“When someone indulges in sex,”
said Venerable Tissametteyya,
“tell us, sir: what trouble befalls them?
After hearing your instruction,
we shall train in seclusion.”

“When someone indulges in sex,”
replied the Buddha,
“they forget their instructions
and go the wrong way—
that is something ignoble in them.

Someone who formerly lived alone
and then resorts to sex
is like a chariot careening off-track;
in the world they call them a low, ordinary person.

Their former fame and reputation
also fall away.
Seeing this, they’d train
to give up sex.

Oppressed by thoughts,
they brood like a wretch.
When they hear what others are saying,
such a person is embarrassed.

Then they lash out with verbal daggers
when reproached by others.
This is their great blind spot;
they sink to lies.

They once were considered astute,
committed to the solitary life.
But then they indulged in sex,
dragged along by desire like an idiot.

Knowing this danger
in falling from a former state here,
a sage would firmly resolve to wander alone,
and would not resort to sex.

They’d train themselves only in seclusion;
this, for the noble ones, is highest.
One who’d not think themselves “best” due to that
has truly drawn near to extinguishment.

People tied to sensual pleasures envy them:
the isolated, wandering sage
who has crossed the flood,
unconcerned for sensual pleasures.

---

Read this translation of Snp 4.7 Tissametteyyasutta: With Tissametteyya by Bhikkhu Sujato on SuttaCentral.net. Or read a different translation on DhammaTalks.org. Or listen on SC-Voice.net. Or explore the Pali on DigitalPaliReader.online.

Or read a translation in Deutsch, Afrikaans, Français, Bahasa Indonesia, Italiano, 日本語, မြန်မာဘာသာ, Nederlands, Norsk, Русский, සිංහල, Slovenščina, or தமிழ். Learn how to find your language.