[386] 2.
A thought arose in the ascetic (samaṇa), the bhikkhu Pārāsariya, as he sat alone, secluded, meditating:
What, in due order, should a man undertake — what observance, what conduct — that he may be a doer of his own duty and not harm anyone?
The faculties (indriya) of human beings make for benefit and for harm: unguarded, they make for harm; guarded, they make for benefit.
Watching over the very faculties, guarding the faculties, one may be a doer of one's own duty and not harm anyone.
Not restraining the eye faculty (cakkhundriya) as it goes among forms (rūpa), not seeing the danger (ādīnava), one is indeed not freed from suffering (dukkha).
Not restraining the ear faculty (sotindriya) as it goes among sounds, not seeing the danger, one is indeed not freed from suffering.
If, not seeing the escape (nissaraṇa), one indulges in scent, then, infatuated with scents, one is not freed from suffering.
Recalling the finest of the sour and the sweet, and recalling the finest of the bitter, bound by craving (taṇhā) for tastes, one does not awaken to one's own heart.
Recalling tangible things beautiful and unrepulsive, impassioned, one experiences manifold suffering with passion (rāga) as its cause.
And whoever is unable to guard the mind against these phenomena (dhammā) — suffering pursues him thence through all five streams.
Filled with pus and blood, and with carrion in plenty, wrought by a cunning man, comely as a painted casket —
bitter though sweet in its savor, a bond to what is dear, a suffering, smeared over like a razor coated with honey — to this one does not awaken.
In the form of a woman, in the taste of a woman, and also in the touch of a woman — deeply impassioned amid the scents of women, one experiences manifold suffering.
All the streams toward women, five, flow among the five; but whoever, possessed of energy (vīriya), is able to make a barrier against them —
he is possessed of the good (attha), he stands firm in the Dhamma, he is skillful, he is discerning; even while delighting, let him do the task bound up with the Dhamma and the good.
Moreover, one who is yoked [to them] sinks down; so, heedful and discerning, judging "that is not the task," let him shun the useless task.
Whatever is bound up with the good, and whatever delight belongs to the Dhamma — undertaking that, let him proceed; for that truly is the supreme delight.
By stratagems high and low one seeks to despoil others: he who kills, slays, then brings grief, and plunders from others with violence.
As a strong man, hewing, drives out a peg with a peg, even so the skillful one drives out the faculties by means of the faculties.
Developing faith (saddhā), energy, and concentration (samādhi), mindfulness (sati) and wisdom (paññā), having struck down the five with the five, the brahmin (brāhmaṇa) goes on untroubled.
He is possessed of the good, he stands firm in the Dhamma; having fulfilled in every way, entirely, the instruction of the Buddha's word, that man attains happiness.
The Elder Pārāsariya.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.