[492] 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 paid homage to the Blessed One and 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 no good, done nothing wholesome, made no shelter against fear. Let Master Gotama exhort us; let Master Gotama instruct us in that which would be for our welfare and happiness (sukha) 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 no good, done nothing wholesome, made no shelter against fear. This world, brahmins, is ablaze (āditta) with aging, sickness, and death (jarā, byādhi, maraṇa). When the world is thus ablaze with aging, sickness, and death, whatever restraint there is here by body, restraint by speech, restraint by mind — that, for one who has passed on, is his protection, his shelter, his island, his refuge, and his final resort."
When a house is ablaze,
the vessel that is carried out
is of use to him,
but not what is burnt within it.
So too, when the world is ablaze
with aging and death,
one should carry out by giving:
what has been given is well carried out.
Whatever restraint there is here by body,
by speech, or by mind —
that is for the happiness of one who has passed on:
the merit that he performs while living.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.