Dear Ole,

I think the key is probably 'satta', which have several meanings,
another of which is also suitable for this verse: creature, sentient
being.

For example, the first two lines according to the commentary are:

satto guhaaya.m bahunaabhichanno,
ti.t.tha.m naro mohanasmi.m pagaa.lho;

Attached, tainted by many in the cave,
the man, remaining engrossed in temptation;

Here, the commentary suggests that 'cave' is a metaphor for 'body'. It
further comments that just like the cave is a dwelling space for wild
beasts, the body is a dwelling space for lust and so on.

All in all, the commentary explains the first two line as "the man,
remaining immersed in allurement, is attached to and tainted by
defilements in himself (the body)".

However, if we take satta as 'sentient being', we get:

The being, tainted by many in the cave,
the man, remaining engrossed in temptation;

Here, we see a simile of a man remaining engrossed in temptation to be
like a being covered by weeds and vermin in the cave.

It is very unlikely the verse literally refers to a person remaining
stuck in a cave. The reason the commentator picked the first
explanation is probably that it suits meditation as an inward-looking
practice.

metta,
Yong Peng.

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, Ole Holten Pind wrote:

The text addresses the fate of someone who remains stuck in the cave
immersed in delusion. It seems to me that guhaa is used as metaphor
for mohana. I am not aware of any passage describing the being
attached (satta) to the body (as a cave). I may be wrong, though.
However, this remains the only example in the canon of the use of
guhaa to denote the body, metaphorically or otherwise. Mahaaniddesa
and PJ I, of course, takes it to stand for the body. I wonder if this
is an example of commentarial ingenuity.