Chatthasangayana-pucchavissajjana 7.6.3

7.6.3

Vissajjanā – sāvatthiyaṃ bhante sambahule bhikkhū ārabbha ‘‘dāruṇo bhikkhave lābhasakkārasiloko pharuso antarāyiko anuttarassa yogakkhemassa adhigamāya. Seyyathāpi bhikkhave mīḷhakā gūthādī gūthapūrā puṇṇā gūthassa, purato cassa mahāgūthapuñjo, sā tena aññā mīḷhakā atimaññeyya ‘‘ahamhi gūthādī gūthapūrā puṇṇā gūthassa, purato ca myāyaṃ mahāgūthapuñjo’’ti evamādinā bhagavatā bhāsitaṃ.

Answer: At Sāvatthī, venerable sir, concerning many bhikkhus, it was spoken by the Blessed One: "Dreadful, bhikkhus, are gain, honour, and praise; harsh, severe, an obstacle to the attainment of the unsurpassed security from bondage. Just as, bhikkhus, a dung beetle feeding on dung, full of dung, gorged with dung, has a great pile of dung before it, and on that account despises other dung beetles, thinking: 'I am a dung-eater, full of dung, gorged with dung, and this great pile of dung is in front of me,'" and so forth.