The Blessed One said this:

"I will teach you, bhikkhus, about craving, which is entangling, flowing, spreading, and ensnaring. This craving by which this world is upturned, completely enveloped, tangled like a ball of thread, knotted up, and entangled like a grass mat, leading to misery, bad states, downfall, and does not transcend the cycle of existence. Listen to this and pay attention, I will speak."

"Yes, venerable sir", the bhikkhus attentively listened to the Blessed One. The Blessed One then spoke:

"What, bhikkhus, is that craving which is entangling, flowing, expanding, and ensnaring, by which this world is upturned, completely enveloped, tangled like a ball of thread, knotted up, and entangled like a grass mat, leading to misery, bad states, downfall, and does not transcend the cycle of existence? Indeed, there are eighteen ways of craving pertaining to the internal bases, and eighteen ways of craving pertaining to the external bases.

What are these eighteen ways of craving pertaining to the internal bases? When there is the notion 'I am' bhikkhus, there are the notions 'I am thus'; 'I am like this'; 'I am otherwise'; 'I am everlasting'; 'I truly exist'; 'There exists'; 'It is thus'; 'It is like this'; 'It is otherwise'; 'May I exist'; 'May I be thus'; 'May I be like this'; 'May I be otherwise'; 'I will be'; 'I will be thus'; 'I will be like this'; 'I will be otherwise'. These are the eighteen ways of craving pertaining to the internal bases.

What are the eighteen ways of craving pertaining to the external bases? When there is the notion 'With this I am', bhikkhus, there are the notions 'With this I am thus'; 'With this I am like this'; 'With this I am otherwise'; 'With this I am everlasting'; 'With this I truly exist'; 'With this there exists'; 'With this it is thus'; 'With this it is like this'; 'With this it is otherwise'; 'With this may I exist'; 'With this may I be thus'; 'With this may I be like this'; 'With this may I be otherwise'; 'With this I will be'; 'With this I will be thus'; 'With this I will be like this'; 'With this I will be otherwise'. These are the eighteen ways of craving pertaining to the external bases.

Thus, there are eighteen ways of craving related to internal bases, and eighteen ways of craving related to external bases. These, bhikkhus, are called the thirty-six ways of craving. Thus, such thirty-six ways of craving have been in the past, thirty-six ways of craving will be in the future, and thirty-six ways of craving are present now. In this way, there exist one hundred and eight ways of craving.

This, bhikkhus, is that craving which is entangling, flowing, spreading, and ensnaring, through which this world is upturned, completely enveloped, tangled like a ball of thread, knotted up, and entangled like a grass mat, leading to misery, bad states, downfall, and does not transcend the cycle of existence.