Read, reflect, pray
Sutta Nipāta 4-1: Kāmasutta
Viggo Fausböll, 1881 · Historical English translation
1. If he who desires sensual pleasures is successful, he certainly becomes glad-minded, having obtained what a mortal wishes for. (766)
2. But if those sensual pleasures fail the person who desires and wishes (for them), he will suffer, pierced by the arrow (of pain). (767)
3. He who avoids sensual pleasures as (he would avoid treading upon) the head of a snake with his foot, such a one, being thoughtful (sato), will conquer this desire. (768)
4. He who covets extensively (such) pleasures (as these), fields, goods, or gold, cows and horses, servants, women, relations, (769)
5. Sins will overpower him, dangers will crush him, and pain will follow him as water (pours into) a broken ship. (770)
6. Therefore let one always be thoughtful, and avoid pleasures; having abandoned them, let him cross the stream, after baling out the ship, and go to the other shore. (771)
Kāmasutta is ended.
Translation, numbering and rights
Viggo Fausböll, 1881. Public-domain 1881 translation, from the free non-commercial EPUB distributed by Reading Faithfully (edition 1.0, February 2012), transcribed by Christopher M. Weimer for the Internet Sacred Text Archive. This reader is free and non-commercial. Pali diacritics follow the EPUB. Translator introductions and footnotes are omitted; discourse prose, verses and the concluding passages are retained.
This 1881 edition uses consecutive verse numbers ending at 1148. It differs from the Japanese edition and must not be aligned by verse number alone. The final reading includes the concluding praises and Piṅgiya’s dialogue. The source’s printed numbering is retained, including gaps. A repeated “1041” in the source is retained; the expected “1047” is not silently substituted. No verse text is supplied by guesswork.
This historical English translation uses older vocabulary. It is independent of the Japanese translation linked from this site. The Japanese edition’s translator and license are credited there.