[491] On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling at Sāvatthī, in Anāthapiṇḍika's park. Then two brahmins — old, aged, elderly, advanced in years, come to the last stage of life, a hundred and twenty years from birth — approached the Blessed One; having approached, they exchanged greetings with the Blessed One, and when the courteous and memorable talk was concluded, they sat down to one side. Sitting to one side, those brahmins said this to the Blessed One: "Master Gotama, we are brahmins — old, aged, elderly, advanced in years, come to the last stage of life, a hundred and twenty years from birth — and we have done nothing good, done nothing wholesome, made no shelter against fear. Let Master Gotama exhort us; let Master Gotama instruct us in what would be for our welfare and happiness for a long time."
"Truly, brahmins, you are old, aged, elderly, advanced in years, come to the last stage of life, a hundred and twenty years from birth, and you have done nothing good, done nothing wholesome, made no shelter against fear. This world, brahmins, is being swept away by aging, by illness, by death. When the world is thus being swept away by aging, by illness, by death, whatever restraint of body, restraint of speech, and restraint of mind one exercises here — that will be one's protection, shelter, island, refuge, and final resort when one has passed on."
Life is swept along; short is the lifespan;
for one carried off by aging there are no shelters.
Beholding this peril in death,
one should do deeds of merit that bring happiness.
Whatever restraint one exercises here by body,
by speech, or by mind —
that brings happiness to one who has passed on:
the merit one performs while yet alive.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.