Getting Old (SN1.76)

Linked Discourses 1.76

8. Slain

Getting Old

“What ages, what does not age?

What’s called a deviation?

What’s a roadblock for skillful qualities?

What is ending day and night?

What’s the stain of celibacy?

What’s the waterless bath?

How many holes are there in the world,

where one’s wealth leaks out?

We’ve come to ask the worthy sir:

how are we to understand this?”

“The physical form of mortals gets old,

but their name and clan don’t.

Lust is called a deviation,

and greed is a roadblock for skillful qualities.

Youth is ending day and night.

Women are the stain of chastity,

to which this generation clings.

Fervor and chastity

are the waterless bath.

There are six holes in the world,

where one’s wealth leaks out:

laziness and negligence,

lack of initiative and lack of restraint,¹

sleepiness and sloth.

You should completely get rid of these holes!”