The Characteristic of Lobha - Peril in sense-pleasures
We read in the Greater Discourse on the Stems of Anguish, which was quoted above, that the Buddha spoke to the monks about the dangers in the pleasures of the senses:
And what, monks, is the peril in sense-pleasures?
In this case, monks, a young man of family
earns his living by some craft...
He is afflicted by the cold,
he is afflicted by the heat,
suffering from the touch of gadflies, mosquitos,
wind, sun, creeping things,
dying of hunger and thirst.
This, monks, is a peril in pleasures of the senses that is present,
a stem of ill....
If, monks, this young man of family rouses himself,
exerts himself, strives thus, but if these possessions
do not come to his hand,
he grieves, mourns, laments, beating his breast and wailing,
he falls into disillusionment,
and thinks: 'Indeed my exertion is vain,
indeed my striving is fruitless.'
This too, monks, is a peril in the pleasures of the senses
that is present....
And again, monks, when sense-pleasures are the cause...
kings dispute with kings,
nobles dispute with nobles,
brahmans dispute with brahmans,
householders dispute with householders,
a mother disputes with her son,
a son disputes with his mother,
a father disputes with his son,
a son disputes with his father,
a brother disputes with a brother,
a brother disputes with a sister,
a sister disputes with a brother,
a friend disputes with a friend.
Those who enter into quarrel, contention, dispute
and attack one another with their hands
and with stones and with sticks and with weapons,
these suffer dying then and pain like unto dying.
This too, monks, is a peril in the pleasures of the senses
that is present. . . .