English
Home of water, wind, fire, earth, serpent's site, Like a crumbling house, feeble, dim of light, Seeing this, how can the wise find delight? 49. Life's dwindling, moment by moment's flight, Death follows close, with age's sword of might, Time doesn't turn back, past takes its flight, Isn't this suffering in existence, beyond thought's height? 50. Short-lived, death's easy in existences' sway, Long-lived, old age, woes in array, Thus in existence, suffering holds sway, Practice Dhamma, suffering to allay; 51. By suffering's great fire, sorely pressed, Three worlds dwell in existence's unrest, All-giving, time for good deeds, no test, O, be not heedless, supreme good invest; 52. Small joy, like water drop on grass's crest, The ocean's water may dry up in all the world, Yet that conception remains in its own nature. All the triple world is truly only suffering. 53. The body does not follow where the body leads, The fool performs various kinds of suffering here. The body is ever a mire, a mass of filth in the world, Attached to the body constantly, he falls into ruin. 54. A heap of excrement, a mass of filth, foul-smelling, Like stake, sword, dart, poison, serpent, disease, Contemplate the body, abode of decay and death, Empty, ever without essence, this despicable thing. 55. Suffering, impermanent, impure is this self, Do not defile it, for there is never permanence. Alas, there is not even a little essence here, Practice essence, abandon the stain of heedlessness. 56. In the aggregates, five, in the six sense-spheres, Like illusion, mirage, plantain, reed, foam-heap, Like Ganges' waves, water bubbles, There is no self, who but a fool would say otherwise? 57. A barren woman's son in a hare-horned chariot, Might drive for long, holding the reins firmly, Like a lamp's flame, of momentary destruction, More feeble than that, they say, is the body as self. 58. As a fool with a bubble-vessel Would drink mirage-water to the brim, So, devoid of essence, like a plantain, Through delusion, he would claim this body as self. 59. He who seeks the bloom of the fig, mirage-water, That fool encounters only weariness, He harms himself for the sake of self, There is never a self to be found in this body. 60. As a man peeling a plantain, Would not find even a little pith, So, in the aggregates, five, in the six sense-spheres, Empty, one would not find any essence at all. 61. Without thread, there is no cloth to be found, Without the body, there is no being to be found, The body is devoid of nature, subject to instant breaking, Who else but self is to be found on earth? 62. Seeing mirage-water from afar, The foolish deer runs, thinking it is water, Thus, devoid of nature, In the body, imagined as opposite, Desire arises through conception. In the body, empty of inherent nature, established by conception, No self exists, like lightning in the sky. Cultivate, devoted to cultivation, free from heedlessness, The perception of not-self, for the destruction of all influxes. Smeared with saliva, feces, blood, and tears, This body, a mass of filth, a heap of impurity, without essence, The wise always avoid, as something disgusting, Like a pot full of various impurities. Even having bathed with all the water of the four oceans, And with unsurpassed fragrance, even the size of Mount Meru, A person never attains purity, What quality do you see? What self do you see? This body is the very abode of various impurities, This body is the very cause of killing, bondage, and disease, This body is the very source of nine kinds of festering sores, Apart from the body, there is no cemetery that is fearful. If what is inside, like feces and excrement, Were to go outside the body, coming forth, Mother and father, devoid of compassion and lost love, Would surely be disgusted, what of relatives, children, and wives? Those who nourish the body, like a nine-mouthed house of worms, A mass of flesh, bones, pus, and blood, foul-smelling, Having committed various sins here, They are deluded by the law of death, alas! In this body, like a boil, the abode of various diseases, Always full of blood, excrement, and feces, The person who delights in it is like a jackal eating carrion, Surely, that fool suffers in the next world. This body, like a foam ball, without essence, Like a toilet, always foul-smelling, Like the abode of a venomous snake, full of fear and suffering, Always leaking, like a broken salt pot. Just as a lotus is born in a despicable place, In mud, amidst a heap of impurities, So too, though born from the body, That which is for the benefit of others is never despicable in this world. The thirty-two parts are completely distinct, Just as the bodies of men and women are in the world, What is the use of bodies to the wise? Surely, it is only for the benefit of others. Even though wise like Posona, this body Should be protected with