DHAMMAPADA
(Dhp 11). Jaravagga: Aging
translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu © 1997–2009
146
when constantly aflame?
Enveloped in darkness,
don’t you look for a lamp?
a heap of festering wounds, shored up:
ill, but the object
of many resolves,
where there is nothing
lasting or sure.
a nest of diseases, dissolving.
This putrid conglomeration
is bound to break up,
for life is hemmed in with death.
discarded
like gourds in the fall,
pigeon-gray:
what delight?
plastered over with flesh & blood,
whose hidden treasures are:
pride & contempt,
aging & death.
well-embellished
get run down,
and so does the body
succumb to old age.
But the Dhamma of the good
doesn’t succumb to old age:
the good let the civilized know.
matures like an ox.
His muscles develop,
his discernment not.
without reward,
without rest,
seeking the house-builder.
Painful is birth
again & again.
House-builder, you’re seen!
You will not build a house again.
All your rafters broken,
the ridge pole dismantled,
immersed in dismantling, the mind
has attained to the end of craving.
155-156
nor gaining wealth in their youth,
they waste away like old herons
in a dried-up lake
depleted of fish.
Neither living the chaste life
nor gaining wealth in their youth,
they lie around,
misfired from the bow,
sighing over old times.
Provenance: ©1997 Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
Transcribed from a file provided by the translator.
This Access to Insight edition is ©1997–2009 John T. Bullitt.
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