Indian stream·Pāli Tipiṭaka·Dhammapada·Chapter XVI. Pleasure.
On the bondage of attachment
Twelve verses on pleasure (piya) and the danger of clinging. From what is dear comes grief, from what is dear comes fear; he who is free from what is dear knows no grief or fear.
Source context
- Theme
- proliferation of suffering through attachment to pleasure and sensory craving
- Soul-faculty
- Sentient Soul
Steiner
not engaged in the GA corpus
Cross-tradition
- Vedanta — concept of maya and bhogaVedantic teaching identifies sensory enjoyment (bhoga) as the primary entanglement in maya, structurally parallel to the Dhammapada's depiction of pleasure-attachment as the root of sorrow and renewed bondage.
- Stoic philosophy — pathē and the rational willStoic analysis of pathē (passions arising from false judgments about pleasure and pain) shows cross-tradition congruence with this chapter's insistence that clinging to pleasure generates grief and fear rather than liberation.
- Kabbalah — the klipot and the neshamahKabbalistic doctrine identifies the klipot (husks) as forces drawing consciousness toward appetitive gratification and away from the divine light, exhibiting cross-tradition congruence with the chapter's depiction of pleasure as a veil over the deeper self.
Chapter XVI. Pleasure.
CHAPTER XVI.
PLEASURE.
209He who gives himself to vanity, and does not give himself to meditation, forgetting the real aim (of life) and grasping at pleasure, will in time envy him who has exerted himself in meditation.
210Let no man ever look for what is pleasant, or what is unpleasant. Not to see what is pleasant is pain, and it is pain to see what is unpleasant.
211Let, therefore, no man love anything; loss of the beloved is evil. Those who love nothing and hate nothing, have no fetters.
212From pleasure comes grief, from pleasure comes fear; he who is free from pleasure knows neither grief nor fear.
213From affection comes grief, from affection comes fear; he who is free from affection knows neither grief nor fear.
214From lust comes grief, from lust comes fear; he who is free from lust knows neither grief nor fear.
215From love comes grief, from love comes fear; he who is free from love knows neither grief nor fear.
216From greed comes grief, from greed comes fear; he who is free from greed knows neither grief nor fear.
217He who possesses virtue and intelligence,
[214. See Beal, Catena, p. 200.] who is just, speaks the truth, and does what is his own business, him the world will hold dear.
218He in whom a desire for the Ineffable (Nirvâ*n*a) has sprung up, who is satisfied in his mind, and whose thoughts are not bewildered by love, he is called ûrdhva*m*srotas (carried upwards by the stream).
219Kinsmen, friends, and lovers salute a man who has been long away, and returns safe from afar.
220In like manner his good works receive him who has done good, and has gone from this world to the other;--as kinsmen receive a friend on his return.
[218. Ûrdhva*m*srotas or uddha*m*soto is the technical name for one who has reached the world of the Av*ri*has (Aviha), and is proceeding to that of the Akanish*th*as (Akani*tth*a). This is the last stage before he reaches the formless world, the Arûpadhâtu. (See Buddhaghosha's Parables, p. 123; Burnouf, Introduction, p. 599.) Originally ûrdhva*m*srotas may have been used in a less technical sense, meaning one who swims against the stream, and is not carried away by the vulgar passions of the world.]
JSON: /api/sources/tripitaka/dhammapada/18-chapter-xvi-pleasure.json