all effort for long, One should live righteously for a long time, For Dhamma is like a wish-fulfilling jewel. Just as in well-churned milk, The strength of medicine shines through the ghee, So too, Dhamma practiced in this world, Goes like a shadow with one departing to the next. As the shadow appears fittingly In a clear and beautiful mirror made for the body, So too, having done supreme good deeds, One is adorned in the next world by its fruit. In this body, the abode of various sufferings, Deluded by ignorance, negligence, and the notion of happiness, Like one licking honey on a sharp razor's edge, The fool greatly encounters suffering. With thoughts and desires gone, without attachment, The unwise always attain suffering, For the fool, the notion of happiness in this world Is like a poisonous fruit, when considered. Possessing all enjoyments, wealth, and abundant grain, Even if handsome like the god of love, If one meets death unwillingly in youth, It is because one was a killer of others' lives in the next world. He becomes a beggar with a broken pot in hand, Shaved-headed, scolded with hundreds of insults, Always begging in others' homes, wearing rags, Because in the next world, he stole others' minds. A woman always renounces womanhood, And that woman always becomes a man in the next life, Who violates another's wife, who should not be violated, And always finds terrible and various misfortunes. Wretched, with a foul-smelling face, dull, and unwise, Always mute and unpleasant to look at, He attains incomparable suffering as a human being, Who speaks falsely, a fool. They become mad, devoid of shame and virtue, Always wretched, devoted to misfortune and sorrow, Born in various existences with deformed bodies, Because the wise drink intoxicating liquor like poison. Whatever evil deeds have been done here, Countless hundreds of thousands, Having obtained terrible, incomparable suffering in hells, One attains here various misfortunes and many evils. 84. In all the three worlds, there is nothing equal To the peace of the world through the Triple Gem, By that great power, having conquered all evil, May I always attain all happiness. 85. In all the three worlds, may all beings, Friends, neutrals, enemies, relatives, and people, all, May they always be free from disease, fear, and sorrow, Having attained all happiness, may they rejoice. 86. The body is like a pot filled with excrement, a broken vessel, The body is always a dwelling place of impurity and misfortune, In the body, all happiness is destroyed, so says the world, The body is always a dwelling place of death, disease, and old age. 87. Whether young, old, or child, Death does not regard beings, it destroys them, Whether standing, lying down, or departing, I am going to the mouth of death, certainly so. 88. Thus, as this body is full of faults, Always keep this in mind, Loving-kindness, protection, foulness, and mindfulness of death, Cultivate these, devoted to cultivation, always restrained. 89. Having done meritorious deeds such as giving, which are sources of happiness, And giving that fruit, immeasurable here, completely, May it always be given for the benefit and happiness of others, What else is the essence truly in hand? 90. Nothing happens in the world without a cause, Like sound born from the striking of hands, And so, distinct by the division of cause and effect, The world arises, perishes, and exists. 91. As ignorance is the cause of karma, By karma, one attains the distinction of birth, Depending on birth, suffering such as old age and death, Beings always obtain in beginningless time. 92. As there is no karma when delusion is destroyed, By the destruction of karma, there is no birth in existences, By the destruction of birth here, suffering such as old age and death, All destruction occurs, like a lamp by the wind. 93. He who always sees here the body of the Buddha's doctrine, That person sees the Buddha, so he said, Buddha And the flawless Dhamma, the Lord of the three worlds, Seek and investigate the nature of Dhamma, O good people; 94. Like a sharp dart plunged into the heart, The threefold defilement, smeared with various sinful stains, A vessel of diverse miseries, displeasing, Remove it with the hook of wisdom; 95. The worldly conditions do not shake, The mind that has always cast off sinful defilements, Forms and other diverse objects, all together, Like the peak of Mount Meru touched by a great wind; 96. The suffering of Saṃsāra, immeasurable, as the Sage, Having crossed the ocean of profound perfections, The knowable is awakened, subtle, the net of delusion destroyed, Therefore, always accumulate the supreme benefit of others; 97. Having abandoned the bliss of liberation attained, for the sake of others, He wandered in existences, in great dangers, for their benefit, Thus, always placing the benefit of others first,