1.1
Indeed, all composites are impermanent; 
Possessing the characteristic of arising and perishing,
Having arisen, they must perish;
The cessation of that is bliss.

1.2 [146]1
Thus, in this burning place,2 
Where is delight and joy?
Those enveloped in darkness,
Why do they not seek a lamp? 

1.3 [149]
One’s bones, turning a bluish-grey pigeon-like color,
Are abandoned in the charnel grounds,
And scattered from direction to direction;
When seeing that, what pleasure is there?

1.4 
From the very night when first
Entering the mother’s womb,
One proceeds without rest towards death,
And having gone, there is no return.

1.5
Many people have been seen in the morning,
But some of them won’t be seen that evening;
Many people have been seen in the evening,
But some of them won’t be seen next morning.

1.6
Many men and women
Even when young die;
So in saying, “This person is young,”
What assurance is there that one will live?

1.7
Some die in the womb,
Some die at birth,
Some die while crawling, and
Some die while running.

1.8
Like ripening fruit falls,  
Some old, some young, and
Some of middle age,
All gradually must fall away.

1.9
Just as for a fruit once ripened
There is always the fear of falling,
So for a being once born
There is always the fear of dying.

1.10
Just as the clay pots	[F209.b]
Made by a potter
All eventually come to be destroyed,
So too it is with the lives of humans.

1.11
Just as with threads put in a loom, 
The weaving of the fabric continues
Till the threads reach their end,
So too it is with the lives of humans.

1.12
Just as those due to certainly be killed
With every step they take
Approach nearer to their slaughter,
So too it is with the lives of humans.

1.13
The strong flowing current of a river
Cannot be reversed;
So too the passage of human life
Cannot be reversed.

1.14
A human life, so very difficult to find,
Short lived, and full of suffering,
Disappears as quickly as the writings
Written on water with a stick.

1.15 [135]
Just as herdsmen with their staves
Drive the herds to pasture,
So does sickness and old age
Drive humans to the Lord of Death.

1.16
Through the passing of night and day,
The lives of human beings are
Exhausted and consumed,
Like the waters of a small stream.

1.17 [60]
Night is long for one who watches,
A mile is long for a tired traveler;
So worldly existence is long for childish ones
Who know not Holy Dharma.

1.18 [62]
Saying “I have a son!” or “I have wealth!”
The childish one has loss;
Since within or without there is no “I,”3
Whose is the son? whose is the wealth?4

1.19
Many hundreds and thousands of various
Men and women have found enjoyment;
Yet finally all must come under
Control of the Lord of Death.

1.20
The end of accumulation is dissipation,
The end of ascending is descending,
The end of meeting is parting,
The end of life is death.

1.21
Since, the end of life is death,
All sentient beings must come to die;
In accord with their virtuous and nonvirtuous acts
Their results will precisely correspond.

1.22[126]
Nonvirtuous acts lead to birth in a hell;
Virtuous acts lead to birth in a happy realm.
Through cultivating the right path
Others go to outflowless nirvāṇa.
_(5
Even buddhas,  	[F210.a]
Pratyekabuddhas, and disciples,6
Have to abandon their body.
What need then to speak of ordinary people?

1.23 [128]
There is no place one can stay
That death cannot reach;
Not in the sky, nor in the sea,
Nor entering deep into the mountains.

1.28
All who have lived, shall live, or are now living
Must abandon their body and pass away.
Realizing this, the wise practice pure spiritual conduct
Through abiding in Dharma.

1.29
Seeing the sufferings from old age, illness, 
Dying, and being without consciousness;
The steadfast one abandons his home as if it were a prison;
But for a worldly person this is hard to do.

1.30 [151]
Even the emperor’s glorious chariot will fall apart;
In the same way too, the body will grow old.
But the best of teachings of the holy ones and
The best of men who teach it never grow old.

1.31
Old age you are foolish,
Low, and inappropriate.
Even this lovely form of mine,
You will certainly destroy.

1.32
Although one lives a hundred years
That too is under the control of the Lord of Death.
Either through old age or illness,
Death will come to destroy him.

1.33
All beings are subject to the suffering of birth and death,
Day and night decomposing,
Continually and irreversibly going,
Like fish tossed into boiling water.

1.34
Day and night,
Moving and sitting,
Like the current of a great river,
Irretrievably this life passes.

1.35
Like fish in a shallow pool,
As each day and night pass,
One’s life becomes shorter.
In this way, what joy can there be?

1.36 [148]
The end of life is death;
This aging body, a repository of disease,
Soon rapidly deteriorates into
A mass of pus that quickly perishes.

1.37 [41]
Alas! How soon, this very body,	[F210.b]
Consciousness having departed,
Will lie senseless on the earth
As a piece of wood in the charnel ground.

1.38
Continually tormented by disease,
Always oozing filth,
Fearful of aging and death,
Of what use is the body?

1.39
With this rapidly deteriorating body,
Subject to disease and full of pus,
Strive for the unsurpassed peace,
Accomplishment and bliss.

1.40 [286]
Childish people, thinking,
I will do this or that, in the winter,
Or in the spring or summer,
Do not see the hindrances of life.

1.41
One whose mind is attached
To his prosperity, offsprings, wealth, or herds
Will be taken by the Lord of Death
Like a sleeping village swept away in a flood.

1.42 [288]
When the time of death arrives,
There can be no refuge in one’s offsprings,
Nor are one’s parents or kinsmen any refuge.
One shall be completely without refuge.

1.43 
“I have done this work; now I will do that.”
“Having done that, then I will do this.”
By old age, sickness, and death
Such plans will surely be destroyed.

1.44
O monks! Always delight in meditation and contemplation;
Diligently seek the end of birth, old age, and death;
Outshining the māras and all their legions,
Pass over to the other shore of birth and death.