Affection

Chase after empty distractions and skip the inner work, abandoning what really matters to grab at fleeting pleasure, and one day you'll envy the person who did the deeper work instead.

Giving himself to things to be shunned and not exerting where exertion is needed, a seeker after pleasures, having given up his true welfare, envies those intent upon theirs.

Don't bind yourself too tightly to what's dear, or brace yourself against what's not: being parted from the dear brings pain, and meeting the un-dear brings pain too.

Seek no intimacy with the beloved and also not with the unloved, for not to see the beloved and to see the unloved, both are painful.

So don't make anything too dear: being parted from what's dear brings grief. For those for whom nothing is dear and nothing un-dear, there are no chains at all.

Therefore hold nothing dear, for separation from the dear is painful. There are no bonds for those who have nothing beloved or unloved.

From the things we hold dear, grief is born, and fear is born. For someone wholly free of holding anything dear, there is no grief, so where would fear come from?

From endearment springs grief, from endearment springs fear. For one who is wholly free from endearment there is no grief, whence then fear?

From affection grief is born, and from affection fear is born. For someone wholly free of affection there is no grief, so where would fear come from?

From affection springs grief, from affection springs fear. For one who is wholly free from affection there is no grief, whence then fear?

From attachment grief is born, and from attachment fear is born. For someone wholly free of attachment there is no grief, so where would fear come from?

From attachment springs grief, from attachment springs fear. For one who is wholly free from attachment there is no grief, whence then fear?

From sense pleasure grief is born, and from sense pleasure fear is born. For someone wholly free of craving there is no grief, so where would fear come from?

From lust springs grief, from lust springs fear. For one who is wholly free from craving there is no grief; whence then fear?

From craving grief is born, and from craving fear is born. For someone wholly free of craving there is no grief, so where would fear come from?

From craving springs grief, from craving springs fear. For one who is wholly free from craving there is no grief; whence then fear?

People naturally hold dear the one who embodies virtue and insight, who is principled, has realized the truth, and quietly does what is theirs to do.

People hold dear him who embodies virtue and insight, who is principled, has realized the truth, and who himself does what he ought to be doing.

One who longs for the Ineffable, the peace beyond words, whose mind is filled by that aspiration and no longer bound by sense pleasures, is called one who is bound upstream.

One who is intent upon the Ineffable (Nibbana), dwells with mind inspired (by supramundane wisdom), and is no more bound by sense pleasures — such a man is called “One Bound Upstream.” [18]

When someone returns safely after a long absence far away, their relatives, friends, and well-wishers gladly welcome them home.

When, after a long absence, a man safely returns from afar, his relatives, friends and well-wishers welcome him home on arrival.

Just as loved ones welcome a traveler safely home, so a person's own good deeds welcome them when they pass from this world to the next.

As kinsmen welcome a dear one on arrival, even so his own good deeds will welcome the doer of good who has gone from this world to the next.