[Note: This is just one of the five similies for different kinds of warriors and the corresponding different kinds of monastics. If you are interested you may want to read the entire sutta.]
…Furthermore, one warrior dons his sword and shield, fastens his bow and arrows, and plunges into the thick of battle. He strives and struggles in the battle, but his foes wound him. He’s carried off and taken to his relatives, who nurse him and care for him. And while in their care, he recovers from his injuries. Some warriors are like that. This is the fourth warrior found in the world.…
…Furthermore, a mendicant lives supported by a town or village. He robes up in the morning and, taking his bowl and robe, enters a village or town for alms without guarding body, speech, and mind, without establishing mindfulness, and without restraining the sense faculties. There he sees a female scantily clad, with revealing clothes. Lust infects his mind, and his body and mind burn with it. He thinks: ‘Why don’t I go to the monastery and tell the monks:
“Reverends, I am overcome with lust, mired in lust. I am unable to keep up the spiritual life. I declare my inability to continue training. I reject it and will return to a lesser life.”’ He goes to the monastery and tells the monks: ‘Reverends, I am overcome with lust, mired in lust. I am unable to keep up the spiritual life. I declare my inability to continue training. I reject it and will return to a lesser life.’
His spiritual companions advise and instruct him: ‘Reverend, the Buddha says that sensual pleasures give little gratification and much suffering and distress, and they are all the more full of drawbacks. With the simile of a skeleton … a lump of meat … a grass torch … a pit of glowing coals … a dream … borrowed goods … fruit on a tree … a butcher’s knife and chopping block … a staking sword … a snake’s head, the Buddha says that sensual pleasures give little gratification and much suffering and distress, and they are all the more full of drawbacks. Be happy with the spiritual life. Venerable, please don’t declare your inability to continue training, reject it and return to a lesser life.’
When thus advised and instructed by his spiritual companions, he says: ‘I’ll try, reverends, I’ll struggle, I’ll be happy. I won’t now declare my inability to continue training, reject it and return to a lesser life.’
I say that this person is like the warrior who recovers from his injuries while in the care of his relatives. Some people are like that. This is the fourth person similar to a warrior found among the monks.…
You can find many of the similes for the danger of sense pleasures in MN 54 Potaliyasutta: With Potaliya the Householder
Read the entire translation of Aṅguttara Nikāya 5.76 Dutiyayodhājīvasutta: Warriors (2nd) by Bhikkhu Sujato on SuttaCentral.net.
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