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SN 35.244:
"...And how has a contemplative seen sensual pleasures in such a way that he would have no underlying tendency for desire, affection, infatuation, and passion for sensual pleasures?
Suppose there was a pit of glowing coals deeper than a man’s height, filled with glowing coals that neither flamed nor smoked. Then a person would come along who wants to live and doesn’t want to die, who wants to be happy and recoils from pain. Then two strong men grab would grab each arm and drag him towards the pit of glowing coals. He would writhe and struggle to and fro. Why is that? For that person knows, ‘If I fall in that pit of glowing coals, that will result in my death or deadly pain.’
In the same way, when a contemplative has seen sensual pleasures as like a pit of glowing coals, he would have no underlying tendency for desire, affection, infatuation, and passion for sensual pleasures.
And how has a contemplative awakened to a way of conduct and a way of living such that, when he lives in that way, bad, unskillful qualities of desire and grief don’t overwhelm him?
Suppose a person was to enter a thicket full of thorns. He would have thorns in front and behind, to the left and right, below and above. So he would go forward mindfully and come back mindfully, thinking, ‘May I not get any thorns!’
In the same way, whatever in the world seems nice and pleasant is called a thorn in the training of the Noble One. When he understands what a thorn is, he would understand restraint and lack of restraint."
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MN. 25, Nivapasutta
suttacentral.net/mn25