Impermanence of All Things

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Impermanence of All Things


Verse 331
There is no baser folly than the infatuation
That looks upon the transient as if it were everlasting.

Verse 332
Amassing great wealth is gradual, like the gathering of a theater
Crowd. Its dispersal is sudden, like that same crowd departing.

Verse 333
Wealth's nature is to be unenduring.
Upon acquiring it, do that which is enduring right away.

Verse 334
Though it seems a harmless gauge of time, a day,
To those who fathom its form, is a saw steadily cutting the tree of life.

Verse 335
Do good deeds with urgency,
Before death's approaching rattle strangles the tongue.

Verse 336
What wondrous greatness this world possesses -
That yesterday a man was, and today he is not.

Verse 337
Man does not know if he will live another moment,
Yet his thoughts are ten million and more.

Verse 338
The soul's attachment to the body resembles a fledgling
Which forsakes its empty shell and flies away.

Verse 339
Death is like falling asleep,
And birth is like waking from that sleep.

Verse 340
Not yet having a permanent home,
The soul takes temporary shelter in the body.


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