English
Indeed, desires in the world are not easily abandoned. Desires, in summary, are of two kinds: desires for objects and desires as defilements. What are desires for objects? Pleasant forms, pleasant sounds, pleasant smells, pleasant tastes, pleasant tactile objects; coverings, cloaks, male and female slaves, goats and sheep, chickens and pigs, elephants, cattle, horses, mares; fields, land, silver, gold; villages, towns, royal capitals, kingdoms and provinces, treasuries and storehouses; whatever object is alluring – these are desires for objects. Moreover, past desires, future desires, present desires; internal desires, external desires, internal and external desires; inferior desires, middling desires, superior desires; desires leading to lower realms, human desires, divine desires, manifest desires; created desires, uncreated desires, desires created by others; grasped desires, ungrasped desires; cherished desires, uncherished desires; all phenomena of the sense-sphere, all phenomena of the form-sphere, all phenomena of the formless-sphere, which have craving as their basis, craving as their object, which are desirable, alluring, intoxicating – these are desires. These are called desires for objects. What are defilement-desires? Yes? Desire is sensual pleasure, lust is sensual pleasure, desire-lust is sensual pleasure, intention is sensual pleasure, lust is sensual pleasure, intention-lust is sensual pleasure, whatever in sensual pleasures is sensual desire, sensual lust, sensual delight, sensual craving, sensual attachment, sensual burning, sensual infatuation, sensual obsession, sensual flood, sensual yoke, sensual clinging, sensual desire as a hindrance. "I have seen, O sensual pleasure, your root, from intentions, O sensual pleasure, you arise; I will not intend you, thus, O sensual pleasure, you will not be." – These are called defilement-sensual pleasures. "World" means the realms of woe, the human realm, the divine realm, the realm of aggregates, the realm of elements, the realm of sense bases. Indeed, sensual pleasures in the world are not easily abandoned. Indeed, sensual pleasures in the world are hard to abandon, hard to give up, hard to relinquish, hard to crush, hard to disentangle, hard to untangle, hard to cross, hard to overcome, hard to transcend, hard to turn away from – indeed, sensual pleasures in the world are not easily abandoned. Therefore, the Blessed One said: "A being, deeply covered in the cave, a person standing, immersed in delusion; far from seclusion is such a one, for sensual pleasures in the world are not easily abandoned." 8. Rooted in craving, bound by the pleasure of existence, they are hard to release, not freed by another; looking back or forward, these very sensual pleasures, and the former craving. "Rooted in craving, bound by the pleasure of existence" means: Craving is called thirst. Whatever lust, attachment, compliance, agreement, delight, delight-lust, the mind's attachment, craving, infatuation, obsession, greed, clinging, entanglement, mire, agitation, deception, producer, generator, seamstress, net, river, poison-creeper, thread, spread out, striving, second, aspiration, guide to becoming, forest, thicket, running, affection, expectation, bond, hope, wishing, being wished for, hope for forms, hope for sounds, hope for smells, hope for tastes, hope for tangibles, hope for gain, hope for wealth, hope for sons, hope for life, murmuring, muttering, intense murmuring, murmuring, being murmured, greediness, being greedy, having been greedy, begging, desiring good, unrighteous lust, unwholesome greed, attraction, longing, aspiration, yearning, fervent aspiration, craving for sensual pleasures, craving for existence, craving for non-existence, craving for form, craving for formless, craving for cessation, craving for form. Craving, craving for sounds, craving for smells, craving for tastes, craving for tangibles, craving for mental objects, a flood, a yoke, a tie, clinging, an obstruction, a hindrance, a covering, a bondage, a defilement, a latent tendency, an obsession, a creeper, an entanglement, the root of suffering, the origin of suffering, the source of suffering, Māra's snare, Māra's hook, Māra's domain, the river of craving, the net of craving, the leash of craving, the ocean of craving, covetousness, greed, the root of unwholesomeness. "Originating in desire" means: having desire as its origin, having desire as its cause, having desire as its condition, having desire as its reason, having desire as its source – originating in desire. "Bound by the pleasures of existence" means. One pleasure of existence – pleasant feeling. Two pleasures of existence – pleasant feeling and desirable object. Three pleasures of existence – youth, health, life. Four pleasures of existence – gain, fame, praise, happiness. Five pleasures of existence – agreeable forms, agreeable sounds, agreeable smells, agreeable tastes, agreeable