SN17: Linked Discourses on Possessions, Honour, and Popularity
I. The First Chapter — SN17.9: Gale-force Winds
- © Translated from the Pali by Bhante Sujato. (More copyright information)
1At Sāvatthī.
“Possessions, honor, and popularity are brutal …
High in the sky there are gale-force winds blowing. Any bird that flies there is flung about by those gale-force winds. Their feet go one way, their wings another, their head another, and their body another.
In the same way, take a certain monk whose mind is overcome and overwhelmed by possessions, honor, and popularity. He robes up in the morning and, taking his bowl and robe, enters the village or town for alms without guarding body, speech, and mind, without establishing mindfulness, and without restraining the sense faculties. There he sees a female scantily clad, with revealing clothes. Lust infects his mind. He rejects the training and returns to a lesser life. Some take his robe, others his bowl, others his sitting cloth, others his needle case, just like the bird flung about by the gale-force winds.
So brutal are possessions, honor, and popularity. …”
1Sāvatthiyaṁ vihārati.
"Dāruṇo, bhikkhave, lābhasakkārasiloko … pe … adhigamāya. Upari, bhikkhave, ākāse verambhā nāma vātā vāyanti. Tattha yo pakkhī gacchati tamenaṁ verambhā vātā khipanti. Tassa verambhavātakkhittassa aññeneva pādā gacchanti, aññena pakkhā gacchanti, aññena sīsaṁ gacchati, aññena kāyo gacchati.
Evameva kho, bhikkhave, idhekacco bhikkhu lābhasakkārasilokena abhibhūto pariyādiṇṇacitto pubbaṇhasamayaṁ nivāsetvā pattacīvaramādāya gāmaṁ vā nigamaṁ vā piṇḍāya pavisati arakkhiteneva kāyena arakkhitāya vācāya arakkhitena cittena, anupaṭṭhitāya satiyā, asaṁvutehi indriyehi. So tattha passati mātugāmaṁ dunnivatthaṁ vā duppārutaṁ vā. Tassa mātugāmaṁ disvā dunnivatthaṁ vā duppārutaṁ vā rāgo cittaṁ anuddhaṁseti. So rāgānuddhaṁsitena cittena sikkhaṁ paccakkhāya hīnāyāvattati. Tassa aññe cīvaraṁ haranti, aññe pattaṁ haranti, aññe nisīdanaṁ haranti, aññe sūcigharaṁ haranti, verambhavātakkhittasseva sakuṇassa.
Evaṁ dāruṇo kho, bhikkhave, lābhasakkārasiloko … pe … evañhi vo, bhikkhave, sikkhitabban"ti.
Navamaṁ.