Monday, June 8, 2026

Dhammapada 146 ~ 152 (Old Age & Death is Awaiting)

This particular section of the Dhammapada touches me deeply tonight. It may have to do with the fact I am getting old and my body is not functioning as well as in the past.

第 11 章. 노모품(老耗品) – 늙음의 장 OLD AGE 11. 늙 음

146. Why is there laughter, why is there joy while this world is always burning? Why do you not seek a light, you who are shrouded in darkness (ignorance)? [Note: Fire is used by the Buddhists to represent the empirical process which is full of suffering.]

何喜何笑 世常熾然 深蔽幽冥 不如求錠.

하희하소 세상치연 심폐유명 불여구정

무엇을 웃고 무엇을 기뻐하랴 세상은 끊임없이 불타고 있는데 그대는 암흑에 둘러싸인 채 어찌하여 등불을 찾지 않는가



147. Look at this dressed-up lump, covered with wounds, joined together, sickly, full of many thoughts, which has no strength, no hold!

見身形範 倚以爲安 多想致病 豈知非眞 (견신형범 의이위안 다상치병 기지비진)

보라, 이 꾸며 놓은 몸뚱이를 육신은 상처 덩어리에 불과한 것 병치레 끊일 새 없고 욕망에 타오르고 단단하지도 영원하지도 못한 껍데기



148. This body is wasted, full of sickness, and frail; this heap of corruption breaks to pieces, life indeed ends in death.

老則色衰 所病自壞 形敗腐오 命終自然 (노즉색쇠 소병자괴 형패부오 명종자연)

이 몸은 늙어서 시들고 터지기 쉬운 질병의 주머니 썩은 육신은 마디마디 흩어지고 삶은 반드시 죽음으로 끝난다.



149. Those white bones, like gourds thrown away in the autumn, what pleasure is there in looking at them?

自死神徙 如御棄車 肉消骨散 身何可호

자사신사 여어기거 육소골산 신하가호

목숨이 다해 정신이 떠나면 가을 들녘에 버려진 표주박, 살은 썩고 흰 뼈다귀만 뒹굴 텐데 무엇을 기뻐할 것인가



150. 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.

身爲如城 骨幹肉塗 生至老死 但藏규慢

신위여성 골간육도 생지노사 단장규만

뼈로써 성곽을 이루고 살과 피로 포장이 되었다 그 안에 늙음과 죽음, 자만과 거짓만 도사리고 있다.



151. The splendid chariots of kings wear away; the body also comes to old age but the virtue of the good never ages, thus the good teach to each other.

老則形變 喩如故車 法能除苦 宜以力學

노즉형변 유여고거 법능제고 의이력학

화려한 왕의 수레도 닳아 없어지고 이 몸도 그와 같이 늙어 버리지만 선한 이의 가르침은 시들지 않는다 선한 사람끼리 진리를 말하므로



152. A man who has learnt little, grows old like an ox; his flesh grows, but his knowledge does not grow.

人之無聞 老苦特牛 但長肌肥 無有智慧

인지무문 노고특우 단장기비 무유지혜

배움이 적은 사람은 황소처럼 늙어간다 육신의 살은 찌지만 그의 지혜는 자라지 않는다.

Sunday, June 7, 2026

Dhammapada 153 & 154 (Words of Exultation of the Buddha)

https://www.tipitaka.net/tipitaka/dhp/verseload.php?verse=153

The Story Concerning the "Words of Exultation of the Buddha"

These two verses are expressions of intense and sublime joy felt by the Buddha at the moment of attainment of Supreme Enlightenment (Bodhi nana or Sabbannuta nana). These verses were repeated at the Jetavana monastery at the request of the Venerable Ananda.

Prince Siddhattha, of the family of Gotama, son of King Suddhodana and Queen Maya of the kingdom of the Sakyans, renounced the world at the age of twenty-nine and became an ascetic in search of the Dhamma (Truth). For six years, he wandered about the valley of the Ganges, approaching famous religious leaders, studying their doctrines and methods. He lived austerely and submitted himself strictly to rigorous ascetic discipline; but he found all these traditional practices to be unsound. He was determined to find the Truth in his own way, and by avoiding the two extremes of excessive sensual indulgence and self-mortification*, he found the Middle Path which would lead to Perfect Peace, Nibbana. This Middle Path (Majjhimapatipada) is the Noble Path of Eight Constituents, viz., Right view, Right thought, Right speech, Right action, Right livelihood, Right effort, Right mindfulness and Right concentration.

Thus, one evening, seated under a Bo tree on the bank of the Neranjara river, Prince Siddhattha Gotama attained Supreme Enlightenment (Bodhi nana or Sabbannuta nana) at the age of thirty-five. During the first watch of the night, the prince attained the power of recollection of past existences (Pubbenivasanussati-nana) and during the second watch he attained the divine power of sight (Dibbacakkhu nana). Then, during the third watch of the night he contemplated the Doctrine of Dependent Origination (Paticcasamuppada) in the order of arising (anuloma) as well as in the order of cessation (patiloma). At the crack of dawn, Prince Siddhattha Gotama by his own intellect and insight fully and completely comprehended the Four Noble Truths. The Four Noble Truths are: The Noble Truth of Dukkha (Dukkha Ariya Sacca), the Noble Truth of the Cause of Dukkha (Dukkha Samudaya Ariya Sacca), the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Dukkha (Dukkha Nirodha Ariya Sacca), and The Noble Truth of the Path Leading to the Cessation of Dukkha (Dukkha Nirodha Gamini Patipada Ariya Sacca). There also appeared in him, in all their purity. The knowledge of the nature of each Noble Truth (Sacca nana), knowledge of the performance required for each Noble Truth (Kicca nana), and the knowledge of the completion of the performance required for each Noble Truth (Kata nana); and thus, he attained the Sabbannuta nana (also called Bodhi nana) of a Buddha. From that time, he was known as Gotama the Buddha.

In this connection, it should be noted that only when the Four Noble Truths, under their three aspects (therefore, the twelve modes), had become perfectly clear to him that the Buddha acknowledged in the world of Men, the world of Devas and that of Brahmas that he had attained the Supreme Enlightenment and therefore had become a Buddha.


At the moment of the attainment of Buddhahood, the Buddha uttered the following two verses:


Verse 153: 

I, who have been seeking the builder of this house (body), failing to attain Enlightenment (Bodhi nana or Sabbannuta nana) which would enable me to find him, have wandered through innumerable births in samsara. To be born again and again is, indeed, dukkha!

나는 이 집 지은 이를 찾아 이리 기웃 저리 기웃 하였지만 찾지 못한 채 여러 생을 보냈다 생존은 어느 곳에서나나 괴로움이었다.


Verse 154: 

Oh house-builder! You are seen, you shall build no house (for me) again. All your rafters are broken, your roof-tree is destroyed. My mind has reached the unconditioned (i.e., Nibbana); the end of craving (Arahatta Phala) has been attained.

집을 지은 이여 이제 그대를 알게 되었다 그대는 또다시 나의집을 짓지 않으리. 기둥은 부서지고 서까래는 내려앉았다 마음은 만물에서 떠나고 육체의 욕망은 말끔히 씻어 버렸으니.