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- Majjhima Nikaya 13
- Maha-Dukkhakkhandha Sutta
- The Greater Discourse on the Mass of Suffering
- (excerpt)
- For free distribution only, as a gift of Dhamma
... "Now what is the allure of sensuality? There are, monks, these five
strands of sensuality. Which five? Forms cognizable via the eye -- agreeable, pleasing,
charming, endearing, fostering desire, enticing. Sounds cognizable via the ear...Aromas
cognizable via the nose...Flavors cognizable via the tongue...Tactile sensations
cognizable via the body -- agreeable, pleasing, charming, endearing, fostering desire,
enticing. Now whatever pleasure or joy arises in dependence on these five strands of
sensuality, that is the allure of sensuality.
"And what is the drawback of sensuality? There is the case
where, on account of the occupation by which a clansman makes a living -- whether checking
or accounting or calculating or plowing or trading or cattle tending or archery or as a
king's man, or whatever the occupation may be -- he faces cold; he faces heat; being
harassed by mosquitoes, flies, wind, sun, and creeping things; dying from hunger and
thirst.
"Now this drawback in the case of sensuality, this mass of stress visible here and
now, has sensuality for its reason, sensuality for its source, sensuality for its cause,
the reason being simply sensuality.
"If the clansman gains no wealth while thus working and striving and making
effort, he sorrows, grieves and laments, beats his breast, becomes distraught: 'My work is
in vain, my efforts are fruitless!' Now this drawback too in the case of sensuality, this
mass of stress visible here and now, has sensuality for its reason...
"If the clansman gains wealth while thus working and striving and making effort,
he experiences pain and distress in protecting it: 'How shall neither kings nor thieves
make off with my property, nor fire burn it, nor water sweep it away nor hateful heirs
make off with it?' And as he thus guards and watches over his property, kings or thieves
make off with it, or fire burns it, or water sweeps it away, or hateful heirs make off
with it. And he sorrows, grieves and laments, beats his breast, becomes distraught: 'What
was mine is no more!' Now this drawback too in the case of sensuality, this mass of stress
visible here and now, has sensuality for its reason...
"Furthermore, it is with sensuality for the reason, sensuality for the source,
sensuality for the cause, the reason being simply sensuality, that kings quarrel with
kings, nobles with nobles, priests with priests, householders with householders, mother
with child, child with mother, father with child, child with father, brother with brother,
sister with sister, brother with sister, sister with brother, friend with friend. And then
in their quarrels, brawls, and disputes, they attack one another with fists or with clods
or with sticks or with knives, so that they incur death or deadly pain. Now this drawback
too in the case of sensuality, this mass of stress visible here and now, has sensuality
for its reason...
"Furthermore, it is with sensuality for the reason, sensuality for the
source...that (men), taking swords and shields and buckling on bows and quivers, charge
into battle massed in double array while arrows and spears are flying and swords are
flashing; and there they are wounded by arrows and spears, and their heads are cut off by
swords, so that they incur death or deadly pain. Now this drawback too in the case of
sensuality, this mass of stress visible here and now, has sensuality for its reason...
"Furthermore, it is with sensuality for the reason, sensuality for the
source...that (men), taking swords and shields and buckling on bows and quivers, charge
slippery bastions while arrows and spears are flying and swords are flashing; and there
they are splashed with boiling cow dung and crushed under heavy weights, and their heads
are cut off by swords, so that they incur death or deadly pain. Now this drawback too in
the case of sensuality, this mass of stress visible here and now, has sensuality for its
reason, sensuality for its source, sensuality for its cause, the reason being simply
sensuality.
"And what is the emancipation from sensuality? Whatever is the subduing of passion
and desire, the abandoning of passion and desire for sensuality, that is the emancipation
from sensuality."
...