Dhammapada

SR No.: 007674
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Max Muller
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1881
Total Pages: 2540
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 45 MB

Page 697

240
MAHA-SUDASSANA SUTTA.
thing as a compound which is permanent! All are transient, all have the inherent quality of dissolution!'
And when he had so said, he further uttered this stanza : How transient are all component things! Growth is their nature and decay: They are produced, they are dissolved again : And then is best,-- when they have sunk to rest 11 [In these verses the words 'How transient are all component things !' mean 'Dear lady, Subhadda, wheresoever and by whatsoever causes made or come together, compounds”,—that is, all those things which possess the essential constituents (whether material or mental) of existing things», -all these compounds are impermanence itself. For of these form* is impermanent, reason is impermanent, the (mental) eye is impermanent, and qualities? are impermanent. And whatever treasure there be, whether conscious or unconscious, that is transitory. Understand therefore "How transient are all component things !"
And why? "Growth is their nature and decay." These, all, have the inherent quality of coming into (individual) existence, and have also the inherent quality of growing old; or (in other words) their very nature is to come into existence and to be broken up. Therefore should it be understood that they are impermanent.
And since they are impermanent, when "they are produced, they are dissolved again." Having come into existence, having reached a states, they are surely dissolved. For all these things come into existence, taking an individual form; and are dissolved, being broken up. To them as soon as there is birth, there is what is called a state; as soon as there is a state, there is what is called
1 All this is omitted in the Sutta. It is true the verse occurs there, but it is placed in the Sutta in the mouth of the Teacher, after the account of Maha Sudassana's death.
The last clause is literally, Blessed is their cessation,' where the word for cessation, upasamo, is derived from the word sam, 'to be calm, to be quiet,' and means cessation by sinking into rest. Compare below. Sankhara. Khandâyatanadayo.
• Rapam. 8 Vinnânam. . Kakkhum.
Dhamma. & Thiti.
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