The teaching here covers the second part of the discourse where the Arahant Raṭṭhapāla shares in detail a moving series of teachings of the Buddha on the fragility of the world.
This is the verse version of the Four Summaries of the Dhamma (from MN 82) ↗️.
“I see rich people in the world who,
because of delusion, give not
the wealth they’ve earned.
Greedily, they hoard their riches,
yearning for ever more sensual pleasures.
A king who conquered the earth by force,
ruling the land from sea to sea,
unsatisfied with the near shore of the ocean,
would still yearn for the further shore.
Not just the king, but others too, reach death not rid of craving.
They leave the body still wanting,
for in this world sensual pleasures never satisfy.
Relatives lament, their hair disheveled,
saying ‘Ah! Alas! They’re not immortal!’
They take out the body wrapped in a shroud,
heap up a pyre, and burn it there.
It’s poked with stakes while being burnt,
in just a single cloth, all wealth gone.
Relatives, friends, and companions
can’t help you when you’re dying.
Heirs take your riches,
while beings fare on according to their deeds.
Riches don’t follow you when you die;
nor do children, wife, wealth, nor kingdom.
Longevity isn’t gained by riches,
nor does wealth banish old age;
for the wise say this life is short,
it’s perishable and not eternal.
The rich and the poor feel its touch;
the fool and the wise feel it too.
But the fool lies stricken by their own folly,
while the wise don’t tremble at the touch.
Therefore wisdom’s much better than wealth,
since by wisdom
you reach consummation in this life.
But if because of delusion
you don’t reach consummation,
you’ll do evil deeds in life after life.
One who enters a womb and the world beyond,
will transmigrate from one life to the next.
While someone of little wisdom,
placing faith in them,
also enters a womb and the world beyond.
As a bandit caught in a window
is punished for his own bad deeds;
so after departing, in the world beyond,
people are punished for their own bad deeds.
Sensual pleasures are diverse, sweet, delightful;
appearing in disguise they disturb the mind.
Seeing danger in sensual stimulations,
I went forth, O King.
As fruit falls from a tree, so people fall,
young and old, when the body breaks up.
Seeing this, too, I went forth, O King;
the ascetic life is unfailingly better.”
This teaching is the verse version of the four summaries of the Dhamma originally shared by the Buddha, that inspired the going forth of a wealthy young man by the name of Raṭṭhapāla. The four summaries being:
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‘The world is unstable and swept away.’
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‘The world has no shelter and no savior.’
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‘The world has no owner—you must leave it all behind and pass on.’
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‘The world is wanting, insatiable, the slave of craving.’
One can rationally reflect on the aspects of gratification as well as the drawbacks to the same when evaluating pursuit of sensual pleasures. The objects of sensual pleasures itself aren’t the problem, rather it is the relationship the unEnlightened mind has where it is being pulled, chasing the objects of its desire with strong yearning and eagerness.
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