諸經要集 9.95

9.95

Day and night negligent and indolent, / in old age not ceasing from lust, / possessing wealth and not giving, / not accepting the Buddha’s words: / having these four defects, / one cheats and harms oneself.
Alas, old age arrives! / Appearance transforms and becomes decrepit; / in youth one had one’s wish, / in old age one is trodden down and despised; / neither cultivating pure conduct / nor achieving wealth and honor.
In old age one is like a white crane / guarding and waiting by an empty pond; / since one has neither guarded the precepts / nor accumulated wealth, / old and frail, one’s vital energy exhausted, / of what avail is longing for the past?
Old age is like autumn leaves, / defiled and in tatters; / when death swiftly arrives, / there is no use in feeling regret.