty-six thoughts of craving relating to the past, thirty-six thoughts of craving relating to the future, and thirty-six thoughts of craving relating to the present. Thus there are one hundred and eight thoughts of craving.
"This, monks, is that craving, the ensnarer, flowing, spread out, clinging, by which this world is overgrown and enveloped, become like a tangled ball of thread, become like a matted ball of string, become like muñja grass and pabbaja reeds, and does not pass beyond the realm of misery, the unfortunate realm, the nether world, the round of rebirths." The ninth.