2 Peter 2:14 Meaning Having Eyes Full of Adultery

Indriyasaṃvara: Guarding the sense doors Restraint at eye and ear is the plain work of watching what comes in. Eyes this full of adultery can no longer meet a face, only an opportunity, because the gate at the eye has stood open so long the hinge has given way. The guarding itself is small and constant: a form appears, and the mind is stopped before it seizes the attractive mark and builds the whole story out of it.

Anusaya: Underlying tendency An underlying tendency is greed lying settled beneath the surface, waiting. A heart trained in greed is that settling made deliberate, each grasp repeated until wanting stops being an event and becomes the shape of the person, like a path worn across a lawn by feet that always take the same line. Nobody announces this training; it is done in small ordinary reachings for a little more.

Āsava: Taints that keep flowing Taints are the deep leaks of craving and unknowing that seep out into speech and act. Never ceasing from sin is a dripping tap: no single drop was decided on, and the sound carries through the whole night because nothing has been touched at the valve. Liberation is described as the ending of these leaks, and the ending happens at the valve, never by mopping the floor.

Pāpamitta: The harmful friend A harmful friend is company that leads downward. Enticing unsettled souls is bait on a hook, since the fish is taken not by force but by its own appetite, and the ones taken first have no footing yet, new to the table, still working out what they believe. Anyone that unsteady needs company that steadies, and the kindest thing available to them is a friend already walking somewhere good.

Kammadāyāda: Heir to one's own deeds Being heir to one's deeds means each person receives what their actions leave behind. Children of cursing runs the family line backward: the curse is born from them and returns to them as inheritance, the way a child comes into a debt left by the household. Balaam waits a line ahead, hired to curse others and taking the ruin home himself, since a curse thrown outward is still carried by the hand that throws it.