>>11313317And what is the gratification of sights? Suppose there was a girl of the brahmins, aristocrats, or householders in her fifteenth or sixteenth year, neither too tall nor too short, neither too thin nor too fat, neither too dark nor too fair. Is she not at the height of her beauty and prettiness?”
“Yes, sir.”
“The pleasure and happiness that arise from this beauty and prettiness is the gratification of sights.
And what is the drawback of sights? Suppose that some time later you were to see that same sister—eighty, ninety, or a hundred years old—bent double, crooked, leaning on a staff, trembling as they walk, ailing, past their prime, with teeth broken, hair grey and scanty or bald, skin wrinkled, and limbs blotchy.
What do you think, mendicants? Has not that former beauty vanished and the drawback become clear?”
“Yes, sir.”
“This is the drawback of sights.
Furthermore, suppose that you were to see that same sister sick, suffering, gravely ill, collapsed in her own urine and feces, being picked up by some and put down by others.
What do you think, mendicants? Has not that former beauty vanished and the drawback become clear?”
“Yes, sir.”
“This too is the drawback of sights.
Furthermore, suppose that you were to see that same sister as a corpse discarded in a charnel ground. And she had been dead for one, two, or three days, bloated, livid, and festering.
What do you think, mendicants? Has not that former beauty vanished and the drawback become clear?”
“Yes, sir.”
“This too is the drawback of sights.
Furthermore, suppose that you were to see that same sister as a corpse discarded in a charnel ground. And she was being devoured by crows, hawks, vultures, herons, dogs, tigers, leopards, jackals, and many kinds of little creatures …
