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**4. Chapter of Eights** **1. Discourse on Desires** 772. For one desiring desires, if that is fulfilled for him; Surely he becomes joyful in mind, having obtained what the mortal wishes. 773. But if for that one desiring, for that being with craving arisen; Those desires decline, he suffers as if pierced by a dart. 774. Whoever avoids desires, as one avoids a snake's head with the foot; He, mindful, overcomes this entanglement in the world. 775. Field, land, or gold, cattle, horses, servants; Women, relatives, various desires, the man who clings to them. 776. Weaknesses overpower him, dangers crush him; Then suffering follows him, as water into a broken boat. 777. Therefore, a being, always mindful, should avoid desires; Abandoning them, he crosses the flood, like one who has bailed out the boat, reaching the other shore. **The first Discourse on Desires is ended.** **2. Discourse on the Cave-Dweller** 778. A being clinging in the cave, much covered, a man standing, deeply immersed in delusion; Such a one is far from solitude, for desires in the world are not easily abandoned. 779. Rooted in craving, bound by the pleasures of existence, they are hard to release, there is no other liberation; Looking to the future or the past, these very desires, and the former babbling. 780. Greedy for desires, attached, deluded, they are unteachable, settled in wrong ways; Brought near to suffering, they lament, "What shall we be, having passed away from here?" 781. Therefore, a being should train here, whatever one knows to be wrong in the world; One should not act wrongly for its sake, for the wise say this life is short. 782. I see the world trembling, this populace gone to craving for existences; Lowly men lament at the mouth of death, with craving not gone for existences and non-existences. 783. See them trembling in their attachments to 'mine', like fish in a small pool with a dried-up stream; Seeing this, one should wander without 'mine', not making attachment to existences. 784. Having removed craving for both extremes, having fully understood contact, not clinging; When Blaming what is blamed, not doing it, The wise one is not stained by what is seen and heard. 785. Having fully understood perception, he should cross the flood, The sage is not stained by attachments; Having extracted the dart, living heedfully, He does not long for this world or the next. The Guhaṭṭhaka Sutta, the second, is finished. 3. The Duṭṭhaṭṭhaka Sutta 786. Indeed some speak with corrupted minds, And also indeed those with truthful minds speak; But the sage does not approach the arisen dispute, Therefore the sage has no barrenness anywhere. 787. How could he overcome his own view, Led by desire, settled in his preference? Establishing his own conclusions, As he indeed knows, so he would speak. 788. Whatever being proclaims his own virtues and vows Even without being asked by others; The skilled ones call that ignoble conduct, Who proclaims himself. 789. And the peaceful monk, with a mind completely cooled, He stands firm in virtues, not praising himself; The skilled ones call that noble conduct, Whose exaltations are not anywhere in the world. 790. Whose fabricated, conditioned things Are held foremost, not purified; Whatever advantage he sees in himself, Relying on that, he finds peace subject to agitation. 791. Attachments to views are indeed not easy to overcome, Having firmly grasped a conclusion in doctrines; Therefore a person, in those attachments, Rejects and accepts doctrines. 792. For the purified one there is indeed no Fabricated view anywhere in the world, In existences or non-existences; Having abandoned deceit and conceit, the purified one, By what could he go? He is without attachment. 793. Attachment indeed in doctrines leads to dispute, How could one without attachment speak? Self or non-self, indeed for him there is not, He has shaken off all views right here. The Duṭṭhaṭṭhaka Sutta, the third, is finished. 4. The Suddhaṭṭhaka Sutta 794. "I see pure, supreme, without illness, By what is seen, a person's purification occurs; Thus knowing, it is supreme..." having known, he attains knowledge, thinking: "He is pure by seeing." 795. If by seeing a man is pure, or by knowledge he abandons suffering; Then by another he is purified, being with defilements, for views declare him to be so. 796. The brahmin does not declare purity from another, in what is seen, heard, moral practice, or thought; Untainted by merit and demerit, abandoning self, not doing anything here. 797. Abandoning the former, they cling to the latter, those who follow agitation do not cross the entanglement; They grasp and they let go, like a monkey letting go of a branch and grasping another. 798. Taking up vows by himself, a being, attached to perceptions, goes high and low; But the wise one, having understood the Dhamma by the Vedas, the greatly wise one does not go high and low. 799. He is free from all doctrines, whatever is seen, heard, or thought; Seeing him thus, moving openly, by what could one dispute him in this world? 