Enveloped by darkness, why do you not seek a lamp?

Afflicted, the object of many thoughts, for which there is no stable duration.

This putrid body breaks up, for life has death as its end.

Dove-coloured - having seen them, what delight?

Where ageing and death, conceit and contempt are laid down.

But the teaching of the virtuous does not approach ageing, the virtuous indeed declare this among the virtuous."

His flesh increases, but his wisdom does not increase.

Seeking the house-builder, painful is birth again and again.

All your ribs are broken, the peak of the house is demolished;

The mind has gone to the unconditioned, it has reached the elimination of cravings.

They brood like old herons, in a pond where the fish are gone.

They lie like arrows shot from a bow, lamenting the past.