The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha - Bhikkhu Nanamoli [115]
9. “Now recluses and brahmins of the second kind reckoned thus: ‘Those recluses and brahmins of the first kind, by acting as they did without precaution, failed to get free from Māra’s power and control. Suppose we altogether shun that bait food and those material things of the world; shunning that fearful enjoyment, let us go out into the forest wilds and live there.’ And they did so. There they were eaters of greens or millet or wild rice or hide-parings or moss or rice-bran or the discarded scum of boiled rice or sesamum flour or grass or cowdung; they lived on forest roots and fruits, they fed on fallen fruits.
“But in the last month of the hot season when the grass and the water were used up, their bodies were reduced to extreme emaciation; with that they lost their strength and energy; when they had lost their strength and energy, they lost their deliverance of mind;293 with the loss of their deliverance of mind, they returned to that same bait that Māra had laid down and those material things of the world; they ate food unwarily by going right in amongst it; by so doing they became intoxicated; when they were intoxicated, they fell into negligence; when they were negligent, Māra did with them as he liked on account of that bait and those material things of the world. That is how those recluses and brahmins of the second kind failed to get free from Māra’s power and control. [157] Those recluses and brahmins, I say, are just like the deer of the second herd.
10. “Now recluses and brahmins of the third kind reckoned thus: ‘Those recluses and brahmins of the first kind, by acting as they did without precaution, failed to get free from Māra’s power and control. Those recluses and brahmins of the second kind, by reckoning how the recluses and brahmins of the first kind had failed, and then planning and acting as they did with the precaution of going to live in the forest wilds, also failed to get free from Māra’s power and control. Suppose we make our dwelling place within range of that bait that Māra has laid down and those material things of the world. Then, having done so, we shall eat food not unwarily and without going right in amongst the bait that Māra has laid down and the material things of the world. By doing so we shall not become intoxicated; when we are not intoxicated, we shall not fall into negligence; when we are not negligent, Māra shall not do with us as he likes on account of that bait and those material things of the world.’ And they did so.
“But then they came to hold views such as ‘the world is eternal’ and ‘the world is not eternal’ and ‘the world is finite’ and ‘the world is infinite’ and ‘the soul and the body are the same’ and ‘the soul is one thing and the body another’ and ‘after death a Tathāgata exists’ and ‘after death a Tathāgata does not exist’ and ‘after death a Tathāgata both exists and does not exist’ and ‘after death a Tathāgata neither exists nor does not exist’294 [158] That is how those recluses and brahmins of the third kind failed to get free from Māra’s power and control. Those recluses and brahmins, I say, are just like the deer of the third herd.
11. “Now recluses and brahmins of the fourth kind reckoned thus: ‘Those recluses and brahmins of the first kind, by acting as they did without precaution, failed to get free from Māra’s power and control. Those recluses and brahmins of the second kind, by reckoning how the recluses and brahmins of the first kind had failed, and by planning and acting as they did with the precaution of going to live in the forest wilds, also failed to get free from Māra’s power and control. And the recluses and