Suen-tau, Po-sun-tau, brothers of Asura, lived together
in great affection, but on account of lustful desire slew one another,
and their name perished; all this then comes from lust; it is this which
makes a man vile, and lashes and goads him with piercing sorrow; lust
debases a man, robs him of all hope, whilst through the long night his
body and soul are worn out; like the stag that covets the power of
speech and dies, or the winged bird that covets sensual pleasure, or the
fish that covets the baited hook, such are the calamities that lust
brings; considering what are the requirements of life, none of these
possess permanency; we eat to appease the pain of hunger, to do away
with thirst we drink, we clothe ourselves to keep out the cold and wind,
we lie down to rest to get sleep, to procure locomotion we seek a
carriage, when we would halt we seek a seat, we wash to cleanse
ourselves from dirt; all these things are done to avoid inconvenience;
we may gather therefore that these five desires have no permanent
character; for as a man suffering from fever seeks and asks for some
cooling medicine, so covetousness seeks for something to satisfy its
longings; foolish men regard these things as permanent, and as the
necessary requirements of life, but, in sooth, there is no permanent
cessation of sorrow; for by coveting to appease these desires we really
increase them; there is no character of permanency therefore about them.
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