{"collection":"Buddhism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/bud/dhp/24.htm","path":"bud/dhp/24.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/bud/dhp/24.htm","text":"334:\nWhen a person lives heedlessly,\nhis craving grows like a creeping vine.\nHe runs now here\n& now there,\nas if looking for fruit:\na monkey in the forest.\n335-336:\nIf this sticky, uncouth craving\novercomes you in the world,\nyour sorrows grow like wild grass\nafter rain.\nIf, in the world, you overcome\nthis uncouth craving, hard to escape,\nsorrows roll off you,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 like water beads off\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 a lotus.\n337*:\nTo all of you gathered here\nI say: Good fortune.\nDig up craving\n-- as when seeking medicinal roots, wild grass --\nby the root.\nDon't let Mara cut you down\n-- as a raging river, a reed --\nover & over again.\n338:\nIf its root remains\nundamaged & strong,\na tree, even if cut,\nwill grow back.\nSo too if latent craving\nis not rooted out,\nthis suffering returns\nagain\n&\nagain.\nHe whose 36 streams,\nflowing to what is appealing, are strong:\nthe currents -- resolves based on passion --\ncarry him, of base views, away.\nThey flow every which way, the streams,\nbut the sprouted creeper stays \n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 in place.\nNow, seeing that the creeper's arisen,\ncut through its root \nwith discernment.\n341*:\nLoosened & oiled\nare the joys of a person.\nPeople, bound by enticement,\nlooking for ease:\nto birth & aging they go.\nEncircled with craving,\npeople hop round & around\nlike a rabbit caught in a snare.\nTied with fetters & bonds\nthey go on to suffering,\nagain & again, for long.\nEncircled with craving,\npeople hop round & around\nlike a rabbit caught in a snare.\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So a monk \nshould dispel \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 craving, \nshould aspire \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 to dispassion\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 for himself.\n344:\nCleared of the underbrush \nbut obsessed with the forest,\nset free from the forest,\nright back to the forest he runs.\nCome, see the person set free\nwho runs right back to the same old chains!\nThat's not a strong bond\n-- so say the enlightened --\nthe one made of iron, of wood, or of grass.\nTo be smitten, enthralled,\nwith jewels & ornaments,\nlonging for children & wives:\nthat's the strong bond,\n-- so say the enlightened --\none that's constraining,\nelastic,\nhard to untie.\nBut having cut it, they\n-- the enlightened -- go forth,\nfree of longing, abandoning\nsensual ease.\nThose smitten with passion \n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 fall back \ninto a self-made stream,\nlike a spider snared in its web.\nBut, having cut it, the enlightened set forth,\nfree of longing, abandoning\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 all suffering & stress.\n348*:\nGone to the beyond of becoming,\nyou let go of in front,\nlet go of behind,\nlet go of between.\nWith a heart everywhere let-go,\nyou don't come again to birth\n& aging.\nFor a person \nforced on by his thinking,\nfierce in his passion,\nfocused on beauty,\ncraving grows all the more.\nHe's the one\nwho tightens the bond.\nBut one who delights\nin the stilling of thinking,\nalways mindful\ncultivating\na focus on the foul:\nHe's the one\nwho will make an end,\nthe one who will cut Mara's bond.\nArrived at the finish,\nunfrightened, unblemished, free\nof craving, he has cut away\nthe arrows of becoming.\nThis physical heap is his last.\nFree from craving,\nungrasping,\nastute in expression,\nknowing the combination of sounds --\nwhich comes first & which after.\nHe's called a\nlast-body\ngreatly discerning\ngreat man.\n353*:\nAll-conquering,\nall-knowing am I,\nwith regard to all things,\nunadhering.\nAll-abandoning,\nreleased in the ending of craving:\nhaving fully known on my own,\nto whom should I point as my teacher?\n354*:\nA gift of Dhamma conquers \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 all gifts;\nthe taste of Dhamma, all tastes;\na delight in Dhamma, all delights;\nthe ending of craving, all suffering\n& stress.\n355:\nRiches ruin the man \nweak in discernment,\nbut not those who seek\nthe beyond.\nThrough craving for riches\nthe man weak in discernment\nruins himself\nas he would others.\n356-359:\nFields are spoiled by weeds;\npeople, by passion.\nSo what's given to those\nfree of passion\nbears great fruit.\nFields are spoiled by weeds;\npeople, by aversion.\nSo what's given to those\nfree of aversion\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 bears great fruit.\nFields are spoiled by weeds;\npeople, by delusion.\nSo what's given to those\nfree of delusion\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 bears great fruit.\nFields are spoiled by weeds;\npeople, by longing.\nSo what's given to those\nfree of longing\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 bears great fruit.","title":"Dhammapada XXIV: Craving","type":"page"}