AN 6.23

Bhayasutta

“‘Bhayan’ti, bhikkhave, kāmānametaṁ adhivacanaṁ; ‘dukkhan’ti, bhikkhave, kāmānametaṁ adhivacanaṁ; ‘rogo’ti, bhikkhave, kāmānametaṁ adhivacanaṁ; ‘gaṇḍo’ti, bhikkhave, kāmānametaṁ adhivacanaṁ; ‘saṅgo’ti, bhikkhave, kāmānametaṁ adhivacanaṁ; ‘paṅko’ti, bhikkhave, kāmānametaṁ adhivacanaṁ.

Dangers

“‘Danger’, mendicants, is a term for sensual pleasures. ‘Suffering’, ‘disease’, ‘boil’, ‘chain’, and ‘bog’ are terms for sensual pleasures.

Kasmā ca, bhikkhave, ‘bhayan’ti kāmānametaṁ adhivacanaṁ? Kāmarāgarattāyaṁ, bhikkhave, chandarāgavinibaddho diṭṭhadhammikāpi bhayā na parimuccati, samparāyikāpi bhayā na parimuccati, tasmā ‘bhayan’ti kāmānametaṁ adhivacanaṁ. Kasmā ca, bhikkhave, dukkhanti …pe… rogoti … gaṇḍoti … saṅgoti … paṅkoti kāmānametaṁ adhivacanaṁ? Kāmarāgarattāyaṁ, bhikkhave, chandarāgavinibaddho diṭṭhadhammikāpi paṅkā na parimuccati, samparāyikāpi paṅkā na parimuccati, tasmā ‘paṅko’ti kāmānametaṁ adhivacananti.

And why is ‘danger’ a term for sensual pleasures? Someone who is besotted by sensual greed and shackled by lustful desire is not freed from dangers in this life or in lives to come. That is why ‘danger’ is a term for sensual pleasures. And why are ‘suffering’, ‘disease’, ‘boil’, ‘chain’, and ‘bog’ terms for sensual pleasures? Someone who is besotted by sensual greed and shackled by lustful desire is not freed from suffering, disease, boils, chains, or bogs in this life or in lives to come. That is why these are terms for sensual pleasures.

Bhayaṁ dukkhaṁ rogo gaṇḍo, saṅgo paṅko ca ubhayaṁ; Ete kāmā pavuccanti, yattha satto puthujjano.

Danger, suffering, disease, boils, and chains and bogs both. These describe the sensual pleasures to which ordinary people are attached.

Upādāne bhayaṁ disvā, jātimaraṇasambhave; Anupādā vimuccanti, jātimaraṇasaṅkhaye.

Seeing the danger in grasping, the origin of birth and death, the unattached are freed with the ending of birth and death.

Te khemappattā sukhino, diṭṭhadhammābhinibbutā; Sabbaverabhayātītā, sabbadukkhaṁ upaccagun”ti.

Happy, they’ve come to a safe place, quenched in this very life. They’ve gone beyond all enmities and fears, and risen above all suffering.”