Sutta Piṭaka
Guhaṭṭhakasutta
Guhaṭṭhakasutta
Satto guhāyaṁ bahunābhichanno, Tiṭṭhaṁ naro mohanasmiṁ pagāḷho; Dūre vivekā hi tathāvidho so, Kāmā hi loke na hi suppahāyā.
Eight on the Cave
Trapped in a cave, thickly overspread, sunk in delusion they stay. That sort is far from seclusion, for sensual pleasures in the world are not easy to give up.
Icchānidānā bhavasātabaddhā, Te duppamuñcā na hi aññamokkhā; Pacchā pure vāpi apekkhamānā, Ime va kāme purime va jappaṁ.
The chains of desire, the bonds of life’s pleasures are hard to escape, for one cannot free another. Looking to the past or the future, they pray for these pleasures or former ones.
Kāmesu giddhā pasutā pamūḷhā, Avadāniyā te visame niviṭṭhā; Dukkhūpanītā paridevayanti, Kiṁsū bhavissāma ito cutāse.
Greedy, fixated, infatuated by sensual pleasures, they are incorrigible, habitually immoral. When led to suffering they lament, “What will become of us when we pass away from here?”
Tasmā hi sikkhetha idheva jantu, Yaṁ kiñci jaññā visamanti loke; Na tassa hetū visamaṁ careyya, Appañhidaṁ jīvitamāhu dhīrā.
That’s why a personage should train in this life: should you know that anything in the world is wrong, don’t act wrongly on account of that; for the attentive say this life is short.
Passāmi loke pariphandamānaṁ, Pajaṁ imaṁ taṇhagataṁ bhavesu; Hīnā narā maccumukhe lapanti, Avītataṇhāse bhavābhavesu.
I see the world’s population floundering, given to craving for future lives. Base men wail in the jaws of death, not rid of craving for life after life.
Mamāyite passatha phandamāne, Maccheva appodake khīṇasote; Etampi disvā amamo careyya, Bhavesu āsattimakubbamāno.
See them flounder over belongings, like fish in puddles of a dried-up stream. Seeing this, live unselfishly, forming no attachment to future lives.
Ubhosu antesu vineyya chandaṁ, Phassaṁ pariññāya anānugiddho; Yadattagarahī tadakubbamāno, Na lippatī diṭṭhasutesu dhīro.
Rid of desire for both ends, having completely understood contact, free of greed, doing nothing for which they’d blame themselves, the attentive don’t cling to the seen and the heard.
Saññaṁ pariññā vitareyya oghaṁ, Pariggahesu muni nopalitto; Abbūḷhasallo caramappamatto, Nāsīsatī lokamimaṁ parañcāti.
Having completely understood perception and having crossed the flood, the sage, not clinging to possessions, with dart plucked out, living diligently, does not hope for this world or the next.