The Venerable Pingiya:

"I am old and feeble, the comeliness of youth has vanished. My sight is weak and I am hard of hearing. I do not wish to perish whilst still confused. Teach me the Dhamma by understanding which I may abandon birth and decay."[1]

The Lord:

"Seeing heedless people afflicted and suffering through their bodies, Pingiya, you should be heedful and renounce body so as to not come again to birth."

The Venerable Pingiya:

"In the ten directions — the four quarters, four between, and those above and below — there is nothing in the world not seen, heard, sensed or understood by you. Teach me the Dhamma by understanding which I may abandon birth and decay."

The Lord:

"Seeing men caught in craving, Pingiya, tormented and afflicted by old age, you should be heedful and renounce craving so as to not come again to birth."

Note

1.: Jara: decay, decrepitude, old age.

Copyright © 1983 Buddhist Publication Society. The text of this page (“Pingiya-manava-puccha: Pingiya's Question”, by John D. Ireland) is licensed under a Buddhist Publication Society free-distribution licence. From Access to Insight (BCBS Edition), 30 November 2013. You may copy, reformat, reprint, republish, and redistribute this work in any medium whatsoever, provided that: (1) you only make such copies, etc. available free of charge and, in the case of reprinting, only in quantities of no more than 50 copies; (2) you clearly indicate that any derivatives of this work (including translations) are derived from this source document; and (3) you include the full text of this license in any copies or derivatives of this work. Otherwise, all rights reserved. This presentation is a derivative of that source document: it has been restyled and its links rewritten. The translation itself is unaltered.