Numbered Discourses 5.249

1. Bad Conduct

A Charnel Ground

“Mendicants, there are these five drawbacks to a charnel ground.

What five?

It’s filthy, stinking, frightening, a gathering place for savage monsters, and a weeping place for many people.

These are the five drawbacks of a charnel ground.

In the same way there are five drawbacks of an individual like a charnel ground.

What five?

To start with, an individual has filthy conduct by way of body, speech, and mind.

This is how they’re filthy, I say.

That individual is just as filthy as a charnel ground.

Because of their filthy conduct, they get a bad reputation.

This is how they’re stinky, I say.

That individual is just as stinky as a charnel ground.

Because of their filthy conduct, good-hearted spiritual companions avoid them from afar.

That’s how they’re frightening, I say.

That individual is just as frightening as a charnel ground.

Because of their filthy conduct, they live together with individuals of a similar character.

This is how they gather with savage monsters, I say.

That individual is just as much a gathering place of savage monsters as a charnel ground.

Because of their filthy conduct, when good-hearted spiritual companions see them they complain:

‘Oh, it’s so painful for us to have to live together with such as these.’

This is how there’s weeping, I say.

This person is just as much a weeping place for many people as a charnel ground.

These are the five drawbacks of an individual like a charnel ground.”