Ud 7.4 - Kāmesu Satta Sutta: Attached to Sensual Pleasures (2)
Translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Source: https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/ud/ud.7.04.than.html
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Copyright: ©2012 Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
License notice: The text of this page ("Kāmesu Satta Sutta: Attached to Sensual Pleasures (2)", by Thanissaro Bhikkhu) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. To view a copy of the license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. Documents linked from this page may be subject to other restrictions.
Attribution: ©2012 Thanissaro Bhikkhu. The text of this page ("Kāmesu Satta Sutta: Attached to Sensual Pleasures (2)", by Thanissaro Bhikkhu) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. To view a copy of the license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. Documents linked from this page may be subject to other restrictions. Transcribed from a file provided by the translator. Last revised for Access to Insight on 3 September 2012. How to cite this document (a suggested style): "Kāmesu Satta Sutta: Attached to Sensual Pleasures (2)" (Ud 7.4), translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Access to Insight (BCBS Edition), 3 September 2012, https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/ud/ud.7.04.than.html . Alternate format:
Changes: Presentation only: original HTML markup reflowed into plain text; wording, numbering and source repetitions retained. No repetitions expanded.
Completeness: ABBREVIATED. Every source-unit character is preserved, including introductions, notes and verse structure. Thanissaro's collection-level note explicitly states that repetitions were cut: https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/about.html. This is evidence about the translation method, not an assertion that every individual unit contains an omission; no repetitions reconstructed.

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Sāvatthī at Jeta's Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika's monastery. And on that occasion, most of the people in Sāvatthī were excessively attached to sensual pleasures. They lived infatuated with, greedy for, addicted to, fastened to, absorbed in sensual pleasures. Then early in the morning the Blessed One adjusted his under robe and — carrying his bowl & robes — went into Sāvatthī for alms. He saw that most of the people in Sāvatthī were excessively attached to sensual pleasures, that they live infatuated with, greedy for, addicted to, fastened to, absorbed in sensual pleasures.

Then, on realizing the significance of that, the Blessed One on that occasion exclaimed:

 Blinded by sensuality covered by the net, veiled with the veil of craving, bound by the Kinsman of the heedless,[1] like fish in the mouth of a trap,[2] they go to aging & death, like a milk-drinking calf to its mother. 

Note

1.

Māra. There is an alliterative play here between the word "bound" (bandhā) and "by the Kinsman" (bandhunā).

2.

This verse, up to this point, is identical with a verse attributed to Ven. Rāhula in Thag 4.8 (verse 297 in the PTS edition),