Sirimaṇḍa (THAG6.13)

Verses of the Senior Monks 6.13

The Book of the Sixes

Chapter One

Sirimaṇḍa

The rain saturates things that are covered up;

it doesn’t saturate things that are open.

Therefore you should open up a covered thing,

so the rain will not saturate it.

The world is beaten down by death

and surrounded by old age.

The dart of craving has struck it down,

and it’s always fuming with desire.

The world is beaten down by death,

caged by old age,

beaten constantly without respite,

like a criminal being flogged.¹

Three things are coming, like a wall of flame:

death, disease, and old age.

No power can stand before them,

and no speed’s enough to flee.

Don’t waste your day,

a little or a lot.

Every night that passes

shortens your life by that much.

Walking or standing,

sitting or lying down:

your final night draws near;

you have no time to be careless.