Salla Sutta | Sn III-8
8. Salla Sutta
Discourse on the Dart
579. Like a bolt from the blue, death snatches away life, ignorant. During the short sojourn too life's a composite of cares and woes.
580. From birth onwards, the relentless process of death cannot be hindered by any kind of effort; death comes to the aged, as well as to the young: This is the lot of all living beings. (2)
581. Ripe fruits face the peril of falling each morning; similarly, all living beings, having taken birth, constantly face the peril of falling dead. (3)
582. Those earthenware's, (painstakingly) produced by the potter, all end up broken (and worthless); so also all life ends in death. (4)
583. Young or old, foolish or wise, all succumb to Death's wish; all living beings are subject to death. (5)
584. Those rained by death and passion to another existence, no parent could protect son against death, or any kinsman his kith and kin. (6)
585. See! Even while the relatives watch and lament, Death snatches away, one by one, just like the cow to be slaughtered is carried away to the slaughter-house. (7)
586. In this way do death and decay oppress all. That's why, being wise about the world, the Serene Ones stand calm and composed. (8)
587. From where he has come, or where he will go, his way nobody knows. Both the entrance and the exit are unseen. Yet tears are beings shed vainly. (9)
588. If lamentation could bring any good, or stupefaction (infatuation) could help in any way, discerning men would resort to them. (10)
589. Weeping and sorrowing do not pacify the mind; they bring more pain, they are destructive to the body. (11)
590. By self-mortification one merely wastes oneself away, losing one's proper looks. No amount of bewailing would benefit the departed; losing one's proper looks. Therefore lamentation is just senseless. (12)
591. A person who cannot overcome sorrow brings anguish (of body and mind) to himself. He, who bewails the dead, is simply subjecting himself to sorrow. (13)
592. Look at some of those who pass away, by their own destinies to another existence, or who, being subject to death, succumb to him trembling with fear. (14)
593. People certainly imagine themselves as living long, as free from disease, but death and disease do befall them soon. Thus divergence is the rule. That's why life's mark is unpredictability. (15)
594. Even if one lives to be a hundred, or more, he is a lone someone, his relative having parted by death, and (at last) he too must give up this life. (16)
595. So, after hearing the Buddha's (discourse), give up lamenting when you see a death of a person, fully understanding that it's not possible to wish to be him alive again. (17)
596. In as much as fire burning a house is extinguished by water without delay, so also the resolute, learned and wise man should extinguish the sorrow that may have consumed him, and this must be done with dispatch as a blast blows away a bit of cotton. (18)
597. He who is wise in own welfare, should pull out the darts of sorrow, murmur and melancholy from one's heart by one's own effort. (19)
598. Once the darts have been removed, there is no more dependence on craving and wrong views:
The mind is at peace, all sorrows are overcome, there's the realization of sorrow-lessness or Nibbāna.
End of the Eight Salla Sutta