摩訶止觀 4.141

4.141

此五過患者，色如熱金丸，執之則燒。聲如毒塗鼓，聞之必死。香如憋龍氣，嗅之則病。味如沸蜜，湯舌則爛；如蜜塗刀，舐之則傷。觸如臥師子，近之則齧。此五欲者，得之無厭，惡心轉熾，如火益薪，世世為害，劇於怨賊。累劫已來常相劫奪，摧折色心。今方禪寂，復相惱亂；深知其過，貪染休息。事相具如《禪門》中（云云）。上代名僧詩云：「遠之易為士，近之難為情；香味頹高志，聲色喪軀齡。」

As for the faults and perils of these five: forms are like a red-hot iron pellet—if grasped, it burns. Sounds are like a drum smeared with poison—hearing it means certain death. Smells are like the breath of a malicious dragon—sniffing it brings disease. Tastes are like boiling honey—it scalds the tongue until it festers; they are like honey smeared on a knife blade—licking it wounds [the tongue]. Tangibles are like a sleeping lion—approaching it brings bites. As for these five desires, obtaining them brings no satiety, and the evil mind blazes ever more fiercely, like adding fuel to fire. They bring harm life after life, more terrible than enemy thieves. Across accumulated kalpas they have continually plundered us, breaking down body and mind. Now, just as we sit in dhyāna serenity, they again disturb us; knowing their faults deeply, greedy defilement ceases. The phenomenal details are fully explained in the *Chanmen*, and so on. A poem by an eminent monk of an earlier age says: "Staying far from them, it is easy to be a gentleman; drawing near to them, it is hard to restrain the passions. Smells and tastes ruin lofty aspirations; sounds and forms destroy body and lifespan."