1On one occasion the Venerable Vangisa was dwelling at Aḷavi at the Aggaḷava Shrine together with his preceptor, the Venerable Nigrodhakappa. Now on that occasion, when the Venerable Nigrodhakappa returned from his alms round, after his meal he would enter the dwelling and would come out either in the evening or on the following day.

Now on that occasion dissatisfaction had arisen in the Venerable Vangisa; lust had infested his mind. Then it occurred to the Venerable Vangisa: "It is a loss for me indeed, it is no gain for me! It is a mishap for me indeed, it is not well gained by me, that dissatisfaction has arisen in me, that lust has infested my mind. How could anyone else dispel my dissatisfaction and arouse delight? Let me dispel my own dissatisfaction and arouse delight by myself."

Then the Venerable Vangisa, having dispelled his own dissatisfaction and aroused delight by himself, on that occasion recited these verses:

2v.712 "Having abandoned discontent and delight
And household thoughts entirely,
One should not nurture lust towards anything;
The lustless one, without delight—
He is indeed a bhikkhu. [n.492] Spk: Discontent and delight (aratiñ ca ratiñ ca): discontent with the dispensation (Spk-pṭ: dissatisfaction with the fulfilment of virtue and the development of serenity and insight) and delight in the cords of sensual pleasure. Household thoughts (gehasitañ ca vitakkaṁ): having abandoned in all ways evil thoughts connected with "the household," i.e., with the five cords of sensual pleasure.
The next couplet plays upon the double meaning of vanatha; see n. 474. Spk glosses vanathaṁ as kilesamahāvanaṁ, "the great woods of defilements," and nibbanatho as nikkilesavano, "without the woods of defilements." The last word in pāda d is read arato in Be, Se, and Ee2, but in Ee1 as anato, "uninclined." Spk (both Be and Se) reads arato in the lemma and glosses taṇhāratirahito, "devoid of delight on account of craving," but anato and nati would also fit the lemma and gloss respectively, as nati too is a synonym for taṇhā. The reading at Th 1214 is avanatho, which expresses virtually the same idea as nibbanatho.

3v.713 "Whatever exists here on earth and in space,
Comprised by form, included in the world—
Everything impermanent decays;
The sages fare having pierced this truth. [n.493] Kiñci should be brought into pāda b (as at Th 1215) and connected semantically with yam in pāda a. Spk explains jagatogadhaṁ in pāda b as what exists within the earth, e.g., in the realm of the nāgas, but I take the expression in a wider sense, supported by Th-a III 190,4–5, which glosses: "Whatever is mundane, conditioned, included in the three realms of existence." "Everything impermanent decays (parijiyati sabbam aniccaṁ)"—this, says Spk, was "the elder's great insight" (mahavipassanā).

4v.714 "People are tied to their acquisitions,
To what is seen, heard, sensed, and felt;
Dispel desire for this, be unstirred:
They call him a sage
Who clings to nothing here. [n.494] Spk identifies the upadhi in pāda a as the "acquisitions" of the aggregates, defilements, and volitional formations; see n. 21. No explanation is given for the exclusion of "acquisitions as sensual pleasures" (kamūpadhi) which the context seems to allow, indeed even to require. In commenting on pāda b, Spk says paṭigha, "the sensed," comprises odour and taste, while muta, "the felt," denotes the tactile object. Th-a III 190,15–20 inverts the explanation: paṭigha is glossed as phoṭṭhabba, and muta as gandha-rasa. The familiar tetrad is diṭṭha, suta, muta, and viññata (see SN35.95; IV 73,4–7); the commentaries explain muta as comprising odour, taste, and the tactile object, and viññata as mental objects. Norman translates muta as thought (its original sense), implying that this tetrad corresponds to the more familiar one, with paṭigha assuming the usual role of muta and the latter serving in place of viññata. In deference to Spk and Th-a, I prefer to translate the present tetrad in a way that comprises only the five external sense bases and thus as signifying the five cords of sensual pleasure. sn.i.187

