So should we regard riches; the wise
man is ill pleased at having wealth stored up, the mind wild with
anxious thoughts, guarding himself by night and day, as a man who fears
some powerful enemy, like as a man's feelings revolt with disgust at the
sights seen beneath the slaughter post of the East Market; so the high
post which marks the presence of lust, and anger, and ignorance, the
wise man always avoids; as those who enter the mountains or the seas
have much to contend with and little rest, as the fruit which grows on a
high tree, and is grasped at by the covetous at the risk of life, so is
the region of covetous desire, though they see the difficulty of getting
it, yet how painfully do men scheme after wealth, difficult to acquire,
easy to dissipate, as that which is got in a dream: how can the wise man
hoard up such trash! Like covering over with a false surface a hole full
of fire, slipping through which the body is burnt, so is the fire of
covetous desire. The wise man meddles not with it. Like that Kaurava, or
Pih-se-ni Nanda, or Ni-k'he-lai Danta, as some butcher's appearance,
such also is the appearance of lustful desire; the wise man will have
nothing to do with it; he would rather throw his body into the water or
fire, or cast himself down over a steep precipice. Seeking to obtain
heavenly pleasures, what is this but to remove the place of sorrow,
without profit.
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