Chapter 16: Pleasure
Attachment to pleasure breeds grief and fear; freedom from desire brings peace.
12 argumentative units
- 01Vanity and pleasure lead to envy of the meditative
Those who pursue vanity and pleasure while neglecting meditation will eventually envy those who have devoted themselves to meditative practice.
- 02Both seeing and not seeing the pleasant cause pain
Avoiding what is pleasant is painful, and so is witnessing what is unpleasant; neither extreme avoids suffering.
- 03Love and hate create fetters; non-attachment brings freedom
Attachment to loved things causes harm through loss, while those who neither love nor hate are free from all bondage.
- 04Pleasure is the root of grief and fear
Pleasure inevitably generates both grief and fear, whereas freedom from pleasure eliminates these suffering states.
- 05Affection generates grief and fear
Affection is a source of grief and fear, and liberation from affection brings peace from both.
- 06Lust generates grief and fear
Lust produces grief and fear in those who harbor it, while freedom from lust eliminates these afflictions.
- 07Love generates grief and fear
Love is a source of grief and fear, and those free from love transcend both.
- 08Greed generates grief and fear
Greed produces grief and fear, while freedom from greed brings liberation from these states.
- 09Virtue, intelligence, and truth-telling earn respect
The world holds dear those who possess virtue and intelligence, act justly, speak truthfully, and fulfill their duties.
- 10Desire for Nirvana with mental clarity defines the liberated
One who aspires to Nirvana, maintains mental satisfaction, and is free from the bewilderment of love achieves an elevated spiritual state.
- 11Welcoming a traveler returns home safely
Kinsmen and loved ones warmly greet a traveler who has been away and returns home safely.
- 12Good works receive one in the next world as kinsmen receive a friend
Just as kinsmen warmly receive a returning friend, good works likewise receive and welcome one who has lived virtuously and passed from this world to the next.