南傳法句經 第十一 老品（146～156偈）
〈简〉
法增比丘譯
（Dhammavaro Bhikkhu）
146、
世常燃燒1中，
有何可喜樂？
汝常在瞑暗2，
何不求光明？
1.世界有十一種火常燒：貪、瞋、癡、病、老、死、愁、悲、苦、憂、惱。
2.（無明）。
147、
觀此粉飾身，
瘡*肉與骨聚，
身病心妄想，
無常不久存。
*九瘡﹕雙目、雙耳、雙鼻孔、口及大小便孔。
148、
形勞衰老身，
病巢易敗壞，
穢身必腐散，
有生終歸死。
149、
如彼葫蘆瓜，
秋至而散棄，
骸骨變灰白，
觀此有何樂？
150、
骨架為城廓，
血肉作塗飾，
蘊藏老病死，
憍慢與虛偽。
151、
盛妝皇乘壞，
此身亦老朽，
唯善法*永垂，
傳示於善人。
*（九出世間法﹕四向、四果與涅槃）。
152、
寡聞少學人，
老去如牡牛，
徒增長筋肉，
而不生智慧。
153、
多生輪迴中，
探尋造屋者*，
而未得見之，
再生實是苦。
*（貪）。
154、
造屋者已見，
不再造新屋1，
椽柱2均斷折，
棟樑3亦摧毀，
我心證無為4，
一切愛欲滅。
（153，154兩偈合誦）
1.（色身）。
2.（煩惱）。
3.（無明）。
4.（涅槃）。
155、
不修於佛法，
少壯不積蓄，
如沼邊老鷺，
頹伺空魚池。
156、
不修於佛法，
少壯不積蓄，
如破折棄弓，
悲歎於往昔。
（155，156兩偈合誦）
Jaravagga: Aging
translated from the Pali by
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
146
What laughter, why joy, when constantly aflame? Enveloped in darkness, don't you look for a lamp?
147
Look at the beautified image, a heap of festering wounds,
shored up: ill, but the object of many resolves, where there is nothing lasting or sure.
148
Worn out is this body, a nest of diseases, dissolving. This putrid conglomeration is bound to break up, for life is hemmed in with death.
149
On seeing these bones discarded like gourds in the fall, pigeon-gray: what delight?
150
A city made of bones, plastered over with flesh
& blood, whose hidden treasures are: pride & contempt, aging & death.
151
Even royal chariots well-embellished get run down, and so does the body succumb to old age. But the Dhamma of the good doesn't succumb to old age: the good let the civilized know.
152
This unlistening man matures like an ox. His muscles develop, his discernment not.
153-154
Through the round of many births
I roamed without reward, without rest, seeking the house-builder. Painful is birth again & again.
House-builder, you're seen! You will not build a house again. All your rafters broken, the ridge pole dismantled, immersed in dismantling,
the mind has attained to
the end of craving.
155-156
Neither living the chaste life nor gaining wealth in their youth, they waste away like old herons in a dried-up lake depleted of fish.
Neither living the chaste life nor gaining wealth in their youth, they lie around, misfired from the bow, sighing over old times.