3:8 The Arrow · 莲华归心开放中文佛学资料库

- suttas - - evening talks - short morning talks - lectures - guided meditations - talk collections - other themes - chants - - - - à¹à¸à¸¢ - Franā§ais - Espaā±ol - - Portuguāªs - Ð ÑÑÑÐºÐ¸Ð¹ - - - Ð£ÐºÑÐ°ÑÐ½ÑÑÐºÐ° Submit Search - Home - Suttas - KN - Sn - Sn 3:8 The Arrow ## Browse Suttas Go to Sutta Nipṅta index Sn index ## 3:8 Â The Arrow Without sign, unknown —the life here of mortals— difficult, short, tied up with pain. For thereâs no way by which those who are born will not die. Beings are subject to death even when they attain old age. Like ripe fruits whose downfall, whose danger is falling, so for mortals, once born, the constant danger is death. As clay vessels made by a potter all end up broken, so too life heads to death.1 Young & old wise & foolish: All come under the sway of death; all have death as their end. For those overcome by death, gone to the other world, father cannot shelter son, nor relatives a relative. See: Even while relatives are looking on, wailing heavily, mortals are one by one led away like cows to the slaughter. In this way is the world afflicted with aging & death, and so the enlightened donât grieve, knowing the way of the world. "You donât know the path of his coming or going: seeing neither end, you lament in vain."2 If, by lamenting, —confused, harming yourself— any use could be gained the prudent would do it as well. But not by weeping & grief do you gain peace of awareness. Pain arises all the more. Your body is harmed. You grow thin, pale, harming yourself by yourself. Not in that way are the dead protected. Lamentationâs in vain. Not abandoning grief, a person suffers all the more pain. Bewailing one whose time is done, you fall under the sway of grief. Look at others going along, people arriving in line with their actions: falling under the sway of death, beings simply shivering here. For however they imagine it, it always turns out other than that. Thatâs the type of (their) separation. See the way of the world. Even if a person lives a century —or more— heâs parted from his community of relatives, he abandons his life right here. So, having heard the arahant, subduing lamentation, seeing the dead one whose time is done, [think,] "I canât fetch him back."3 Just as one would put out a burning refuge with water, so does the enlightened one— discerning, skillful, & wise— blow away any arisen grief, like the wind, a bit of cotton fluff. Seeking your own happiness, you should pull out your own arrow: your own lamentation, longing, & sorrow.4 With arrow pulled out, independent, attaining peace of awareness, all grief transcended, griefless you are unbound. vv. 574–593 Notes 1. See the verse at the end of DNÂ 16, part III. 2. See ThigÂ 6:1. 3. These lines can also be translated as follows: So, having heard the arahant, subdue lamentation, seeing the dead one whose time is done, [and thinking,] "I canât fetch him back." 4. These lines can also be translated as follows: Just as one would put out a burning refuge with water, so does the enlightened one— discerning, skillful, & wise— blow away any arisen grief, his own lamentation, longing, & sorrow, like the wind, a bit of cotton fluff. Seeking your own happiness, you should pull out your own arrow. See also: MNÂ 82; MNÂ 87; SNÂ 21:2; SNÂ 36:6; SNÂ 47:13; ANÂ 5:49; UdÂ 8:8; ThigÂ 3:5; ThigÂ 6:1 - --> - - - -