Buddhacarita by Ven Asvaghosa - Ancient Buddhist Texts

Buddha-carita, or Life of Buddha - 135
30. ‘What man of self-control could find satisfaction in those
pleasures, which are like the enjoyments in a dream, – which are
gained by their recipients after manifold pilgrimages and labours, and
then perish in a moment
31. ‘What man of self-control could find satisfaction in those
pleasures which are like a spear, sword, or club, – for the sake of
which the Kurus, the V
Daṇḍakas suffered destruction
32. ‘What man of self-control could find satisfaction in those
pleasures which dissolve friendships and for the sake of which the two
Asuras Sunda and Upasunda perished, victims engaged in mutual
enmity
33. ‘None, however their intellect is blinded with pleasure, give
themselves up, as in compassion, to ravenous beasts; so what man of
self-control could find satisfaction in those pleasures which are
disastrous and constant enemies
34. ‘He whose intellect is blinded with pleasure does pitiable things; he
incurs calamities, such as death, bonds, and the like; the wretch, who
is the miserable slave of hope for the sake of pleasure, well deserves
the pain of death even in the world of the living.
35. ‘Deer are lured to their destruction by songs, insects for the sake
of the brightness fly into the fire, the fish greedy for the flesh