Merge East

     98. 'But I am fearful and exceedingly bewildered, as I ponder the terrors of old age, death, and disease; I can find no peace, no self-command, much less can I find pleasure, while I see the world as it were ablaze with fire.'
     99. 'If desire arises in the heart of the man, who knows that death is certain, — I think that his soul must be made of iron, who restrains it in this great terror and does not weep.'
     100. Then the prince uttered a discourse full of resolve and abolishing the objects of desire; ....
— From The Buddha-Karita (Life of Buddha) of Asvaghosha, Cowell (tr.), in Buddhist Mahayana Texts (Mahayanasutras), Sacred Books of the East, XLIX, Max Muller (gen. ed.), Book IV, p. 47.

     35. 'Deer are lured to their destruction by songs, insects for the sake of the brightness fly into the fire, the fish greedy for the flesh swallows the iron hook, — therefore wordly objects produce misery as their end.
     36. 'As for the common opinion, "pleasures are enjoyments," none of them when examined are worthy of being enjoyed; fine garments and the rest are only the accessories of things, — they are to be regarded as merely the remedies for pain.
    37. 'Water is desired for allaying thirst; food in the same way for removing hunger; a house for keeping off the wind, the heat of the sun, and the rain; and dress for keeping off the cold and to cover one's nakedness.
     38. 'So too a bed is for removing drowsiness; a carriage for remedying the fatigue of a journey; a seat for alleviating the pain of standing; so bathing as a means for washing, health, and strength.
     39. 'External objects therefore are to human beings means for remedying pain, not in themselves sources of enjoyment; what wise man would allow that he enjoys those delights which are only used as remedial?
     40. 'He who, when burned with the heat of bilious fever, maintains that cold appliances are an enjoyment, when he is only engaged in alleviating pain, — he indeed might give the name of enjoyment to pleasures.
     41. 'Since variableness is found in all pleasures, I cannot apply to them the name of enjoyment; the very conditions which mark pleasure, bring also in its turn pain....
— From The Buddha-Karita (Life of Buddha) of Asvaghosha, Cowell (tr.), in Buddhist Mahayana Texts (Mahayanasutras), Sacred Books of the East, XLIX, Max Muller (gen. ed.), Book XI, pp. 116-117.

     52. 'Only he who, having once let go a malignant incensed serpent, or a blazing hay-torch all on fire, would strive again to seize it, would ever seek pleasures again after having once abandoned them.
     53. 'Only he who, though seeing, would envy the blind, though free the bound, though wealthy the destitute, though sound in his reason the maniac, — only he, I say, would envy one who is devoted to worldly objects.
     54. 'He who lives on alms, my good friend, is not to be pitied, having gained his end and being set on escaping the fear of old age and death; he has here the best happiness, perfect calm, and hereafter all pains are for him abolished.
— Ibid., pp. 119.