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佛言 財色之於人 譬如小兒貪刀刃之蜜 甜不足一食之美 然有截舌之患
fó yán cái sè zhī yú rén pì rú xiǎo ér tān dāo rèn zhī mì gān bù zú yī shí zhī měi rán yǒu jié shé zhī huàn
Key Message
The sweetness of wealth and desire is like honey on a blade's edge — a moment's taste, but the tongue may be cut. Brief sweetness, lasting danger.
▸Wealth and sensual desire in relation to a person are like a child craving honey on a blade's edge.
Wealth and sensual desire in relation to a person are like a child craving honey on a blade's edge. The sweetness is not enough to make a proper meal, yet the danger of cutting the tongue follows. This is one of the most striking and memorable analogies in all Buddhist literature — the danger of pleasure captured in a single image of honey on a blade.
Related Verses
For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil, but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.