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By Root 5944 0

the home life into homelessness, considering: ‘I am a victim of birth, ageing, and death, of sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair; I am a victim of suffering, a prey to suffering. Surely an ending of this whole mass of suffering can be known.’ Then, after he has gone forth thus, his companions in the holy life advise and instruct him thus: ‘You should move to and fro thus; you should look ahead and look away thus; you should flex and extend the limbs thus; you should wear the patched cloak, bowl, and robes thus.’ Then he thinks: ‘Formerly, when we were in the home life, we advised and instructed others, and now these [bhikkhus], who seem like they might be our sons or our grandsons, think that they can advise and instruct us.’ And so he forsakes the training and reverts to the low life. He is called one who has forsaken the training and reverted to the low life because he was frightened by the fear of waves. Now ‘fear of waves’ is a designation for anger and irritation.

17. “What, bhikkhus, is fear of crocodiles? Here some clansman goes forth out of faith from the home life into homelessness, considering: ‘I am a victim of birth, ageing, and death, of sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair; I am a victim of suffering, a prey to suffering. Surely an ending of this whole mass of suffering can be known.’ Then, after he has gone forth thus, his companions in the holy life advise and instruct him thus: ‘This can be consumed by you, this cannot be consumed by you; this can be eaten by you, this cannot be eaten by you; this can be tasted by you, this cannot be tasted by you; this can be drunk by you, this cannot be drunk by you.686 You can consume what is allowable, you cannot consume what is not allowable; you can eat what is allowable, you cannot eat what is not allowable; you can taste what is allowable, you cannot taste what is not allowable; you can drink what is allowable, you cannot drink what is not allowable. You can consume food within the proper time, you cannot consume food outside the proper time; you can eat within the proper time, you cannot eat outside the proper time; you can taste food within the proper time, you cannot taste food outside the proper time; you can drink within the proper time, you cannot drink outside the proper time.’687 [461]

“Then he thinks: ‘Formerly, when we were in the home life, we consumed what we liked and did not consume what we did not like; we ate what we liked and did not eat what we did not like; we tasted what we liked and did not taste what we did not like; we drank what we liked and did not drink what we did not like. We consumed what was allowable and what was not allowable; we ate what was allowable and what was not allowable; we tasted what was allowable and what was not allowable; we drank what was allowable and what was not allowable. We consumed food within the proper time and outside the proper time; we ate within the proper time and outside the proper time; we tasted food within the proper time and outside the proper time; we drank within the proper time and outside the proper time. Now, when faithful householders give us good food of various kinds during the day outside the proper time, it seems these [bhikkhus] put a muzzle on our mouths.’ And so he forsakes the training and reverts to the low life. He is called one who has forsaken the training and reverted to the low life because he was frightened by the fear of crocodiles. Now ‘fear of crocodiles’ is a designation for gluttony.

18. “What, bhikkhus, is fear of whirlpools? Here some clansman goes forth out of faith from the home life into homelessness, considering: ‘I am a victim of birth, ageing, and death, of sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair; I am a victim of suffering, a prey to suffering. Surely an ending of this whole mass of suffering can be known.’ Then, after he has gone forth thus, when it is morning he dresses, and taking his bowl and outer robe, he goes into a village or town for alms with his body unguarded, with his speech unguarded, with mindfulness unestablished, and