Ananda, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly, Culadhammasamadana Sutra: "Shorter Discourse on Taking on Practices" (MN 45) based on Ven. Thanissaro (trans.); Ticklemeplant; Saraswati
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| Beautiful female ascetic, Sadhvi Saraswati-ji, speaks to crowd in modern India. |
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| There are hidden dangers in sensual pleasures. |
SUTRA: "Thus have I heard. On one occasion the [Buddha] Blessed One was staying near Savatthi at Jeta's Grove, in Anathapindika's monastery. There he addressed the monastics: "Meditators!"
"Yes, venerable sir," they responded.
"Meditators, there are four ways of taking on practices. What are the four?
- There is the taking on of a practice that is pleasant in the present but yields pain in the future.
- There is the taking on of a practice that is painful in the present and yields pain in the future.
- There is the taking on of a practice that is painful in the present but yields pleasure in the future.
- There is the taking on of a practice that is pleasant in the present and yields pleasure in the future.
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| There's no harm in sensual pleasures. |
..."What is the taking on of a practice that is pleasant in the present but yields pain in the future?
"There are some Brahmins and wandering ascetics who hold to a doctrine, a view, like:
"'There is no harm in sensual pleasures.' Thus, they meet with their downfall through sensual pleasures. They consort with female wanderers who wear their hair coiled in a topknot.
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| A female wanderer (Sadhvi Saraswati-ji) |
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| O, wandering ascetics, beware of sensual pleasures! There are hidden dangers! |
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"Thus, they meet their downfall through [clinging to] sensual pleasures. Then, having met with their downfall through [clinging to] sensual pleasures, with the breakup of the body, after death, they go to an unwished for destination, the downfall [subhuman worlds collectively called the Great Waste], the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, even the hells.
"There they experience sharp, burning pains, and say: 'This was the future danger connected with sensual pleasures those Brahmins and wandering ascetics foresaw that they spoke of letting go and relinquishing sensual pleasures and described the full comprehension of sensual pleasures. It's because of sensual pleasures, as a result of sensual pleasures, that we're now experiencing these sharp, burning pains.'
Hidden danger: the soft creeping vine
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| Beautiful female ascetic, Sadhvi Saraswati, seated in front of Krishna and Radha, India |
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| Devas (dryads) live in trees. |
"Just as if a maluva creeper pod were to burst open in the last month of the hot season, and a maluva creeper seed were to fall at the foot of a sal tree.
"The deva [dryad] living in the tree would become frightened, apprehensive, and anxious. Her friends and companions, relatives and kin -- garden devas, forest devas, tree devas, devas living in herbs, grass, and forest monarchs -- would gather together to console her:
"'Have no fear, have no fear! In all likelihood a peacock will swallow this maluva creeper seed, or a deer will eat it, or a brush fire burn it up, or woodsmen will pick it up, or termites will carry it off. And anyway it probably isn't really a seed.'
"Then no peacock swallowed it, no deer ate it, no brush fire burned it up, no woodsmen picked it up, no termites carried it off, and it really was a seed. Watered by a rain-laden cloud, it sprouted in due time and curled its soft, tender, downy tendrisl around the sal tree.
"The thought occurred to the deva living in the sal tree: 'What future danger did my friends and companions, relatives and kin -- garden devas, forest devas, tree devas, devas living in herbs, grass, and forest monarchs -- foresee in that maluva creeper seed that they gathered together to console me:
"Have no fear, have no fear. In all likelihood a peacock is sure to swallow this maluva creeper seed, or a deer will eat it, or a brush fire will burn it up, or woodsmen will pick it up, or termites will carry it off. And anyway, it probably isn't really a seed"?
"'It's pleasant, the touch of this maluva creeper's soft, tender, downy tendrils.'
"Then the creeper, having enveloped the sal tree, having made a canopy over it, and cascading down around it, caused the massive limbs of the sal tree to come crashing down.
"The thought occurred to the deva living in the tree: 'This was the future danger my friends... foresaw in that maluva creeper seed that they gathered together to console me... It's because of that maluva creeper seed that I'm now experiencing sharp, burning pains.'
"In the same way, meditators, there are some Brahmins and wandering ascetics who hold to a doctrine, a view, like: 'There is no harm in sensual pleasures.'
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| The female ascetic Saraswati |
"The thought occurs to them: 'What future danger do those [other] Brahmins and wandering ascetics foresee that they teach the relinquishment and analysis of sensual pleasures? It's pleasant, the touch of this female wanderer's soft, tender, downy arm!'
"Thus, they meet with their downfall through sensual pleasures. Then, having met with their downfall through sensual pleasures, with the breakup of the body, after death, they go to an unwished for [rebirth] destination, the downfall [the Great Waste], the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, even the hells.
"There they experience sharp, burning pains. They say: 'This was the future danger connected with sensual pleasures those Brahmins and wandering ascetics foresaw that they spoke of the letting go and relinquishing of sensual pleasures and described the full comprehension of sensual pleasures.
"It's because of sensual pleasures, as a result of sensual pleasures, that we're now experiencing these sharp, burning pains.'
"This is called the taking on of a practice that is pleasant in the present but yields pain in the future. More
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