A Brahmin
Priest once asked the Blessed Buddha:
Master
Gotama, what is the cause of being unable to remember even something that
has been memorized over a long period & also that which has not been
memorized?
Brahmin, when mind is obsessed by sense-desire, beset
& dominated by sense-desire,
and one does not understand any actual safe escape from this arisen
sense-desire,
in that very moment, one neither sees nor understands, what is truly advantageous,
neither for oneself, nor for others, nor for both... On such occasions, even texts,
that have been long memorized, cannot be recalled by mind. Why is this neglect so?
Imagine a bucket of water mixed with dyes or paints: Yellow, blue, and crimson
red.
If a man with good eye-sight were to inspect the reflection of his own face in
it,
he would neither see nor recognize it, as it really is! So too, brahmin, when mind
is
obsessed by sense-desire, beset & dominated by sense-desire, on that occasion
even
those texts, that have been long memorized does not recur to the mind, not to
speak
of those texts, events and things, that have not been memorized at all…
On how to prevent the
mental hindrances see:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Why_Not.htm on Hedonism
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/Canon/Sutta/AN/AN.I.1-2.htm on Sex
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/Canon/Sutta/AN/AN.I.3-4.htm on Cure
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/Canon/Sutta/AN/AN.I.3-4c.htm
Source (edited extract):
The Grouped Sayings of the Buddha. Samyutta Nikaya.
Book [V:121-2]
section 46: The Links. 55: To Sangarava...
