4:6 Old Age

- suttas - - evening talks - short morning talks - lectures - guided meditations - talk collections - other themes - chants - - - - à¹à¸à¸¢ - Franā§ais - Espaā±ol - - Portuguāªs - РÑÑÑкий - - - УкÑаÑнÑÑка Submit Search - Home - Suttas - KN - Sn - Sn 4:6 Old Age ## Browse Suttas Go to Sutta Nipṅta index Sn index ## 4:6  Old Age How short this life! You die this side of a century, but even if you live past, you die of old age. People grieve for what they see as mine, for          nothing possessed is constant, nothing is constantly possessed.1 Seeing this separation simply as it is, one shouldnât follow the household life. At death a person abandons what he supposes as mine. Realizing this, the wise shouldnât incline to be devoted to mine-ness. Just as a man doesnât see on awakening what he met in a dream, even so he doesnât see, when they are dead —their time done— those he held dear. When they are seen & heard, people are called by this name or that, but only the name remains to be pointed to when they are dead. Grief, lamentation, & selfishness are not let go by those greedy for mine, so sages letting go of possessions, go about seeing the Secure. A monk, living withdrawn, enjoying a dwelling secluded: They say itâs congenial for him, he who wouldnât, in any realm, display self. Everywhere the sage independent makes nothing dear or undear. In him lamentation & selfishness, like water on a white lotus, do not adhere. As a water bead on a lotus leaf, as water on a red lily, doesnât adhere, so the sage doesnât adhere to the seen, the heard, or the sensed; for, cleansed, he doesnât suppose in connection with the seen, the heard, or the sensed. In no other way does he wish for purity, for he neither takes on passion nor puts it away.2 vv. 804–813 Notes 1. "Nothing possessed is constant, nothing is constantly possessed"—two readings of the phrase, na hi santi niccṅ pariggahṅ. 2. Nd I: An arahant has put passion totally away once and for all, and so has no need to do it ever again. See also: SN 21:2; AN 4:184; Dhp 21; Sn 5:16 - --> - - - -