Monks, isn’t poverty discontentedness in the world for one who enjoys sensual pleasures?

If a poor, impoverished, needy person gets into debt, isn’t his indebtedness, too, discontentedness in the world for one who enjoys sensual pleasures?

If a poor, impoverished, needy person who has gotten into debt promises to pay interest, isn’t the interest, too, discontentedness in the world for one who enjoys sensual pleasures?

If a poor, impoverished, needy person who has promised to pay interest cannot pay it when it falls due, they admonish him. Isn’t being admonished, too, discontentedness in the world for one who enjoys sensual pleasures?

If a poor, impoverished, needy person who is admonished does not pay, they prosecute him. Isn’t prosecution, too, discontentedness in the world for one who enjoys sensual pleasures?

If a poor, impoverished, needy person who is prosecuted does not pay, they imprison him. Isn’t imprisonment, too, discontentedness in the world for one who enjoys sensual pleasures?

So, Monks, for one who enjoys sensual pleasures, poverty is discontentedness in the world; getting into debt is discontentedness in the world; having to pay interest is discontentedness in the world; being admonished is discontentedness in the world; prosecution is discontentedness in the world; and imprisonment is discontentedness in the world.

So too, Monks, when one does not have confidence in (cultivating) wholesome qualities, when one does not have a sense of moral wrongdoing in (cultivating) wholesome qualities, when one does not have moral concern in (cultivating) wholesome qualities, when one does not have energy in (cultivating) wholesome qualities, when one does not have wisdom in (cultivating) wholesome qualities, in the Noble One's discipline one is called a poor, impoverished, needy person.

Having no confidence, no sense of moral wrongdoing, no moral concern, no energy, no wisdom in (cultivating) wholesome qualities, that poor, impoverished, needy person engages in misconduct by body, speech, and mind. This, I say, is his getting into debt.

To conceal his bodily, verbal, and mental misconduct, he nurtures an evil (unwholesome) desire. He wishes: Let no one know me; he intends (with the aim): Let no one know me; he speaks statements (with the aim): Let no one know me; he makes bodily actions (with the aim): Let no one know me. This, I say, is the interest he must pay.