People unrestrained
in sensual passions,
not devoid
of passion,
indulging
in sensuality:
They return to birth & aging,
again & again—
seized by craving,
going with the flow.
Thus the enlightened one,
with mindfulness here established,
not indulging
in sensuality & evil,
though it may be with pain,
would abandon sensuality.
They call him
one who goes against
the flow.
Whoever,
having abandoned
the five defilements,
is
perfect in training,
not destined to fall back,
skilled in awareness,
with faculties composed:
He’s called
one who stands fast
In one who, having known,
qualities high & low
have been destroyed,
have gone to their end,
do not exist:
He’s called
a master of knowledge,
one who has fulfilled the holy life,
gone to the world’s end,1 gone
beyond.
Notes
1. On the meaning of “world” here, see SN 35:82.
Origin URL: https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/AN/AN4_5.html