"That's the way it is, Ananda. When young, one is subject to aging; when healthy, subject to illness; when alive, subject to death. The complexion is no longer so clear & bright; the limbs are flabby & wrinkled; the back, bent forward; there's a discernible change in the faculties -- the faculty of the eye, the faculty of the ear, the faculty of the nose, the faculty of the tongue, the faculty of the body."
That is what the Blessed One said. Having said that, the One Well-gone, the Teacher, said further:
I spit on you, old age --
old age that makes for ugliness.
The bodily image, so charming,
is trampled by old age.
Even those who live to a hundred
are headed -- all -- to an end in death,
which spares no one,
which tramples all.
Dhamma Essay:
The Vital Link by Bhikkhu Bodhi
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