No narrative frame — no time, place, or listener is named
Speakers
The Buddha, addressing the mendicants collectively
Form
A four-item list of grounds on which craving arises, followed by a two-stanza verse on craving as a lifelong companion
Length
<1 minute to read
Position
6th of 13 discourses in the Chapter on the Brahmin’s Offering of the Teaching, the sole chapter of the Book of the Fours (Iti 100–112)
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — a short, simple list
Why this discourse
Four narrow openings through which craving gets a foothold in a mendicant's life: wanting robes, wanting almsfood, wanting lodgings, or wanting rebirth in this or that state of existence. It is a short diagnostic list, paired with a verse that names craving as a lifelong travelling companion — one that accompanies a person through every state they pass through in transmigration, without ever letting them actually escape it.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
There are four things, the Buddha says, on account of which craving arises in a mendicant when it arises at all: robes, almsfood, lodgings, or “this or that state of existence” — that is, a preference for one kind of rebirth or continued existence over another.
The first three grounds, and the fourth
The first three items on the list are exactly the material requisites this same chapter has already discussed at length in Iti 101 and Iti 104 — robes, almsfood, lodgings. Named here, though, they appear not as things to be content with but as objects around which craving specifically tends to form: wanting a better robe, a better meal, a more comfortable place to sleep. The fourth item is different in kind. “Itibhavābhava,” rendered here as “this or that state,” reaches past material comfort entirely and names craving for existence itself — a preference for this realm of rebirth over that one, or simply for continuing to exist in some form rather than another. Naming it alongside three ordinary material cravings has the effect of treating a subtle, almost metaphysical craving as continuous with the everyday craving for a nicer blanket — the same mechanism, operating on a larger scale.
Craving as a fellow traveller
The verse’s central image is companionship, not merely appetite: “Craving is a person’s partner as they transmigrate on this long journey.” It goes with a person from state to state — “they go from this state to another, but don’t escape transmigration” — precisely because craving itself is what keeps generating the next state to move into. This picture makes saṁsāra look less like an external maze a person is trapped inside and more like a partnership a person keeps renewing, life after life, each fresh craving supplying the motive for the next existence.
The only way out named
The verse closes with the remedy stated as plainly as the diagnosis: “Knowing this danger, that craving is the cause of suffering — rid of craving, free of grasping, a mendicant would wander mindful.” Two qualities are paired at the close — “rid of craving” (vītataṇha) and “free of grasping” (anādāna) — alongside a third, mindfulness, that keeps the other two from lapsing. Nothing elaborate is proposed; the entire discourse consists of naming where craving tends to enter, and stating, once, what removes it.
Key terms
taṇhā — “craving,” the discourse’s central subject, named as a person’s “partner” through transmigration.
taṇhuppāda — “the arising of craving”: the discourse’s own Pāli title, naming its four grounds directly.
itibhavābhava — “this or that state of existence”: the fourth and least concrete of the four grounds, craving for a particular kind of rebirth or continued existence.
saṁsāra — “transmigration” or wandering-on, the long journey the verse says craving accompanies a person through.
vītataṇho anādāno — “rid of craving, free of grasping”: the verse’s description of the mendicant who has recognized craving as the cause of suffering.
The text
The discourse in full, given complete: the four grounds of craving, and the two-stanza verse that follows. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1This was said by the Buddha, the Perfected One: that is what I heard.
§2“Mendicants, there are four things that give rise to craving in a mendicant. What four? For the sake of robes, almsfood, lodgings, or rebirth in this or that state. These are the four things that give rise to craving in a mendicant.”
The Buddha spoke this matter. On this it is said:
§3–4“Craving is a person’s partner as they transmigrate on this long journey. They go from this state to another, but don’t escape transmigration. Knowing this danger, that craving is the cause of suffering—rid of craving, free of grasping, a mendicant would wander mindful.”
§5This too is a matter that was spoken by the Blessed One: that is what I heard.
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Self-check quiz
Ten questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.
Question 1 of 10
How many things does this discourse identify as grounds on which craving arises in a mendicant?
Correct: B. Robes, almsfood, lodgings, and rebirth in this or that state.
Question 2 of 10
Which of the following is one of the four grounds named?
Correct: C. Almsfood is the second of the four grounds named.
Question 3 of 10
What does the fourth ground, "this or that state of existence," refer to, according to the reading guide?
Correct: A. A subtler craving than the first three, material, grounds.
Question 4 of 10
How does the verse describe craving's relationship to a person transmigrating?
Correct: D. The image is of companionship, not merely appetite.
Question 5 of 10
According to the verse, what happens to someone who goes from one state of existence to another?
Correct: B. "They go from this state to another, but don't escape transmigration."
Question 6 of 10
What does the verse identify as the cause of suffering?
Correct: C. "Knowing this danger, that craving is the cause of suffering..."
Question 7 of 10
How does the verse describe the mendicant who has recognized this danger?
Correct: A. Vītataṇho anādāno, sato — three qualities named together.
Question 8 of 10
Does this discourse open with a narrative setting?
Correct: D. As with nearly every discourse in this collection.
Question 9 of 10
According to the reading guide, what effect does listing craving for existence alongside craving for robes, food, and lodging have?
Correct: B. The list moves from the concrete to the more abstract without a break in kind.
Question 10 of 10
Where does this discourse fall within the Itivuttaka's Book of the Fours?
Correct: C. It follows Iti 104 and precedes Iti 106.
