Aṇguttara Nikāya
Catukka Nipāta
XX: Mahā Vagga
The Book of the Fours
Sutta 199
Taṇhā-Jalini Suttaṃ
Appetite's Net
Translated from the Pāḷi
by
Michael M. Olds
[1][pts][than] "I will delineate for you, beggars,
appetite's net, its casting, spread and settling,
a tangled web of reeds wrapped up in pestilence,
a way to the downfall, woe and ruin
that does not pass past this run'n-round.
Listen carefully and apply your minds!
I will speak."
"Even so bhante" the beggars said in response."
And the Lucky Man said:
[2][pts][than] "What, beggars, is appetite's net,
its casting, spread and settling,
a tangled web of reeds wrapped up in pestilence,
a way to the downfall, woe and ruin
that does not pass past this run'n-round?
Eighteen, bhikkhus are the meandering thoughts
arising from internal appetites;
eighteen the meandering thoughts
arising from external appetites.
[3][pts][than] What are the eighteen meandering thoughts
arising from internal appetites?
There being, beggars, the thought: 'I am',
there is had the thought: 'I am at',
there is had the thought: 'I am thus',
there is had the thought: 'I am otherwise',
there is had the thought: 'I am not happy',[1]
there is had the thought: 'I am happy',
there is had the thought: 'I could be',
there is had the thought: 'I could be at',
there is had the thought: 'I could be thus',
there is had the thought: 'I could be otherwise',
there is had the thought: 'If I could be',
there is had the thought: 'If I could be at',
there is had the thought: 'If I could be thus',
there is had the thought: 'If I could be otherwise',
there is had the thought: 'I could become',
there is had the thought: 'I could become at',
there is had the thought: 'I could become thus',
there is had the thought: 'I could become otherwise',
These are the eighteen meandering thoughts
arising from internal appetites.
[4][pts][than] What are the eighteen meandering thoughts
arising from external appetites?
There being, beggars, the thought: 'I am because of such.'
there is had the thought: 'I am at because of such',
there is had the thought: 'I am thus because of such',
there is had the thought: 'I am otherwise because of such',
there is had the thought: 'I am not happy because of such',
there is had the thought: 'I am happy because of such',
there is had the thought: 'I could be because of such',
there is had the thought: 'I could be at because of such',
there is had the thought: 'I could be thus because of such',
there is had the thought: 'I could be otherwise because of such',
there is had the thought: 'If I could be because of such',
there is had the thought: 'If I could be at because of such',
there is had the thought: 'If I could be thus because of such',
there is had the thought: 'If I could be otherwise because of such',
there is had the thought: 'I could become because of such',
there is had the thought: 'I could become at because of such',
there is had the thought: 'I could become thus because of such',
there is had the thought: 'I could become otherwise because of such',
These are the eighteen meandering thoughts
arising from external appetites.
[5][pts][than] Thus there are eighteen meandering thoughts arising from internal appetites;
eighteen meandering thoughts arising from external appetites.
These are called the six-and-thirty meandering thoughts arising from appetites.
So there are six-and-thirty forms of appetite-meandering thoughts of the past,
six-and-thirty appetite-meandering thoughts of the future,
six-and-thirty appetite-meandering thoughts of the present,
thus are had eight-and-a-hundred appetite-meandering thoughts.
[6][pts][than] This then, beggars, is that appetite's net,
its casting, spread and settling,
a tangled web of reeds wrapped up in pestilence,
a way to the downfall, woe and ruin
that does not pass past this run'n-round."
[1] See Woodward, n9 Bhk. Thanissaro, 'bad'. To my ear neither 'good/bad' nor 'eternal/not-eternal' are obvious, but neither is 'happy'. I can figure a way to work either: If 'happy' the two thoughts should be at the end and apply to the whole sequence: 'At the thought, I will be, he is happy.' or they should again go at the end and be some kind of conclusion: 'I will be eternal.' All three possibilities appear to me to be present where there is the thought 'I am'.
