9. Thus have I heard. On a certain occasion the Blessed One dwelt at Savatthi, in the Jetavana, the garden of Anâthapindika.
Now at that time the Blessed One, was sitting in the open air, the night was profoundly dark and oil-lamps were alight.
And a number of moths falling over and over into these oil-lamps, met with disaster, ruin and utter destruction. And the Blessed One beheld these moths falling over and over into the oil-lamps, meeting with disaster, ruin and utter destruction.
And the Blessed One, in this connection, on that occasion, breathed forth this solemn utterance:
| “They run up to it and beyond, But never reach the essence. They magnify to themselves new and ever new bonds. As the moths fall into the flame, So, some are attracted [by the doctrine] That, in the seen and the heard [is the essence].” |