IV. “The man who seeks riches, is like a child that, with the sharp point of a knife, attempts to eat honey; ere he has time to relish the sweetness that has but touched his lips, nothing remains to him but the poignant pain of a cut in the tongue. V. “There is no passion more violent than voluptuousness! No thing exceeds voluptuousness! Happily, there is but one passion of this kind; were there two, not a man in the whole universe could follow the truth. VI. “Buddha pronounced these words in the presence of all the Charmanas: {76} ‘Beware of fixing your eyes upon women! If you find yourselves in their company, let it be as though you were not present. Take care how you speak with women. If you talk with them, guard well your hearts; let your conduct be irreproachable, and keep ever saying to yourselves: we who are Charmanas, residing in this world of corruption, must be like the flower of the water-lily, which, amid muddy water, contracts no stain.’ VII. “The man who walks in the path of piety must look upon the passions as dry grass near a great fire. The man who is jealous of his virtue, should flee on the approach of the passions. VIII. “A Charmana who passed whole nights chanting prayers, manifested one morning, by his sad suppressed voice, great depression and the desire to withdraw from his calling. Buddha sent for this Charmana, and said to him, ‘When you were with your family, what used you to do?’ ‘I was always playing on the guitar.’ Buddha said to him, ‘If the strings of the guitar became loose, what happened?’ ‘I obtained no sound from them.’ ‘If the strings were too tight, what happened then?’ ‘The sounds were broken.’ ‘When the strings obtained the exact equilibrium between tension and flexibility, what happened then?’ ‘All the sounds accorded in perfect harmony.’ Hereupon Buddha pronounced these words: ‘It is the same with the study of doctrine; after you shall have achieved dominion over your heart, and regulated its movements to harmony, it will attain the acquisition of the truth.’ IX.