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anitya-artha-pari-kathā

Conversations on the essence of impermanence

     I prostrate before the Three Jewels!
     Therefore, everything composite manifests itself as another by virtue of conditions. The impermanence is like a dewdrop of dew that is swayed by the wind on the tip of a blade of grass.
     Therefore anyone will fill [himself] with the mouth of the wild lord of death and man will enter there at the moment of death. Can this husbandman be free on the surface of an elevated earth? So when such a land is stable, it is like only the appearance of a burning flame. Men, then, that appear with their nature are like those who die. Forms, wealth, learning, moral discipline, etc., have no permanence. Even if one is freed from passion and attachment to everything, one will not see [the state of being] abiding everywhere.
     Even the Victorious One, the only protector of the world, is a good husband that was diligent in his vows, spoke accordingly. Life is impermanent, like an image on water. If all these beings are born, they are alone. Likewise, if they die, they also die alone. This is experienced by virtue of loneliness as suffering. In samsara, [which is experienced in this way], there is no friendship.
     Thus concludes the discourse on the essence of impermanence compiled by the great expert in poetry, Nandana-indra. Translated by Kashmiri Pandita Vinaya and the translator Dragjor Sherab.
     Translated by Lama Karma Paljor (O.E. Filippov).