Minor Collection

Sayings of the Dhamma 146–156

11. Old Age

dhp146:1 What is joy, what is laughter,

dhp146:2 when the flames are ever burning?

dhp146:3 Swathed in darkness,

dhp146:4 would you not seek a light?

dhp147:1 See this fancy puppet,

dhp147:2 a body built of sores,

dhp147:3 diseased, obsessed over,

dhp147:4 in which nothing lasts at all.

dhp148:1 This body is decrepit and frail,

dhp148:2 a nest of disease.

dhp148:3 This foul carcass falls apart,

dhp148:4 for life ends in death.

dhp149:1 These dove-grey bones

dhp149:2 are tossed away like

dhp149:3 dried gourds in the autumn—

dhp149:4 what joy is there in such a sight?

dhp150:1 In this city built of bones,

dhp150:2 plastered with flesh and blood,

dhp150:3 old age and death are stashed away,

dhp150:4 along with conceit and contempt.

dhp151:1 Fancy chariots of kings wear out,

dhp151:2 and even this body gets old.

dhp151:3 But the truth of the good never gets old—

dhp151:4 so the good proclaim to the good.

dhp152:1 A person of little learning

dhp152:2 ages like an ox—

dhp152:3 their flesh grows,

dhp152:4 but not their wisdom.

dhp153:1 Wandering through countless troubles,

dhp153:2 I’ve journeyed without reward,

dhp153:3 searching for the house-builder;

dhp153:4 painful is birth again and again.

dhp154:1 I’ve seen you, house-builder!

dhp154:2 You won’t build a house again!

dhp154:3 Your rafters are all broken,

dhp154:4 your roof-peak demolished.

dhp154:5 The mind, set on demolition,

dhp154:6 has reached the end of cravings.

dhp155:1 When young they spurned the spiritual path

dhp155:2 and failed to earn any wealth.

dhp155:3 Now they brood like old cranes

dhp155:4 in a pond bereft of fish.

dhp156:1 When young they spurned the spiritual path

dhp156:2 and failed to earn any wealth.

dhp156:3 Now they lie like spent arrows,

dhp156:4 bemoaning over things past.