4.1. Objects, Desires and Pleasures

Kāmaṁ kāmayamānassa,

tassa ce taṁ samijjhati;

Addhā pītimano hoti,

laddhā macco yadicchati.

Tassa ce kāmayānassa,

chandajātassa jantuno;

Te kāmā parihāyanti,

sallaviddhova ruppati.

Yo kāme parivajjeti,

sappasseva padā siro;

Somaṁ visattikaṁ loke,

sato samativattati.

Khettaṁ vatthuṁ hiraññaṁ vā,

gavāssaṁ dāsaporisaṁ;

Thiyo bandhū puthu kāme,

yo naro anugijjhati.

Abalā naṁ balīyanti,

maddantenaṁ parissayā;

Tato naṁ dukkhamanveti,

nāvaṁ bhinnamivodakaṁ.

Tasmā jantu sadā sato,

Kāmāni parivajjaye;

Te pahāya tare oghaṁ,

Nāvaṁ sitvāva pāragūti.

Kāmasuttaṁ paṭhamaṁ.

SC 1SC Verse 773If one with a desiring mind
Succeeds in gaining sensual pleasure,
A mortal such is pleased in mind
With wishes all fulfilled.

SC 2SC Verse 774But if from this person passionate
all of these pleasures disappear,
then does this pleasure-addict feel,
as though by arrows pierced.

SC 3SC Verse 775The one who shuns these pleasures of sense,
like treading not on a serpent’s head,
such a one with mindfulness
this tangled world transcends.

SC 4SC Verse 776Obsessed with fields and property,
with money, estates and those employed,
with many pleasures, women and kin,
such a person greedily—

SC 5SC Verse 777Do weaknesses bring down indeed,
by dangers is that person crushed,
and then by dukkhas stuck against—
as water into broken boat.

SC 6SC Verse 778So let a mindful one avoid
at every turn these sense-desires,
with them abandoned, cross the flood,
as boat is baled for the Further Shore.