[439] Then the Venerable Raṭṭhapāla, having finished his meal and withdrawn his hand from the bowl, stood and spoke these verses:
"Behold this adorned image, a body of sores, propped up,
afflicted, the object of many thoughts, in which there is no lasting stability.
Behold this adorned form, with jewel and with earring,
bones wrapped about with skin, made splendid together with its garments.
Feet dyed with lac, a face smeared with powder—
enough to delude a fool, but not one who seeks the far shore.
Hair dressed in eight braids, eyes smeared with collyrium—
enough to delude a fool, but not one who seeks the far shore.
A putrid body adorned, like a new painted collyrium-box—
enough to delude a fool, but not one who seeks the far shore.
The deer-hunter laid the snare, but the deer did not touch the net;
having eaten the bait, I go, while the deer-trapper laments."
Then the Venerable Raṭṭhapāla, having spoken these verses while standing, went to King Koravya's Migācīra deer range; having approached, he sat down at the root of a certain tree for the day's abiding.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.