Devatāsaṁyutta 76

Linked Discourses 1.76

8. Slain

Getting Old

1 “What ages, what does not age?

What’s called a deviation?

What’s a roadblock for skillful qualities?

What is ending day and night?

What’s the stain of celibacy?

What’s the waterless bath?

2 How many holes are there in the world,

where one’s wealth leaks out?

We’ve come to ask the worthy sir:

how are we to understand this?”

3 “The physical form of mortals gets old,

but their name and clan don’t.

Lust is called a deviation,

4 and greed is a roadblock for skillful qualities.

Youth is ending day and night.

Women are the stain of chastity,

to which this generation clings.

Fervor and chastity

are the waterless bath.

5 There are six holes in the world,

where one’s wealth leaks out:

laziness and negligence,

lack of initiative and lack of restraint,

sleepiness and sloth.

You should completely get rid of these holes!”