[409] 2. Attached to the cave, covered over by much [defilement],
a man who remains sunk in delusion —
such a one is far from seclusion (viveka),
for sensual pleasures (kāmā) in the world are not easy to abandon.
Rooted in desire, bound up with the delight of existence,
they are hard to release — for there is no release by another —
looking to what comes after or to what went before,
men hanker for these sensual pleasures or for those of old.
Greedy for sensual pleasures, intent upon them, infatuated,
stingy, they are settled in what is wrong;
brought to suffering (dukkha), they lament:
"What shall we become when we pass away from here?"
Therefore let a person train right here:
whatever in the world one may know to be wrong,
let one not behave wrongly on its account,
for the wise have said that life is short.
I see this generation floundering in the world,
given over to craving (taṇhā) for states of existence;
base men wail in the mouth of death,
not free from craving for existence in this state or that.
See them floundering over what they hold as "mine,"
like fish in the scanty water of a stream run dry;
seeing even this, let one live without "mine,"
forming no attachment to states of existence.
Having removed desire for both ends,
fully understanding contact (phassa), free of greed,
doing nothing for which he would reproach himself,
the wise one is not stained by what is seen and heard.
Fully understanding perception (saññā), one should cross over the flood (ogha);
the sage (muni), unstained with regard to possessions,
with the dart drawn out, faring heedful,
does not long for this world or for the next.
The Guhaṭṭhaka Sutta, the second.
______________
In the Suttanipāta, the fourth [chapter], the Aṭṭhakavagga: the Duṭṭhaṭṭhaka Sutta, the third.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.