[309] In what thirty-five ways is there adherence (abhinivesa) by the view of gratification (assādadiṭṭhi)?
The view (diṭṭhi) that is adherence and misapprehension (abhinivesaparāmāsa) is this: "The pleasure and joy (somanassa) that arise in dependence on form — this is the gratification (assāda) of form." The view is not the gratification; the gratification is not the view; the view is one thing, the gratification another. The view together with the gratification — this is called the view of gratification. The view of gratification is a wrong view (micchādiṭṭhi), a failure of view (diṭṭhivipatti). A person possessed of that failure of view is one failed in view. A person failed in view should not be associated with, should not be resorted to, should not be attended upon. For what reason? Because his view is evil.
Whatever view there is and whatever lust (rāga) there is: that lust is not the view, the view is not the lust; the view is one thing, the lust another. The view together with the lust — this is called lust for views (diṭṭhirāga). A person possessed of that view and that lust is one who delights in lust for views. A gift given to a person who delights in lust for views is not of great fruit, not of great benefit. For what reason? Because his view is evil.
The view of gratification is a wrong view. For an individual of wrong view there are two destinations (gati): hell (niraya) or the animal realm (tiracchānayoni). Whatever bodily action an individual of wrong view undertakes, carried out fully in accordance with that view, whatever verbal action and whatever mental action he undertakes, carried out fully in accordance with that view, and whatever volition (cetanā), whatever aspiration, whatever resolve, and whatever volitional formations there are — all those dhammas conduce to what is unwished for, unwanted, and disagreeable, to harm and to suffering (dukkha). For what reason? Because his view is evil. Just as when a neem seed, a seed of the bitter creeper (kosātakī), or a seed of the bitter gourd is planted in moist earth, whatever essence of earth it takes up and whatever essence of water it takes up, all that conduces to bitterness, to acridity, to lack of substance — for what reason? because the seed is bad — even so, whatever bodily action an individual of wrong view undertakes, carried out fully in accordance with that view, whatever verbal action and whatever mental action he undertakes, carried out fully in accordance with that view, and whatever volition, whatever aspiration, whatever resolve, and whatever volitional formations there are — all those dhammas conduce to what is unwished for, unwanted, and disagreeable, to harm and to suffering. For what reason? Because his view is evil.
The view of gratification is a wrong view. Whatever view there is — the resort to views, the thicket of views … — is adherence to and misapprehension through views.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.