English
Seeing Vulture Peak, he departs. 50. They will die, blameless, Afflicted, tormented by defilements; Like a worm-eaten reed, Confused, how will he go to a good rebirth? 51. They will die, blameless, Not fulfilling the two burdens; Of study and insight, lazy, Compassionate, he departs. 52. They will die, blameless, Subject to the power of defilements; Having transgressed the Buddha's teachings, There is no compassion for him. 53. They will die, blameless, Seeking wealth unrighteously; No thought of merit arises, His mind gone to hell. 54. They will die, blameless, Accumulating wealth unrighteously; "Accumulated, accumulated here," Greedy for it, with his family. 55. Possessions are left in the house, Friends and relatives at the cemetery; Well-done and ill-done deeds, Follow him as he goes. 56. They will die, blameless, Engaging in worldly affairs; Without regard for the next world, Surely he is headed for misery. 57. They will die, blameworthy, Dh Wealth is the mother's delight; The meritorious rejoices in what is well-gained, even in death. 58. Always protecting the five precepts, and giving according to ability; Dwelling in the Uposatha on occasion, he always goes to a good destination. 59. Quickly wash away the stain of offenses, death will surely come; Cut off wrong thoughts, do what should be cultivated. 60. Many nights have passed, wasting my life; How can I live, endowed with little life, with negligence? 61. Laughing, intoxicated with joy, cut down by the messengers of death; Today the belly is filled, who is there to laugh and rejoice? 62. The weapons of death's army are countless, I am facing death; Time must be used, let what should be seen be seen. 63. Before I die, what should be seen must be seen, Death will come, if it is seen; Time must be used, There is no opportunity for laughter and joy. 64. Crowded with the army of death, destroying today or tomorrow; Surely departing and going, what is the use of living negligently? 65. A moment is apparent, today or tomorrow it will pass; The next world is very long, the succession is endless. 66. A moment is apparent, death will abandon it; In what must be abandoned, great effort is useless. 67. The next world is very long, difficult to cross without provisions; Effort must be made, for that purpose, by one who sees far ahead. 68. Let faith bind the provisions, that is the seeking here indeed; It will not be obtained in another existence, without provisions, greatly suffering. 69. For the sake of crossing the round of rebirths, bind great rafts; By cultivation, giving, and morality, the ocean of existence is crossed. 70. Eating, eating, people desire pleasures, The end is unknown, the time is unknown; Cutting, cutting, the flesh-eater, Drinking, drinking, like a wild animal. 71. In pleasures, let there be seeking for pleasures, The time is unknown, the desire is for death; Fill, fill the Dhamma, Surely, surely, wandering in the round. 72. Undisturbed that he will die, he dares to do evil; He would do laughter and joy, and fickleness and negligence. 73. Disturbed that he will die, he seeks only a refuge; There is no laughter, no joy, no fickleness. o sometimes. 74. Roused by the fires of disease, In extreme and dreadful pain; Like a cool gift of merit, To one near death, a soothing balm. 75. Severing ties with kin, Death's agony, a dreadful plight; Though leaving all behind, The meritorious rejoice. 76. Seeing auspicious signs, Manifest by their own deeds; Happiness at the time of death, Rejoicing in merits done. 77. Merits, givers of joy, Even in such great danger; Lead swiftly to bliss, Should be done beforehand. 78. Having shown the divine messengers, And questioned by Yama himself; If a being recalls the merit, That itself leads to bliss. 79. Evil drags to hell, The mind, a suffering mass; The merit that frees from pain, Should always be done. 80. Merit should be cultivated, Evil should be abandoned; Like a lamp in darkness, Both are emptied like husks. 81. Severing ties with kin, Death's agony, a dreadful plight; Leaving all behind, The wicked face terror. 82. Seeing inauspicious signs, Manifest by their own deeds; Extreme suffering at death, Lamenting deeds done. 83. Oppressive evils, In such great danger; Lead swiftly to woe, Rightly avoided with effort. 84. Having shown the divine messengers, And questioned by the King of Death; Confessing negligence, He falls swiftly into the great fire. 85. Not having done merit, When questioned by the King of Death; Confessing negligence, He goes swiftly to great suffering. 86. Not having done evil, When questioned by the Lord of Death; Confessing negligence, He swiftly swallows molten metal. 87. The newly born, the aged, The sick, the dead, the wise; These five divine messengers, Seeing them, one should be stirred. 