[496] Then a certain affluent brahmin (brāhmaṇamahāsāla) approached the Blessed One … Sitting to one side, that affluent brahmin said to the Blessed One: "Master Gotama, I have heard this from brahmins of former times — aged, elderly, teachers and teachers' teachers — saying: 'Formerly, it seems, this world was so pervaded with human beings that one would think it was Avīci itself, and the villages, towns, and royal capitals of the countryside stood within a cock's flight of one another.' What now, Master Gotama, is the cause, what is the condition, why at present there is a diminution of human beings, their thinning out is evident, villages have become non-villages, towns non-towns, cities non-cities, and districts non-districts?"
"At present, brahmin, human beings are inflamed with unrighteous lust (adhammarāga), overcome by inordinate greed (visamalobha), afflicted by wrong dhamma (micchādhamma). Inflamed with unrighteous lust, overcome by inordinate greed, afflicted by wrong dhamma, they take up sharp weapons and deprive one another of life. Thereby many human beings die. This, brahmin, is a cause, this is a condition, why at present there is a diminution of human beings, their thinning out is evident, villages have become non-villages, towns non-towns, cities non-cities, and districts non-districts.
"Furthermore, brahmin, at present human beings are inflamed with unrighteous lust, overcome by inordinate greed, afflicted by wrong dhamma. For those inflamed with unrighteous lust, overcome by inordinate greed, afflicted by wrong dhamma, the sky-god does not release proper streams of rain. Thereby there is famine, a poor harvest, the crops blighted white and turned to mere stalks. Thereby many human beings die. This too, brahmin, is a cause, this is a condition, why at present there is a diminution of human beings, their thinning out is evident, villages have become non-villages, towns non-towns, cities non-cities, and districts non-districts.
"Furthermore, brahmin, at present human beings are inflamed with unrighteous lust, overcome by inordinate greed, afflicted by wrong dhamma. Upon those inflamed with unrighteous lust, overcome by inordinate greed, afflicted by wrong dhamma, the yakkhas let loose fierce non-human beings. Thereby many human beings die. This too, brahmin, is a cause, this is a condition, why at present there is a diminution of human beings, their thinning out is evident, villages have become non-villages, towns non-towns, cities non-cities, and districts non-districts."
"Excellent, Master Gotama! … Let Master Gotama remember me as a lay follower who has gone for refuge for life, from this day forward."
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.