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Sn 5.16 — Pingiya-manava-puccha: Pingiya's Question

translated from the Pāli by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

[Pingiya:]

I'm old & weak, my complexion dull. I've blurry eyes and trouble hearing, but may I not perish deluded, confused! Teach me the Dhamma so that I may know the abandoning here of birth & aging.

[The Buddha:]

Seeing people suffering on account of their bodies — heedless people are oppressed on account of their bodies — then heedful, Pingiya, let go of the body for the sake of no further becoming.

[Pingiya:]

In the four cardinal directions, the four intermediate, above & below — the ten directions — there is nothing in the world unseen, unheard, unsensed, uncognized by you. Teach me the Dhamma so that I may know the abandoning here of birth & aging.

[The Buddha:]

Seeing people, victims of craving — aflame, overwhelmed with aging — then heedful, Pingiya, let go of craving for the sake of no further becoming.
Copyright © 1994 Thanissaro Bhikkhu. The text of this page (“Pingiya-manava-puccha: Pingiya's Question”, by Thanissaro Bhikkhu) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. From Access to Insight (BCBS Edition), 30 November 2013.