The Hardships of Earning a Living : หน้า 36/263

ways: for example, some are farmers, some run businesses, some tend dairy cattle, some are soldiers, some are civil servants, some are elephant trainers, some are horse trainers. No matter which way one earns one's living, one has to endure hardship. In the winter one has to tolerate the cold while working. In the summer one has to tolerate the warmth while working. Sometimes one has to tolerate the humidity. One's skin becomes chapped in the wind and the sun. Sometimes, one has to tolerate pests such as gadflies, mosquitos and other biting insects. Sometimes one is threatened by poisonous animals such as snakes. Sometimes one becomes emaciated because one lacks sufficient means of physical support. O! Monks! Whether one earns one's livelihood by arts or by sciences, one cannot avoid the hardships imposed by nature. All these are the dangers of sensual indulgence — the manifestation of suffering as we meet it in our lives — all coming as the result of our wish to indulge the senses. Whenever a person strives to earn a living, to do business, but does not achieve the success he requires, he will be disappointed, laments that he deserved more after all his efforts, that it is not befitting that he should make a loss, be without benefit — but it is all due to indulgence of the sense pleasures. Even though a person makes a success of earning his living and becomes wealthy, it is not an end to his suffering — because now he must worry about how to protect his wealth from being taken away in taxes, taken away by robbers, damaged by fire, damaged by flooding, taken away by enemies — so his suffering continues.