Reading guide
Five wounded warriors, restated
One warrior enters battle and is killed outright by his foes. One is wounded, carried toward his relatives, and dies on the road before reaching them. One reaches his relatives and is nursed, but dies of the wound anyway. One reaches them, is nursed, and recovers. One enters the same battle undamaged and wins outright.
The mapping, stage by stage
A monk who enters a village without guarding his senses, sees a scantily-clad woman, and has sex immediately — without even attempting to leave first — is ‘killed outright’. One who burns with the same desire and resolves to confess it to his fellow monks, but disrobes on the road before reaching the monastery, ‘dies before reaching help’. One who reaches the monastery, receives counsel from his companions, but disrobes anyway ‘dies despite care’. One who receives the identical counsel and does not disrobe ‘recovers’. One who practices full sense-restraint from the very start of his almsround, before any crisis arises at all, is the one who ‘wins outright’ and goes on to full liberation.
Naming the frame plainly, again
As at AN 5.75, this reading guide states directly what the account does: it is addressed to a male monastic audience anxious about desire triggered by an unnamed woman's appearance, and she is never given a voice or any agency of her own in the account — only the monk's struggle is narrated. This is reported as the text's own framing, not endorsed by this guide as a description of women.
The ten similes for sensual pleasure's drawbacks
The concerned fellow monks' counsel invokes ten stock images, among the most famous catalogs in the early canon: a skeleton, a scrap of meat, a grass torch, a pit of glowing coals, a dream, borrowed goods, fruit on a tree, a butcher's block, swords and spears, and a snake's head. Each image makes the same point in a different way — that sensual pleasure's apparent reward is disproportionate to, or actively conceals, the real danger it carries.
The Saṅgha's role
Unlike AN 5.75, which treats each threshold as a private trial, this discourse foregrounds the community's collective responsibility: three of the five outcomes turn specifically on whether a struggling monk reaches his companions and what they say to him, not on his solitary willpower alone.
The same realization, restated
The fifth monk's story closes with the identical formula as AN 5.75: full sense-restraint described first, then the five hindrances given up, the four absorptions, and the four-noble-truths realization ending in āsavakkhaya. Read together, the two discourses offer two different diagnostic frames — thresholds of temptation, and outcomes of an already-arisen crisis — converging on the same final formula.
Key terms
The text
Five wounded warriors
§1“Mendicants, these five warriors are found in the world. What five? Firstly, one warrior dons his sword and shield, fastens his bow and arrows, and plunges into the thick of battle. He strives and struggles in the battle, but his foes kill him and finish him off. Some warriors are like that. This is the first warrior found in the world.
§2Furthermore, one warrior dons his sword and shield, fastens his bow and arrows, and plunges into the thick of battle. He strives and struggles in the battle, but his foes wound him. He’s carried off and taken to his relatives, but he dies on the road before he reaches them. Some warriors are like that. This is the second warrior found in the world.
§3Furthermore, one warrior dons his sword and shield, fastens his bow and arrows, and plunges into the thick of battle. He strives and struggles in the battle, but his foes wound him. He’s carried off and taken to his relatives, who nurse him and care for him. But he dies of his injuries while in their care. Some warriors are like that. This is the third warrior found in the world.
§4Furthermore, one warrior dons his sword and shield, fastens his bow and arrows, and plunges into the thick of battle. He strives and struggles in the battle, but his foes wound him. He’s carried off and taken to his relatives, who nurse him and care for him. And while in their care, he recovers from his injuries. Some warriors are like that. This is the fourth warrior found in the world.
§5Furthermore, one warrior dons his sword and shield, fastens his bow and arrows, and plunges into the thick of battle. He wins victory in battle, establishing himself as foremost in battle. Some warriors are like that. This is the fifth warrior found in the world. These are the five warriors found in the world.
The first: killed outright
§6In the same way, these five individuals similar to warriors are found among the monks. What five? Firstly, a mendicant lives supported by a town or village. He robes up in the morning and, taking his bowl and robe, enters a village or town for alms without guarding body, speech, and mind, without establishing mindfulness, and without restraining the sense faculties. There he sees a lady scantily clad, with revealing clothes. Lust infects his mind, and, without resigning the training and declaring his inability to continue, he indulges in sex.
§7I say that this individual is like the warrior who is killed and finished off by his foes. Some individuals are like that. This is the first individual similar to a warrior found among the monks.
The second: dies before reaching help
§8Furthermore, a mendicant lives supported by a town or village. He robes up in the morning and, taking his bowl and robe, enters a village or town for alms without guarding body, speech, and mind, without establishing mindfulness, and without restraining the sense faculties. There he sees a lady scantily clad, with revealing clothes. Lust infects his mind, and his body and mind burn with it. He thinks: ‘Why don’t I visit the monastery and tell the monks: “Reverends, I am overcome with lust, mired in lust. I am unable to keep up the spiritual life. I declare my inability to continue training. I disavow it and will return to a lesser life.”’ But while traveling on the road, before he reaches the monastery he declares his inability to continue training. He disavows it and returns to a lesser life.
§9I say that they are like the warrior who is taken to his relatives for care, but he dies on the road before he reaches them. Some individuals are like that. This is the second individual similar to a warrior found among the monks.
The third: counseled, but dies anyway
§10Furthermore, a mendicant lives supported by a town or village. He robes up in the morning and, taking his bowl and robe, enters a village or town for alms without guarding body, speech, and mind, without establishing mindfulness, and without restraining the sense faculties. There he sees a lady scantily clad, with revealing clothes. Lust infects his mind, and his body and mind burn with it. He thinks: ‘Why don’t I visit the monastery and tell the monks: “Reverends, I am overcome with lust, mired in lust. I am unable to keep up the spiritual life. I declare my inability to continue training. I disavow it and will return to a lesser life.”’ He goes to the monastery and tells the monks: ‘Reverends, I am overcome with lust, mired in lust. I am unable to keep up the spiritual life. I declare my inability to continue training. I disavow it and will return to a lesser life.’
