Trapped in a cave, thickly overspread, sunk in delusion they stay. That sort is far from seclusion, for sensual pleasures in the world are not easy to give up.
The chains of desire, the bonds of life’s pleasures are hard to escape, for one cannot free another. Looking to the past or the future, they pray for these pleasures or former ones.
Greedy, fixated, infatuated by sensual pleasures, they are incorrigible, habitually immoral. When led to suffering they lament, “What will become of us when we pass away from here?”
That’s why a personage should train in this life: should you know that anything in the world is wrong, don’t act wrongly on account of that; for the attentive say this life is short.
I see the world’s population floundering, given to craving for future lives. Base men wail in the jaws of death, not rid of craving for life after life.
See them flounder over belongings, like fish in puddles of a dried-up stream. Seeing this, live unselfishly, forming no attachment to future lives.
Rid of desire for both ends, having completely understood contact, free of greed, doing nothing for which they’d blame themselves, the attentive don’t cling to the seen and the heard.
Having completely understood perception and having crossed the flood, the sage, not clinging to possessions, with dart plucked out, living diligently, does not hope for this world or the next.
Eight on the Cave
Snp 4.2 · Guhaṭṭhakasutta
Connections
Collection & context
- Sutta NipātaThe collection containing this text
- The Pāli canonCanonical collection in which this edition is preserved
- Theravāda traditionsTransmission and study context
- The early Buddhist communityHistorical and traditional setting
Books
- The Buddha before Buddhism: Wisdom from the Early TeachingsGil Fronsdal (translator and commentator) · Translation & commentary
- Handful of Leaves: an Anthology from the Sutta PiṭakaEarly Buddhist discourses; Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu (translator and compiler) · Included in anthology
About this edition
Translation by Bhikkhu Sujato · SuttaCentral · CC0
This translation is an expression of an ancient spiritual text that has been passed down by the Buddhist tradition for the benefit of all sentient beings. It is dedicated to the public domain via Creative Commons Zero (CC0). You are encouraged to copy, reproduce, adapt, alter, or otherwise make use of this translation. The translator respectfully requests that any use be in accordance with the values and principles of the Buddhist community. In particular, please do not use this work in AI training datasets, for the development of any AI model or algorithm, or in any AI-derived technologies.
Published source. Translation wording and order are preserved; source headings and notes are retained, with navigation and formatting adapted for this reader.
The opening image is AI-generated nature artwork for Buddhist Atlas, an evocative companion rather than a historical depiction.