The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha - Bhikkhu Nanamoli [264]
“No, venerable sir. The tethers by which that householder or householder’s son is tethered so that he can abandon his vast number of gold ingots…his vast number of men and women slaves, and shave off his hair and beard, put on the yellow robe, and go forth from the home life into homelessness—for him those are a feeble, weak, rotting, coreless tether.”
“So too, Udāyin, there are certain clansmen here who, when told by me ‘Abandon this’…abandon that and do not show discourtesy towards me or towards those bhikkhus desirous of training. [453] Having abandoned it, they live at ease, unruffled, subsisting on others’ gifts, with mind [as aloof] as a wild deer’s. For them that thing becomes a feeble, weak, rotting, coreless tether.
13. “Udāyin, there are four kinds of persons to be found existing in the world. What are the four?673
14. “Here, Udāyin, some person practises the way to the abandoning of the acquisitions, to the relinquishing of the acquisitions. 674 When he is practising the way, memories and intentions associated with the acquisitions beset him. He tolerates them; he does not abandon them, remove them, do away with them, and annihilate them. Such a person I call fettered, not unfettered. Why is that? Because I have known the particular diversity of faculties in this person.
15. “Here, Udāyin, some person practises the way to the abandoning of the acquisitions, to the relinquishing of the acquisitions. When he is practising the way, memories and intentions associated with the acquisitions beset him. He does not tolerate them; he abandons them, removes them, does away with them, and annihilates them. Such a person too I call fettered, not unfettered. Why is that? Because I have known the particular diversity of faculties in this person.675
16. “Here, Udāyin, some person practises the way to the abandoning of the acquisitions, to the relinquishing of the acquisitions. When he is practising the way, memories and intentions associated with the acquisitions beset him now and then through lapses of mindfulness. His mindfulness may be slow in arising, but he quickly abandons them, removes them, does away with them, and annihilates them.676 Just as if a man were to let two or three drops of water fall onto an iron plate heated for a whole day, the falling of the water drops might be slow but they would quickly vaporise and vanish. So too, here some person practises the way…His mindfulness may be slow in arising, but he quickly abandons them, removes them, does away with them, and annihilates them. Such a person too I call fettered, not unfettered. [454] Why is that? Because I have known the particular diversity of faculties in this person.
17. “Here, Udāyin, some person, having understood that acquisition is the root of suffering, divests himself of the acquisitions and is liberated in the destruction of the acquisitions. Such a person I call unfettered, not fettered.677 Why is that? Because I have known the particular diversity of faculties in this person.
18. “There are, Udāyin, five cords of sensual pleasure. What are the five? Forms cognizable by the eye that are wished for, desired, agreeable, and likeable, connected with sensual desire and provocative