[380] Signless and unknown is the life of mortals here—
difficult and brief, and bound up with suffering (dukkha).
For there is no means by which
those who are born shall not die;
even upon reaching old age (jarā) there is death (maraṇa),
for such is the nature of living beings.
As for ripe fruits there is peril from their falling at early morning,
so for mortals who are born there is constant peril from death.
Just as vessels of clay fashioned by a potter
all have breakage as their end, so is the life of mortals.
The young and the grown, the foolish and the wise—
all go under the sway of death; all have death as their destination.
As they are overcome by death, passing hence to the world beyond,
no father can protect his son, nor kinsmen their kin.
Behold! Even while the kinsmen look on, lamenting profusely,
mortals are led away one by one, like an ox to the slaughter.
Thus is the world stricken by death and by old age;
therefore the steadfast do not sorrow (soka), having understood the way of the world.
You do not know the path (magga) of one who has come or gone;
not seeing both ends, you lament (parideva) in vain.
If one lamenting—a deluded person harming himself—
could draw forth any benefit, then one of discernment would do the same.
For not by weeping, nor by sorrow, does one attain peace of mind;
suffering arises for him all the more, and his body is injured.
He becomes thin and pale, harming himself by his own self;
the departed are not sustained thereby—lamentation is useless.
A person who does not abandon sorrow comes to suffering all the more;
bewailing the one who has died, he falls under the sway of sorrow.
Behold others too, going their way, people passing on according to their deeds (kamma):
beings here, come under the power of death, simply writhing!
For in whatever way they conceive it, it turns out otherwise;
such is separation—behold the way of the world!
Though a man should live a hundred years, or even more,
he is parted from his company of kin; he leaves behind life here.
Therefore, having listened to the Arahant, one should dispel lamentation;
seeing a departed one who has died, [one reflects:] "He cannot be won back by me."
Just as one would extinguish a blazing shelter with water,
so too the steadfast one—a man endowed with wisdom, learned and skillful—
would swiftly scatter arisen sorrow, as the wind a tuft of cotton.
Lamentation and longing and one's own grief (domanassa)—
seeking his own happiness, let one draw out this dart from oneself.
With the dart drawn out, unattached, having attained peace of mind,
gone beyond all sorrow, sorrowless is he, quenched.
The Salla Sutta, the eighth.
_______________
In the Suttanipāta, the ninth [discourse] of the third chapter, the Great Chapter: the Vāseṭṭha Sutta.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.