Ud 7:4 Attached to Sensual Pleasures (2) (Kāmesu Satta Sutta)

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Sāvatthī at Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery. And on that occasion, most of the people in Sāvatthī were excessively attached to sensual pleasures. They lived infatuated with, greedy for, addicted to, fastened to, absorbed in sensual pleasures. Then early in the morning the Blessed One adjusted his under robe and–carrying his bowl & robes–went into Sāvatthī for alms. He saw that most of the people in Sāvatthī were excessively attached to sensual pleasures, that they live infatuated with, greedy for, addicted to, fastened to, absorbed in sensual pleasures.

Then, on realizing the significance of that, the Blessed One on that occasion exclaimed:

Blinded by sensuality

covered by the net,

veiled with the veil of craving,

bound by the Kinsman of the heedless,1

like fish in the mouth of a trap,2

they go to aging & death,

like a milk-drinking calf to its mother.

Notes

1. Māra. There is an alliterative play here between the word “bound” (bandhā) and “by the Kinsman” (bandhunā).

2. This verse, up to this point, is identical with a verse attributed to Ven. Rāhula in Thag 4:8 (verse 297 in the PTS edition).