3.5.8

Lesson 3.5.8 Methunasuttaṃ – How to Live a Real Celibate Life

In the Methunasutta, the Buddha explains to the Brahmin Jāṇussoṇi what can corrupt a life of perfect purity (paripuṇṇaṃ parisuddhaṃ brahmacariyaṃ). The Buddha's response reveals that even if someone claims to live the religious life of a brahmacariya and observes the vows of chastity, it will be utterly pure only if a mendicant remains detached even from the most subtle mental involvements of passion. This aligns with his earlier teaching that nothing overpowers the mind more than lust (cittaṃ pariyādāya tiṭṭhati). As the king of the gods, Sakka, once noted, "Lust, Bhante, is a disease, it is a tumour, it is a thorn, and it drags a man into this or that state of becoming. Therefore that man may be born high or low." The commentary further explains that this craving causes restlessness and is a disease in the sense of affliction, a tumour in the sense of internal corruption, and a thorn in the sense of something that has penetrated within. It is this very lust that ‘drags’ one to the various forms of existence in the samsaric cycle, be it ‘high’ or ’low’ in accordance with one's past actions.