88. Admonished by the divine messengers, Those humans who are negligent; They grieve for a long time, Low beings, gone to ruin. 89. Engaged in dual tasks, Attached to household duties; How will he escape Vulture Peak, The abode of the departed? 90. Not learning the scriptures, Not striving for practice; Lazy, with evil thoughts, How can he... That rock he transcends. 92. Ordination for release, yet defiled and heedless; They fall from happy realms, so far from liberation. 93. Like stones cast in water, great or small though they be; Even the small ones sink, to woe by evil deeds. 94. Sinking even by small deeds, oppressed again by many; No chance of release they find, even small evil do not do. 95. Loathing, stomach-sickening, again there ever going; Suffering, with suffering mixed, to rejoice and be glad, unable. 96. Greatly pervasive merit, greatly famed, with glory graced; In the womb, in semen dwelling, exceedingly shameful. 97. Death-suffering, a moment only, exceedingly painful, beyond that; In the mother's womb a joining, a fearful establishment. 98. Death-suffering, a moment only, exceedingly painful, long-lasting; In raw, putrid flesh a joining, a fearful establishment. 99. In wretched state to dwell, that pain, hear, even in a high-born family; In the womb, exceedingly cramped, in the amniotic sac, loathsome. 100. Mixed with mucus and phlegm, exceedingly foul-smelling; Like a worm in a dung heap, in darkness, from root deeds. 101. The atomic body stands, suffering, like a hell-being; Ever sick, mixed with pleasure, within the raw, putrid stomach. 102. Grown in a mass of feeling, like insentient, unmoving; Within ten months immature, many beings die. 103. Fully ripened, released, from the exceedingly cramped womb; With a body covered in filth, with great pain is born. 104. Thus death and joining, and fearful birth; Seeing, disgusted, peaceful, may he be detached from the round of becoming. 105. Thus death and joining, constantly remember; Even kings and wealthy, desire not becoming with that. 106. Not thinking of suffering in becoming, inclined to hope for becoming; Merit again and again gives, joining, not stilling, preferred. 107. Fearing suffering in becoming, inclined by disgust; Merit, transcending becoming, gives stilling, not becoming. 108. Having crossed over suffering in existence, and the death-bond and its connections, One should become detached from the three existences, like a master from a burning house. 109. The virtuous one, doing good deeds, remembers the suffering of rebirth; Disgusted, with a focused mind, he avoids the delight in existence. 110. Even in places produced by merit, rebirth is repulsive; Therefore, because of the delight in existence, the wise one abandons that attachment. 3. Discourse on Asubha Contemplation 1. Having seen the beautiful courtesan, to tame his lustful mind, Showing her dead body, the Conqueror spoke thus: 2. Whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, He contracts and extends, this is the body's movement. 3. Bound with bones and sinews, plastered with skin and flesh, Covered with skin, the body does not appear as it truly is. 4. Full of entrails, full of cavities, of liver, stomach, and intestines, Of heart, lungs, kidneys, and spleen. 5. Of mucus, saliva, sweat, and fat, Of blood, lymph, bile, and marrow. 6. And from its nine openings, impurity always flows; From the eye, eye-discharge, from the ear, ear-discharge. 7. And mucus from the nose, sometimes he vomits from the mouth; He vomits bile and phlegm, from the body sweat and grime. 8. And his head is hollow, Filled with brain matter; The fool considers it beautiful, Overwhelmed by ignorance. 9. And when he lies dead, Bloated and discolored; Thrown away in the charnel ground, Relatives are indifferent. 10. Dogs and jackals eat him, and worms; Crows and vultures eat, and whatever other creatures there are. 11. Having heard the Buddha's word, the wise bhikkhu here; Understands it completely, for he sees it as it truly is. 12. As this is, so is that, as that is, so is this; Inwardly and outwardly, he removes desire for the body. 13. Devoid of desire and lust, that wise bhikkhu here; Attained the deathless peace, Nibbāna, the imperishable state. 14. The biped, which Foul, stinking, to be avoided; Full of various corpses, oozing here and there. 15. With such a body, one might think to be proud; Or despise another, what else is there but ignorance? This is the "Body Dissection" sutta, also called the "Victory" sutta. 16. "Ra" is like fire, "ro" is like fire come; Therefore, "rāga" is to be said, like craving, ever burning. 17. Again and again, the fire of lust burns, those who perceive beauty; Like a worm in excrement, the lustful one is always miserable. 18. Miserable not getting what is dear, and even having it not fully;