5v.715 "Then those caught in the sixty,
Led by their own thoughts—
There are many such among the people
Who have settled on wrong doctrine:
One who would not join their faction anywhere,
Nor utter corrupt speech—he is a bhikkhu. [n.495] The readings of pāda ab vary among the different eds. I prefer that of Ee2: Atha saṭṭhisita savitakka/Puthū janataya adhammaniviṭṭha. The metre is irregular Vegavati.
The verse is obscure and evidently challenged the ingenuity of the commentators. Spk paraphrases: "Then many unrighteous thoughts attached to the six sense objects have settled upon the people" (atha cha ārammaṇanissitā puthū adhammavitakkā janataya niviṭṭhā). This explanation is flawed in two respects: (i) it construes the subject as vitakkā, thoughts, when the Pali reads ā, a bahubbihi compound denoting persons with thoughts; if we take sa here to represent Skt sva rather than saha, savitakkā means those who are led by (or full of) their own thoughts; (ii) it explains saṭṭhi as cha, six, when it properly means sixty. Th-a III 190,28–31 mentions the opinion held by some commentators that saṭṭhisitā is an allusion to the sixty-two views of the Brahmajala Sutta, and the verse does in fact echo the closing simile of that sutta (DN I 45,25–27): "Just as all large sea creatures are caught in the fisherman's net, so all these speculative thinkers are trapped within this net of sixty-two cases; here they are caught whenever they emerge" (te imeh’ eva dvasaṭṭhiya vatthūhi antojalikata ettha sita va ummujjamana ummujjanti). In pāda c, vaggagatassa should be resolved vaggagato assa. Spk takes the line to mean that one should not join the faction of defilements (kilesavagga), but I understand it literally. In fact, at Sn 371b we find vaggagatesu na vaggasari dhiro, "Among those who are factious, the wise one does not follow a faction." Pj II 365,20–24 explains this by reference to the sixty-two speculative views, thus linking it to the present verse. See in this connection GD, p. 217, n. to 371.
Pada d reads no pana duṭṭhullabhani sa bhikkhu, which Spk-pṭ explains as an injunction not to speak words connected with sensuality (kāmapaṭisaṁyuttakathā).  1217 reads here duṭṭhullagāhi, "one should not grasp what is corrupt," which Th-a explains as referring to the grasping of corrupt views.

6v.716 "Proficient, long trained in concentration,
Honest, discreet, without longing,
The sage has attained the peaceful state,
Depending on which he bides his time
Fully quenched within himself." [n.496] Spk identifies "the peaceful state" (of pāda c) with Nibbāna and paraphrases pāda d thus: "Fully quenched by the full quenching of defilements in dependence on Nibbāna, he awaits the time of his parinibbāna (Spk-pṭ: the time of the Nibbāna element without residue)" (nibbana paṭicca kilesaparinibbanena parinibbuto parinibbānakalaṁ anupadisesanibbanakalaṁ agameti).

1Ekaṁ samayaṁ … pe … āyasmā vaṅgīso āḷaviyaṁ vihārati aggāḷave cetiye āyasmatā nigrodhakappena upajjhāyena saddhiṁ. Tena kho pana samayena āyasmā nigrodhakappo pacchābhattaṁ piṇḍapātapaṭikkanto vihāraṁ pavisati, sāyaṁ vā nikkhamati aparajju vā kāle.

Tena kho pana samayena āyasmato vaṅgīsassa anabhirati uppannā hoti, rāgo cittaṁ anuddhaṁseti. Atha kho āyasmato vaṅgīsassa etadahosi: "Alābhā vata me, na vata me lābhā; dulladdhaṁ vata me, na vata me suladdhaṁ; yassa me anabhirati uppannā, rāgo cittaṁ anuddhaṁseti; taṁ kutettha labbhā, yaṁ me paro anabhiratiṁ vinodetvā abhiratiṁ uppādeyya. Yannūnāhaṁ attanāva attano anabhiratiṁ vinodetvā abhiratiṁ uppādeyyan"ti.

Atha kho āyasmā vaṅgīso attanāva attano anabhiratiṁ vinodetvā abhiratiṁ uppādetvā tāyaṁ velāyaṁ imā gāthāyo abhāsi:

2"Aratiñca ratiñca pahāya,
Sabbaso gehasitañca vitakkaṁ;
Vanathaṁ na kareyya kuhiñci,
Nibbānatho arato sa hi bhikkhu.

3Yamidha pathaviñca vehāsaṁ,
Rūpagatañca jagatogadhaṁ;
Kiñci parijīyati sabbamaniccaṁ,
Evaṁ samecca caranti mutattā.

4Upadhīsu janā gadhitāse,
Diṭṭhasute paṭighe ca mute ca;
Ettha vinodaya chandamanejo,
Yo ettha na limpati taṁ munimāhu.

5Atha saṭṭhinissitā savitakkā,
Puthū janatāya adhammā niviṭṭhā;
Na ca vaggagatassa kuhiñci,
No pana duṭṭhullabhāṇī sa bhikkhu.

6Dabbo cirarattasamāhito,
Akuhako nipako apihālu;
Santaṁ padaṁ ajjhagamā muni paṭicca,
Parinibbuto kaṅkhati kālan"ti.