Buddhist Teachings on Sensual Pleasures : หน้า 34/263

used to rinse a toilet or the toilet bowl itself, which is soiled with excrement. He also compared the pleasures of the senses to human faces which dogs like to spend their time sniffing. Thus, the Lord Buddha taught that indulgence in the pleasures of the senses is shunned by the Noble Ones [ariyapuggala]1, just like a girl of the untouchable caste [canda la]2 would be shunned by a brahmin suitor for her vulgar manners, disposition and speech. Furthermore, indulgence in sensual pleasures is of absolutely no benefit — on the contrary it attracts only damage and suffering to whoever indulges. Thus it has been compared to: 13. A road through dangerous territory: The Buddha also compared the pleasures of the senses to a road whose route leads us through dangerous country threatened by ogresses [yakshini], upon which no traveller can ever escape misfortune and death. 14. Licking honey from a razor blade: The Buddha also compared the pleasures of the senses to a greedy person who tries to lick sweet tasting honey from a razor blade and suffers from the ensuing wounds and infection of his tongue. 15. Denizens of hell blundering back into the fires of hell: The Buddha also compared indulging the pleasures of the senses to denizens of hell fooled into thinking they have reached a place that is a sanctuary from the suffering of hell, but instead are dropped anew into hell’s fires. 1. The Noble Ones [ariyapuggala] are those who have attained the transcendental states of Buddhist sainthood: i.e. Stream-entener [sotāpana], Once-Returner [sakadāgāmin], Never-Returner [anāgāmin] and arahant. 2. An untouchable [canda la] is an outcast child arising from parents of different castes (e.g. the mother might come from the peasant caste [sudda] and the father from the brahmin caste). Such apartheid is a product of the Brahmin caste system of India.