Dhammapada 148

This body is worn out, a nest of illness, fragile

This body is worn out, a nest of illness, fragile. This rotting mass breaks apart; life ends in death.

Translated from the Pāli by Banya

In plain words

The verse looks directly at a body worn by age, vulnerable to illness and decay. It says plainly that life ends in death, using deliberately unsettling language.

Key words

pabhaṅgura

fragile, liable to break — The body is described as vulnerable rather than enduring.

The story behind the verse

The aged nun

In the commentary, Uttarā was a very old nun who continued going out for alms. She met a monk and offered him all the food in her bowl, and she did the same when she encountered him again on the following days. She was left without food for herself, and Later she met the Buddha in a crowded place and stepped back. Her robe slipped, she trod on it, and she fell, and the Buddha approached and taught her about the body’s age, fragility, and approaching dissolution.

Retold by Banya from the traditional commentary, after E. W. Burlingame, Buddhist Legends (1921).

Explanation by Banya. Traditional readings vary.