3. Lust (Trichnā) (UV-KG3)

Mankind is subdued by its indecision; he who considers evil passions as pure, increases and multiplies his passions and adds to the strength of his bonds.

He who continually keeps present in his mind that the quieting of indecision is peace, and that it is not agreeable, frees himself from all lust and destroys his bonds.

Desires envelop one as it were in darkness; one is torn to pieces by delighting in lust; the heedless are held fast by their bonds, as are fish to their watery homes.

Beings who give themselves up to their heedlessness, their lustfulness increases as does a creeper; they run after old age and death as does the calf after its mother when longing for milk.

He whose mind is impure and who is passionate, and who seeks after happiness, runs hither and thither in the orb (of birth), like the monkey in the forest seeking for fruit.

Continually longing for happiness and walking in the way of birth and death, mankind is led on by its passions, and runs about like a hare in a net.

They who are held in the folds of lustfulness, who care only for what concerns existence (lit. existence and not existence), the fools delighting only in the enjoyments of attachment (yoga), will find suffering again and again.

Beings who are without righteousness (correct religious views) and peace of mind, who have all the attachments of Māra (sinful attachments), run after old age and death as does the calf after its mother when longing for milk.

He who casts off lust and the like, who is without affection for what is or is not existence, the Bhixu, has conquered existence and will attain the perfect and unsurpassable nirvāṇa.

He who has cast off the world, which is hard to do, must become insensible to love for women (or women's love), for it increases sorrow as does a shower the (birana) grass.

He who has cast off the world, which is hard to do, and has become insensible to love for women, sorrow falls from off him as does the water drop from the lotus.

(337, 1st part). Therefore as many as are here come together; this salutary word I tell unto you: Pull up the weed of lust by the root as one does the (birana) grass for the sake of the uśira (root).

(337, 2nd part). They who are given to the company of lustfulness wander about for a long time; so pull up lust by the root, and sorrow and fear are no more.

Again and again seeking for it (existence), they again and again enter the womb; beings come and go; to one state of being succeeds another.

It is hard to cast off (existence) in this world; he who has cast off lust, who has pulled up the seed (of existence), will no more be subject to transmigration, for he has put an end to lust.

Care not about abiding in the conditions of humanity, which hold one captive among gods and men, but cross over from the regions of lust. If one is born in hell, the human condition (dal-hbyor) is at an end, and one repents him (of his mistake).

The channels of lust are the source (of transmigration). Lust in (this) world is the root of the vine, which creeps up and entwines one as in the folds of a net. If one does not destroy this tormentor, he will be subject to ever-recurring suffering, and will never leave it entirely behind.

As long as a live tree has not been pulled up by the roots, but only cut down, it springs up afresh; so it is that if even the smallest atom of lust has not been eradicated, one will not leave behind this ever-recurring suffering (i.e., existence).

As he who has himself made a weapon is killed by it when in the robber's hands, so likewise the being in whose heart lust has arisen will be killed by it.

Knowing then the sufferings that come from lust and its punishment, having cast off lust, without eagerness for anything, the reflective Bhixu has departed entirely (from this world).

Chapter on Lust, the Third.

Translated by Woodville Rockhill.

1975, Udânavarga: a collection of verses from the Buddhist canon compiled by Dharmatrâta, Oriental Press, Amsterdam (reprint of original from 1883).

Translated (into Tibetan) by the Indian Pandit Vidyaprabhakara and the Lotsāva Bande-rin-tchen-mtchog; revised and arranged by the corrector, the Lotsāva Bande-dpal-brtsegs.

Original taken from University of Oslo, faculty of humanities.

Prepared for SuttaCentral by Yasoj and Ayya Vimala.