§11His spiritual companions advise and instruct him: ‘Reverend, the Buddha says that sensual pleasures give little gratification and much suffering and distress, and they are all the more full of drawbacks. With the similes of a skeleton … a scrap of meat … a grass torch … a pit of glowing coals … a dream … borrowed goods … fruit on a tree … a butcher’s knife and chopping board … swords and spears … a snake’s head, the Buddha says that sensual pleasures give little gratification and much suffering and distress, and they are all the more full of drawbacks. Be happy with the spiritual life. Venerable, please don’t declare your inability to continue training, disavow it and return to a lesser life.’
§12When thus advised and instructed by his spiritual companions, he says: ‘Reverends, even though the Buddha says that sensual pleasures give little gratification and much suffering and distress, and they are all the more full of drawbacks, I am unable to keep up the spiritual life. I declare my inability to continue training. I disavow it and will return to a lesser life.’ Declaring his inability to continue training, he disavows it and returns to a lesser life.
§13I say that they are like the warrior who dies of his injuries while in the care of his relatives. Some individuals are like that. This is the third individual similar to a warrior found among the monks.
The fourth: counseled, and recovers
§14Furthermore, a mendicant lives supported by a town or village. He robes up in the morning and, taking his bowl and robe, enters a village or town for alms without guarding body, speech, and mind, without establishing mindfulness, and without restraining the sense faculties. There he sees a lady scantily clad, with revealing clothes. Lust infects his mind, and his body and mind burn with it. He thinks: ‘Why don’t I visit the monastery and tell the monks: “Reverends, I am overcome with lust, mired in lust. I am unable to keep up the spiritual life. I declare my inability to continue training. I disavow it and will return to a lesser life.”’ He goes to the monastery and tells the monks: ‘Reverends, I am overcome with lust, mired in lust. I am unable to keep up the spiritual life. I declare my inability to continue training. I disavow it and will return to a lesser life.’
§15His spiritual companions advise and instruct him: ‘Reverend, the Buddha says that sensual pleasures give little gratification and much suffering and distress, and they are all the more full of drawbacks. With the simile of a skeleton … a scrap of meat … a grass torch … a pit of glowing coals … a dream … borrowed goods … fruit on a tree … a butcher’s knife and chopping board … swords and spears … a snake’s head, the Buddha says that sensual pleasures give little gratification and much suffering and distress, and they are all the more full of drawbacks. Be happy with the spiritual life. Venerable, please don’t declare your inability to continue training, disavow it and return to a lesser life.’
§16When thus advised and instructed by his spiritual companions, he says: ‘I’ll try, reverends, I’ll struggle, I’ll be happy. I won’t now declare my inability to continue training, disavow it and return to a lesser life.’
§17I say that this individual is like the warrior who recovers from his injuries while in the care of his relatives. Some individuals are like that. This is the fourth individual similar to a warrior found among the monks.
The fifth: undamaged, victorious
§18Furthermore, a mendicant lives supported by a town or village. He robes up in the morning and, taking his bowl and robe, enters a village or town, guarding body, speech, and mind, establishing mindfulness, and restraining the sense faculties. Seeing a sight with his eyes, he doesn’t get caught up in the features and details. If the faculty of sight were left unrestrained, bad unskillful qualities of covetousness and displeasure would become overwhelming. For this reason, he practices restraint, protecting the faculty of sight, and achieving restraint over it. Hearing a sound with his ears … Smelling an odor with his nose … Tasting a flavor with his tongue … Feeling a touch with his body … Knowing an idea with his mind, he doesn’t get caught up in the features and details. If the faculty of mind were left unrestrained, bad unskillful qualities of covetousness and displeasure would become overwhelming. For this reason, he practices restraint, protecting the faculty of mind, and achieving restraint over it. Then after the meal, on his return from almsround, he frequents a secluded lodging—a wilderness, the root of a tree, a hill, a ravine, a mountain cave, a charnel ground, a forest, the open air, a heap of straw. Gone to a wilderness, or to the root of a tree, or to an empty hut, he sits down cross-legged, sets his body straight, and brings mindfulness to the present. He gives up these five hindrances, corruptions of the heart that weaken wisdom. Then, quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unskillful qualities, he enters and remains in the first absorption … second absorption … third absorption … fourth absorption.
§19When his mind has become immersed in samādhi like this—purified, bright, flawless, rid of corruptions, pliable, workable, steady, and imperturbable—he extends it toward knowledge of the ending of defilements. He truly understands: ‘This is suffering’ … ‘This is the origin of suffering’ … ‘This is the cessation of suffering’ … ‘This is the practice that leads to the cessation of suffering’. He truly understands: ‘These are defilements’ … ‘This is the origin of defilements’ … ‘This is the cessation of defilements’ … ‘This is the practice that leads to the cessation of defilements’. Knowing and seeing like this, his mind is freed from the defilements of sensuality, desire to be reborn, and ignorance. When freed, he knows ‘it is freed’. He understands: ‘Rebirth is ended, the spiritual journey has been completed, what had to be done has been done, there is nothing further for this place.’
§20I say that this individual is like the warrior who dons his sword and shield, fastens his bow and arrows, and plunges into the thick of battle. He wins victory in battle, establishing himself as foremost in battle. Some individuals are like that. This is the fifth individual similar to a warrior found among the monks. These five individuals similar to warriors are found among the monks.”
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