Not nakedness, not platted hair, not dirt, not fasting, or lying on the
earth, not rubbing with dust, not sitting motionless, can purify a
mortal who has not overcome desires.
He who, though dressed in fine apparel, exercises tranquillity, is
quiet, subdued, restrained, chaste, and has ceased to find fault with
all other beings, he indeed is a Brahmana, an ascetic (Sramana), a friar
(Bhikshu).
Is there in this world any man so restrained by shame that he does not
provoke reproof, as a noble horse the whip?
Like a noble horse when touched by the whip, be ye strenuous and eager,
and by faith, by virtue, by energy, by meditation, by discernment of the
law, you will overcome this great pain, perfect in knowledge and in
behavior, and never forgetful.
Well-makers lead the water wherever they like; fletchers bend the arrow;
carpenters bend a log of wood; good people fashion themselves.
CHAPTER XI
OLD AGE
How is there laughter, how is there joy, as this world is always
burning? Do you not seek a light, ye who are surrounded by darkness?
Look at this dressed-up lump, covered with wounds, joined together,
sickly, full of many schemes, but which has no strength, no hold!
This body is wasted, full of sickness, and frail; this heap of
corruption breaks to pieces, life indeed ends in death.
After one has looked at those gray bones, thrown away like gourds in the
autumn, what pleasure is there left in life!
After a stronghold has been made of the bones, it is covered with flesh
and blood, and there dwell in it old age and death, pride and deceit.
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