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Theravāda — Pali Canon · Khuddaka Nikāya — The Minor Collection
Dhp 146–15611. Old Age
Pāli / Sanskrit:Jarāvagga
📖252 words · ~1 min read
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Full translation (English)
– Minor Collection
Sayings of the Dhamma 146–156 11. Old Age
What is joy, what is laughter,when the flames are ever burning? Shrouded by darkness,would you not seek a light?See this fancy puppet,a body built of sores,diseased, obsessed over,in which nothing lasts at all.This body is decrepit and frail,a nest of disease.This foul carcass falls apart,for life ends in death.These dove-grey bonesare tossed away likedried gourds in the autumn—what joy is there in such a sight?In this city built of bones,plastered with flesh and blood,old age and death are stashed away,along with conceit and contempt.Fancy chariots of kings wear out,and even this body gets old.But the truth of the good never gets old—so the good proclaim to the good.A person of little learningages like an ox—their flesh grows,but not their wisdom.Transmigrating through countless rebirths,I’ve journeyed without reward,searching for the house-builder;painful is birth again and again.I’ve seen you, house-builder!You won’t build a house again!Your rafters are all broken,your roof-peak demolished.The mind, set on demolition,has reached the end of cravings.When young they spurned the spiritual pathand failed to earn any wealth.Now they brood like old cranesin a pond bereft of fish.When young they spurned the spiritual pathand failed to earn any wealth.Now they lie like spent arrows,bemoaning over things past.
Translation source: HT. Thích Minh ChâuLicense: CC0-1.0 (Sujato) · personal-use (Minh Châu)
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