➥ jāla and jālin.

• for jāla:
  • web
  • net
  • entanglement
• for jālin:
  • entangling
• jālaṁ: web; net; entanglement
• jālo: entanglement
• jāliniṁ: entangling
• jālinī: entangling

PED’s terms for Jāla and Jālin

PED (sv Jāla) says: ‘a net; netting, entanglement (lit. or fig.): snare, deception.’

PED (sv Jālin) says:

• a) adj: “having a net,” ensnaring, deceptive
• b) noun: a fisherman, ensnarer, witch

Taṇhā: entanglement

We call taṇhā an entanglement not a net for two reasons:

1) Taṇhā is a synonym of saṅghāṭa, which is ‘a weft, tangle, mass,’ says PED, and means literally ‘binding together.’

• The bhikkhu Sāti, son of a fisherman, is caught in the vast entanglement of craving, in the tangle of craving.

Sātiṁ pana bhikkhuṁ kevaṭṭaputtaṁ mahātaṇhājāla taṇhā saṅghāṭa paṭimukkan ti. (MN i 271)

2) Because taṇhā is the reason that this world is ‘tangled up like string, a knotted ball of thread, a twisted mass of reeds and rushes’:

• I will explain to you the craving that entangles, that floats along, that is far-flung, that is sticky, by which this world [of beings] is blanketed, smothered, tangled up like string, a knotted ball of thread, a twisted mass of reeds and rushes.

Taṇhaṁ vo bhikkhave desissāmi jāliniṁ saritaṁ visaṭaṁ visattikaṁ yāya ayaṁ loko uddhasto pariyonaddho tantākulakajāto gulāguṇḍikajāto muñjababbajabhūto. (AN ii 212-3)

Venerable Surādha’s ‘entanglement’

Venerable Surādha said:

• Birth is destroyed by me. The Conqueror’s training system has been fulfilled. What is considered ‘the entanglement’ has been abandoned [by me]. The conduit to renewed states of individual existence has been abolished.

Khīṇā hi mayhaṁ jāti vusitaṁ jinasāsanaṁ
Pahīno jālasaṅkhāto bhavanetti samūhatā. (Tha 135)

Jālasaṅkhāto (“considered ‘the entanglement’”) could be pointing to mohajālaṁ (SN iii 83), maccuno jālaṁ (Snp 357), or taṇhājālo (Tha 308). But the association with bhavanetti means taṇhājālo is likely meant, because taṇhā is part of bhavanetti:

• The fondness, attachment, spiritually fettering delight, craving, clinging, grasping, obstinate adherence, stubborn attachment, and identification in regards to bodily form: this is called the conduit to renewed states of individual existence.

rūpe kho rādha yo chando yo rāgo yā nandi yā taṇhā ye upayūpādānā cetaso adhiṭṭhānābhinivesānusayā ayaṁ vuccati bhavanetti. (SN iii 191)

Although taṇhā is usually ‘destroyed’ or ‘obliterated,’ it is also said to be ‘abandoned’:

• 1) Yā taṇhā ye upayupādānā cetaso adhiṭṭhānābhinivesānusayā te tathāgatassa pahīnā (SN iii 10).
• 2) Taṇhā hissa dutiyā sāssa pahīnā (SN iv 37).

Illustration: jāla, entanglement

[Most folk] are blinded by sensuous yearning, wrapped in the entanglement [of craving], enfolded in the cloak of craving.

Kāmandhā jālapacchannā taṇhāchadanachāditā. (Tha 297)

➥ jālaṁ: (main article see: jāla)

Illustration: jālaṁ, web

A spider on its self-spun web

sayaṁkataṁ makkaṭakova jālaṁ. (Dhp 347)

Illustration: jālaṁ, net

He destroyed the strong, extensive net of deceitful death.

Acchidā maccuno jālaṁ tataṁ māyāvino daḷhaṁ. (Snp 357)

Like a fish breaching a net in the water

jālambhetvā salilambucārī. (Snp 62)

The wind is not bound by a net

vāto va jālamhi asajjamāno. (Snp 71)

Like birds escaped from a net

Sakunto jālamutto va. (Dhp 174)

Illustration: jālaṁ, entanglement

The entanglement of undiscernment of reality is obliterated

mohajālaṁ padālitaṁ. (SN iii 83)

There is no entanglement like undiscernment of reality

Natthi mohasamaṁ jālaṁ. (Dhp 251)

➥ jālo: (main article see: jāla)

Illustration: jālo, entanglement

The entanglement of craving has been done away with.

taṇhājālo samūhato. (Tha 308)

➥ jāliniṁ: (main article see: jāla)

Illustration: jāliniṁ, entangling

Usabha destroyed the entangling origin of suffering.

Usabhacchidā jāliniṁ dukkhamūlaṁ. (MN iii 70)

➥ jālinī: (main article see: jāla)

Illustration: jālinī, entangling

He for whom entangling and sticky craving no more exists to lead him anywhere.

Yassa jālinī visattikā taṇhā natthi kuhiñci netave. (SN i 107)