3. 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 a number of men were living at Savatthi and all of them were in bondage to the passions, inflamed, glutted, seized and infatuated to excess with lust, falling into sin and impregnated with lust.
And a number of Bhikkhus, robing themselves in the forenoon and taking their alms-bowls and tunics entered Savatthi for alms, and when they had returned from their rounds in Savatthi and finished their meal, they went to where the Blessed One was, and drawing near, they saluted the Blessed One and sat down apart and while p. 104 thus sitting they said to the Blessed One: “at this time, Sire, a number of men are passing their days in Savatthi, in bondage to the passions etc. [as above. Transl.].”
And the Blessed One in this connection, on that occasion, breathed forth this solemn utterance:
| “These are beings inflamed with lust, Bound in the bonds of passion, Who perceive no evil in the ‘fetters’. Verily these who are bound by the fetters of human passion, Cross not the great and mighty flood (of evil which overwhelms humanity.)” |