The Futility of Self-Mortification : หน้า 40/263

Commentorial Metaphors: Self-mortification: 1. Sugar-cane juice and poison: It can be compared to a mixture of sugar-cane juice and poison. In the end such practices will lead to death, and all for nothing. 2. Stale Excrement mistaken for medicine: It can be compared to stale faeces or urine which has degenerated into a poison which festers with disease. Anyone who mistakes it for medicine will cause their own death or near death. Anyone who tries to reduce their suffering through the use of such a medicine will find that they are seriously mistaken. 3. A grasshopper leaping into a fire: It can be compared to a grasshopper which leaps into the flames. Self-mortification is not a noble practice, but a practice fit for fools. It brings not the least benefit. 4. A Vengeful Ogre: It can be compared to an ogre which follows one everywhere, with the vow of vengeance to kill one at the first opportunity. 5. A poisonous snake mistaken for a rope: It can be compared to someone who mistakenly picks up a poisonous snake in the dark, thinking that it is a rope. There is no way they can escape the poisonous bite of that snake. 6. Jumping over a cliff: It can be compared to someone jumping over a cliff. There is no way they can escape being smashed to smithereens. 7. Jumping into a fire: It can be compared to a person jumping into the flames of a fire. There is no way he can escape being burned to ashes. Anyone who wants to release themselves from the cycle of existence but mistakenly practices self-mortification—and for all the suffering of one’s efforts, eventually it will all be in vain. 8. Trusting an Enemy: It is like persuading one’s worst enemy to be one’s friend. Sweet words lull one into a false