Snp 4.7 - Sn 4:7 To Tissa-metteyya
Translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu
Source: https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/StNp/StNp4_7.html
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Copyright: Copyright 2014 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, Revised edition 2017
License notice: Copyright 2014 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, Revised edition 2017 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Unported. To see a copy of this license visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. “Commercial” shall mean any sale, whether for commercial or non-profit purposes or entities. Questions about this book may be addressed to Metta Forest Monastery Valley Center, CA 92082-1409 U.S.A. Additional resources More Dhamma talks, books and translations by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu are available to download in digital audio and various ebook formats at dhammatalks.org. Printed copy A paperback copy of this book is available free of charge. To request one, write to: Book Request, Metta Forest Monastery, PO Box 1409, Valley Center, CA 92082 USA.
Attribution: From Handful of Leaves, Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu; https://www.dhammatalks.org/Archive/Writings/Ebooks/SuttaPitaka_251113.epub. Copyright 2014 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, Revised edition 2017 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Unported. To see a copy of this license visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. “Commercial” shall mean any sale, whether for commercial or non-profit purposes or entities. Questions about this book may be addressed to Metta Forest Monastery Valley Center, CA 92082-1409 U.S.A. Additional resources More Dhamma talks, books and translations by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu are available to download in digital audio and various ebook formats at dhammatalks.org. Printed copy A paperback copy of this book is available free of charge. To request one, write to: Book Request, Metta Forest Monastery, PO Box 1409, Valley Center, CA 92082 USA.
Publisher references (not part of the sutta): See also: MN 22; SN 1:20; AN 4:159; AN 5:75–76; AN 7:48; Ud 3:2
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.

4:7 To Tissa-metteyya

Tissa-metteyya:
“Tell the damage, dear sir,
for one given over
to sexual intercourse.
Having heard your teaching,
we’ll train in seclusion.”

The Buddha:
“In one given over
to sexual intercourse,
the teaching is muddled
and he practices wrongly:
  This is ignoble
  in him.
Whoever once went alone,
but then resorts
to sexual intercourse
  —like a carriage out of control—
is called vile in the world,
a person run-of-the-mill.
His earlier honor & dignity:
      lost.
Seeing this,
he should train himself
to abandon sexual intercourse.

Overcome by resolves,
  he broods
like a miserable wretch.
Hearing the scorn of others,
  he’s chagrined.
He makes weapons,
attacked by the words of others.
This, for him, is a great entanglement.
  He
  sinks
  into lies.

  They thought him wise
when he committed himself
to the life alone,
but now that he’s given
to sexual intercourse
  they declare him a dullard.

Knowing these drawbacks, the sage
  here—before & after—
stays firm in the life alone;
doesn’t resort to sexual intercourse;
would train himself
in seclusion—
      this, for the noble,
      is highest.
He wouldn’t, because of that,
suppose himself
to be better than others:
    He’s on the verge
  of unbinding.

People enmeshed
in sensual pleasures,
envy him:
  a sage remote,
leading his life
unconcerned for sensual pleasures
  —one who’s crossed over the flood.”

vv. 814–823