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This was said by the Blessed One,
said by the Arahant, so I have heard: "This is a lowly means of livelihood,
alms gathering. It's a form of abuse in the world [to say], 'You go around as
an alms gatherer with a bowl in your hand!' Yet sensible young men of good
families have taken it up for a compelling reason. They have not been forced
into it by kings or robbers, nor through debt, through fear, nor through the
loss of their livelihood, but through the thought: 'We are beset by birth,
aging, & death, by sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, & despairs,
beset by stress, overcome with stress. O, that the end of this entire mass of
suffering & stress might be known!' But this young man of good family,
having gone forth in this way, may be greedy for sensual pleasures, strong in
his passions, malevolent in mind, corrupt in his resolves, his mindfulness
muddled, unalert, uncentered, his mind scattered, & his faculties
uncontrolled. Just as a firebrand from a funeral pyre -- burning at both ends,
covered with excrement in the middle -- is used as fuel neither in a village
nor in the wilderness: I tell you that this is a simile for this person. He has
missed out on the householder's enjoyments and does not fulfill the purpose of
the contemplative life."
He's missed out
on the householder's enjoyment
& the purpose of the contemplative life
-- unfortunate man!
Ruining it, he throws it away,
perishes
like a firebrand used at a funeral.
Better to eat an iron ball
-- glowing, aflame --
than that, unprincipled &
unrestrained,
he should eat the alms of the country.
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