tangibles. Six pleasures of existence – perfection of sight, perfection of hearing, perfection of smell, perfection of taste, perfection of touch, perfection of mind. Bound by the pleasures of existence, bound by pleasant feeling, bound by desirable objects, bound by youth, bound by health, bound by life, bound by gain, bound by fame, bound by praise, bound by happiness, bound by agreeable forms, by sounds..., by smells..., by tastes..., bound by agreeable tangibles, bound by perfection of sight, bound by perfection of hearing, smell, taste, touch, and mind, entangled, tied, stuck, clung, completely bound – originating in desire, bound by the pleasures of existence. "They are hard to release; there is no other liberation" means either those objects of pleasure in existence are hard to release, or beings are hard to release from them. How are those objects of pleasure in existence hard to release? Pleasant feeling is hard to release, desirable object is hard to release, youth is hard to release, health is hard to release, life is hard to release, gain is hard to release, fame is hard to release, praise is hard to release, happiness is hard to release, agreeable forms are hard to release, agreeable sounds are hard to release, Forms, sounds, smells, tastes, tangibles are hard to let go of. The faculty of sight is hard to let go of. The faculties of hearing, smell, taste, body, mind are hard to let go of, hard to release, hard to loosen, hard to untangle, hard to unbind, hard to cross, hard to overcome, hard to transcend, hard to turn back from. Thus these foundations of existence are hard to let go of. How are beings hard to release from these? Beings are hard to release from pleasant feeling, hard to release from desirable things, hard to release from youth, hard to release from health, hard to release from life, hard to release from gain, hard to release from fame, hard to release from praise, hard to release from happiness, hard to release from pleasing forms, hard to release from pleasing sounds, smells, tastes, tangibles, hard to release from the faculty of sight, hard to release from the faculties of hearing, smell, taste, body, mind, hard to lift up, hard to raise up, hard to extract, hard to pull out, hard to untangle, hard to unbind, hard to cross, hard to overcome, hard to transcend, hard to turn back from. Thus beings are hard to release from these – they are hard to let go of. Indeed, there is no other liberator. They themselves, entangled in the mire, cannot lift another who is entangled in the mire. For this was said by the Blessed One: “It is not possible, Cunda, that one who is himself entangled in the mire will lift another who is entangled in the mire. It is not possible, Cunda, that one who is himself untamed, undisciplined, unextinguished will tame, discipline, extinguish another.” Thus, indeed, there is no other liberator. Or else, there is no other liberator. If they were to be liberated, they would be liberated by their own strength, by their own power, by their own energy, by their own effort, by their own manly strength, by their own manly power, by their own manly energy, by their own manly effort, by practicing the right path, the agreeable path, the unopposed path, the beneficial path, the path in accordance with the Dhamma. Thus, indeed, there is no other liberator. This too was said by the Blessed One: “I will not be able to liberate, What is this, Dhotaka, in the world; And understanding the excellent Dhamma, Thus will you cross this flood. Even so, there is no liberation by another. This was also said by the Blessed One – By oneself indeed is evil done, By oneself one is defiled; By oneself is evil not done, By oneself indeed one is purified; Purity and impurity are personal, No other purifies another. Even so, there is no liberation by another. This was also said by the Blessed One – "Just so, brahmin, Nibbāna exists, the path leading to Nibbāna exists, I exist as an instructor. Yet some of my disciples, being thus exhorted and thus instructed by me, attain the ultimate Nibbāna, while others do not attain it. What can I do here, brahmin? The Tathāgata, brahmin, is a proclaimer of the path. The Buddha points out the path. By practicing themselves, they would be freed." Even so, there is no liberation by another – they are hard to free, there is no liberation by another. Looking forward or backward. "Afterwards" is called the future, "Before" is called the past. Moreover, taking the past as a basis, the future and the present are "afterwards"; Taking the future as a basis, the past and the present are "before". How does one look back? "Such was my form in the past time" – Therein one finds delight. "Such was my feeling... Such was my perception... Such were my formations... Such was my consciousness in the past time" – Therein one finds delight. Even so, one looks back to the past. Or else, "Thus was my eye in the past time, Thus were forms" –