![[info icon]](./../../../img/question_16.gif "Summary: Alarmed by the deterioration of his aging body, Pingiya asks the Buddha how to conquer birth and decay.")
Sn 5.16
PTS: Sn 1120-1123
Pingiya-manava-puccha: Pingiya's Question
translated from the Pali by
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Alternate translation: Ireland
[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.
©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. To view a copy of the license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. Documents linked from this page may be subject to other restrictions.
Transcribed from a file provided by the translator. Last revised for Access to Insight on 29 August 2012.
How to cite this document (a suggested style): "Pingiya-manava-puccha: Pingiya's Question" (Sn 5.16), translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Access to Insight (BCBS Edition), 29 August 2012, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/snp/snp.5.16.than.html .