{"collection":"Khuddaka Nikaya","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/suttacentral_thag16.4/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/suttacentral_thag16.4","id":"suttacentral_thag16.4","license":"CC0","rights_basis":"suttacentral_bilara_data_cc0","source":"suttacentral","source_url":"https://suttacentral.net/thag16.4/en/sujato","summary":null,"tags":["Early Buddhist Texts","Khuddaka Nikaya"],"text":"\u201cSee this fancy puppet, a body built of sores, diseased, obsessed over, in which nothing lasts at all. See this fancy figure, with its gems and earrings; it is bones swathed in skin, made pretty by its clothes. Rouged feet and powdered face may be enough to beguile a fool, but not a seeker of the far shore. Hair in eight braids and eyeshadow may be enough to beguile a fool, but not a seeker of the far shore. A rotting body all adorned like a freshly painted makeup box may be enough to beguile a fool, but not a seeker of the far shore. The hunter laid his snare, but the deer didn\u2019t spring the trap. I\u2019ve eaten the bait and now I go, leaving the trapper to lament. The hunter\u2019s snare is broken, but the deer didn\u2019t spring the trap. I\u2019ve eaten the bait and now I go, leaving the deer-hunter to grieve.\u201d \u201cI see rich people in the world who, because of delusion, <j>give not the wealth they\u2019ve earned. Greedily, they hoard their riches, yearning for ever more sensual pleasures. A king who conquered the earth by force, ruling the land from sea to sea, unsatisfied with the near shore of the ocean, would still yearn for the further shore. Not just the king, but others too, reach death not rid of craving. They leave the body still wanting, for in this world sensual pleasures never satisfy. Relatives lament, their hair disheveled, saying \u2018Ah! Alas! They\u2019re not immortal!\u2019 They take out the body wrapped in a shroud, heap up a pyre, and burn it there. It\u2019s poked with stakes while being burnt, in just a single cloth, all wealth gone. Relatives, friends, and companions can\u2019t help you when you\u2019re dying. Heirs take your riches, while beings fare on according to their deeds. Riches don\u2019t follow you when you die; nor do children, wife, wealth, nor kingdom. Longevity isn\u2019t gained by riches, nor does wealth banish old age; for the attentive say this life is short, it\u2019s perishable and not eternal. The rich and the poor feel its touch; the fool and the attentive one feel it too. But the fool lies stricken by their own folly, while the attentive don\u2019t tremble at the touch. Therefore wisdom\u2019s much better than wealth, since by wisdom <j>you reach consummation in this life. But if because of delusion <j>you don\u2019t reach consummation, you\u2019ll do evil deeds in life after life. One who enters a womb and the world beyond, will transmigrate from one life to the next. While someone of little wisdom, <j>placing faith in them, also enters a womb and the world beyond. As a bandit caught in a window is punished for his own bad deeds; so after departing, in the world beyond, people are punished for their own bad deeds. Sensual pleasures are diverse, sweet, delightful; appearing in disguise they disturb the mind. Seeing danger in sensual stimulations, I went forth, O King. As fruit falls from a tree, so the sons of Manu fall, young and old, when the body breaks up. Seeing this, too, I went forth, O King; it\u2019s a sure bet that the ascetic life is better.\u201d \u201cI went forth out of faith joining the victor\u2019s dispensation. My going forth wasn\u2019t wasted; I enjoy my food free of debt. I saw sensual pleasures as burning, gold as a cutting blade, conception in a womb as suffering, and the hells as very fearful. Knowing this danger, I was struck with a sense of urgency. I was stabbed, but then I found peace, attaining the end of defilements. I\u2019ve served the Teacher and fulfilled the Buddha\u2019s instructions. The heavy burden is laid down, the leash to existence is eradicated. I\u2019ve attained the goal for the sake of which I went forth from the lay life to homelessness\u2014 the ending of all fetters.\u201d","title":"Ra\u1e6d\u1e6dhap\u0101la","tradition":"Khuddaka Nikaya","translated_text":null,"word_count":646}