800. They do not conceive, nor do they put forward, they do not say: "This is ultimate purity"; Having released the bond of clinging, they make no aspirations anywhere in the world. 801. For the brahmin who has gone beyond boundaries, there is nothing grasped by knowing or by seeing; He is not attached to passion, nor is he attached to dispassion, for him there is no ultimate grasping here. The Suddhaṭṭhaka Sutta, the fourth, is finished. 5. The Paramaṭṭhaka Sutta 802. Dwelling on views as supreme, whatever a being considers superior in the world; He calls all others inferior to that, therefore he does not escape disputes. 803. Whatever advantage he sees in himself, in what is seen, heard, moral practice, or thought; That alone he grasps there, and he sees all others as inferior. 804. That too the skilled ones call a bond, by clinging to which one sees another as inferior; Therefore, a bhikkhu should not rely on what is seen, heard, thought, or moral practice. 805. He should not conceive a view in the world, nor by knowledge, nor by moral practice; He Let him not think himself superior, nor inferior, nor equal. 806. Having abandoned the self, not clinging, he makes no reliance even on knowledge; He does not side with those who are distinguished, nor does he accept any view whatsoever. 807. For whom there is no aspiration here for either extreme, for becoming or non-becoming, here or hereafter; For him there are no settlements whatsoever, he discerns what is grasped in the doctrines. 808. For him, in what is seen, heard, or cognized here, there is not even an atom of conceptualization; That brahmin, not adhering to views, by what could one define him in this world? 809. They do not conceptualize, nor do they put forward, nor are doctrines accepted by them; The brahmin is not to be led by moral practices, one who has gone to the other shore does not return, such a one. The Discourse on the Ultimate View, the fifth, is finished. 6. The Discourse on Old Age 810. Brief, indeed, is this life, one dies even before a hundred years; And even if one lives beyond, still one dies of old age. 811. People grieve over what they call 'mine', for possessions are not permanent; This separation is inherent, seeing this, one should not dwell in a house. 812. Even by death is that abandoned, which a person thinks 'this is mine'; Knowing this too, the wise one, should not incline to possessiveness, being possessive. 813. Just as a person awakened does not see what was met in a dream; So too, one does not see a beloved person who has passed away, gone to the other world. 814. Those people, seen and heard, whose name is spoken— Only the name remains, a designation for the departed being. 815. Sorrow, lamentation, and avarice, the greedy do not abandon, clinging to 'mine'. Therefore the sages, having abandoned possessions, walked seeing security. 816. For a monk of secluded conduct, who resorts to a solitary seat; They call that his harmony, who does not show himself in existence. 817. The sage, unattached everywhere, does not make what is dear nor what is not dear; Lamentation and envy do not cling to him, just as water does not cling to a leaf. 818. Just as a drop of water on a lotus leaf, just as water does not cling to a lotus; So the sage is not defiled, by what is seen, heard, or cognized. 819. The purified one does not conceive by that, by what is seen, heard, or cognized; He does not desire purity by another, he is not attached nor unattached. The Discourse on Old Age, the sixth, is finished. 7. The Discourse to Tissa Metteyya 820. "For one engaged in sexual intercourse, (thus spoke Venerable Tissa Metteyya) Tell us the downfall, dear sir; Having heard your teaching, we will train ourselves in seclusion." 821. "For one engaged in sexual intercourse, (Metteyya, said the Blessed One) the teaching is forgotten; And he practices wrongly, this is ignoble in him. 822. "One who, having lived alone before, then indulges in sexual intercourse; Like a broken chariot in the world, they call him a low, ordinary person. 823. "The fame and glory he had before, that also declines for him; Seeing this too, one should train, to abandon sexual intercourse. 824. "Overcome by thoughts, he pines like a wretch; Hearing the clamor of others, such a one becomes dejected. 825. "Then he makes weapons, provoked by others' accusations; This indeed is his great greed, he resorts to false speech. 826. "Known as wise, having resolved on solitary conduct; Yet if he engages in sexual intercourse, he wastes away like a fool. 827. "Knowing this danger, the sage, here and hereafter; Should firmly establish solitary conduct, and not indulge in sexual intercourse. 828. "One should train in seclusion itself, this is supreme for the noble ones; One should not conceive oneself superior by it,