Texts from the Buddhist canon : commonly known as Dhammapada

' without
32 DHAMMAPADA.
offspring cut off. On wluch. occasion Buddha repeated
these lines
—
" "Whatever exists ^ {^sansMrd) is without endurance.
And hence the terms "flourishing" and
" decaying." 2 A man is bom, and then he dies.
Oh, the happiness of escaping from this condition I
For the life of men is but as the earthen vessels
made in a potter's mill; formed with such care,
they are all destined to destruction."
^akra, having heard these verses, was enabled to enter
on the first path of the Buddhist profession, and ohtained
peace.
2. On a certain occasion Buddha was residing in the
country of ^r§,vastt (Sewet). The E§ja Prasenajit had
been celebrating the funeral obsequies of the queen-mother,
aged more than ninety years. On his return, he came to
the place where Buddha was and saluted him. Oh this
the great teacher spake thus (after inquiring respecting
the occasion of the visit) : " There are four things, Eaja
which from the first till now have been the causes of con-
stant anxiety and fear to men—the fear of old age, of
disease, of death, and of grief consequent on death. Alas !
the life of man is but as the perishing things we see
around us ;
to-day they flourish, to-morrow they are gone.
Just as the waters of the five rivers 3 are ever flowing on
cessation day and night, such is the case with
man—his life is ever ebbing away." And then the Hon-
oured of the world spoke these words and said
" As the waters of a river ever hasten on and
flow away, and once gone, never return, such is
1 Ch. Mng. has often the meaning I have given it
2 The Chinese fS, as is well known, in the text.
' Of thei'ajyo6?
—
!