[969] **"With downcast eyes, and not restless of foot" (okkhittacakkhu na ca pādalolo):** How is one of wandering eyes? Here a certain bhikkhu is restless with the eye, possessed of restlessness of the eye, thinking, "What has not been seen must be seen; what has been seen must be passed beyond," and he is given to long wandering, to unsettled wandering — from monastery to monastery, from park to park, from village to village, from town to town, from city to city, from country to country, from district to district — for the sake of seeing forms. Thus too he is one of wandering eyes.
Or else: a bhikkhu, having entered among the houses, walking along a street, goes unrestrained — looking at an elephant, looking at a horse, looking at a chariot, looking at a foot-soldier, looking at women, looking at men, looking at boys, looking at girls, looking at the shops of the bazaar, looking at the fronts of houses, looking up, looking down, he goes gazing about in the various directions. Thus too he is one of wandering eyes.
Or else: a bhikkhu, having seen a form with the eye, is one who grasps at the sign (nimitta), one who grasps at the secondary features (anubyañjana); and though, when he dwells with the eye faculty unrestrained, covetousness and grief (abhijjhā-domanassa), evil unwholesome states, might flow in upon him, he does not practise for its restraint, does not guard the eye faculty, does not undertake restraint with regard to the eye faculty. Thus too he is one of wandering eyes.
Or else, just as some honourable ascetics and brahmins, having eaten food given in faith, dwell devoted to seeing shows that are inimical [to the wholesome], that is to say: dancing, singing, instrumental music, spectacles, story-recitations, hand-clapping music, cymbal music, pot-drum music, picture-shows, the acrobatic feats of caṇḍālas, bamboo-pole feats, ceremonial washing [of bones], elephant fights, horse fights, buffalo fights, bull fights, goat fights, ram fights, cock fights, quail fights, fighting with staves, fist-fighting, wrestling, sham battles, troop reviews, battle arrays, and inspections of regiments — thus too he is one of wandering eyes.
How is one not of wandering eyes? Here a bhikkhu is not restless with the eye, not possessed of restlessness of the eye, thinking, "What has not been seen must be seen; what has been seen must be passed beyond"; he is not given to long wandering, to unsettled wandering — from monastery to monastery, from park to park, from village to village, from town to town, from city to city, from country to country, from district to district — for the sake of seeing forms. Thus too he is not one of wandering eyes.
Or else: a bhikkhu, having entered among the houses, walking along a street, goes restrained — not looking at an elephant … he does not go gazing about in the various directions. Thus too he is not one of wandering eyes.
Or else: a bhikkhu, having seen a form with the eye, is not one who grasps at the sign … he undertakes restraint with regard to the eye faculty. Thus too he is not one of wandering eyes.
Or else, just as some honourable ascetics and brahmins, having eaten food given in faith … inspections of regiments — from devotion to seeing such shows that are inimical [to the wholesome] he abstains. Thus too he is not one of wandering eyes. Hence, "with downcast eyes."
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.