SNP5.17 — The Question of the Student Piṅgiya

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I am old, feeble, and my color has faded,

(said the venerable Piṅgiya),

My eyes are not clear, my hearing is failing.

Let me not perish deeply deluded in the meantime.

Teach the Dhamma that I may know

The abandoning of birth and old age right here.

Seeing people distressed by forms,

(said the Blessed One, Piṅgiya),

Heedless people are afflicted by forms.

Therefore, Piṅgiya, being heedful,

Abandon form for the sake of no renewed existence.

The four directions, the four intermediate directions,

Above and below, these are the ten directions.

There is nothing in the world unseen, unheard, unsensed,

Or uncognized by you.

Teach the Dhamma that I may know

The abandoning of birth and old age right here.

Seeing humanity overcome by craving,

(said the Blessed One, Piṅgiya),

Tormented and afflicted by old age—

Therefore, Piṅgiya, being heedful,

Abandon craving for the sake of no renewed existence.

The Question of the Student Piṅgiya, the sixteenth.

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