Texts from the Buddhist canon : commonly known as Dhammapada

36
—
DHAMMAPADA.
she had become loathsome as a corpse, her face pallid, her
teeth gone, the hair faUen from her head, hateful insects
feeding on her flesh. Frightened and aghast at the sight,
Pundari hastened away from the spot, and as she ex-
claimed " How transient is human beauty !
" she hurried
back dgain in the direction of Buddha's dwelling-place,
and having arrived, cast herself prostrate at his feet, and
related to him what she had seen, on which Buddha
addressed her thus— "There are four things, Pundari,
which must ever cause sadness and disappointment.
That one, however beautiful, must yet become old ; that
one, however firmly established, must die ;
that one bound
in iclosest ties of relationship and affection, must yet be
separated from those -he loves ; and that wealth, heaped
up in ever such profusion, must yet be scattered and
lost." And then the World-honoured added these lines,
and said
" Old age brings with it loss of all bodily attrac-
tion ; through decay and disease a man perishes
his body bent, and his flesh withered, this is the
end of life. What use is this body when it lies
rotting beside the flowings of the Granges ? It is but
the prison-house of disease, and of the pains of old
age and death. To delight in pleasure, and to be
greedy after self-indujgence, is but to increase the
load of sin, forgetting the great change that must
come, and the inconstancy of human life. With no
son to depend upon, without father or brother
Death pressing at the door—without a friend (rela-
tion) to look to for aid."
The courtezan having heard these words, was able to
see that life is but as the flower, that there is nought
permanent but NirvS,na, and so she requested permission
;