SAMSARA, THE WHEEL OF EXISTENCE

THE THREE WARNINGS
Did you never see in the world a man, or a woman, eighty, ninety, or
a hundred years old, frail, crooked as a gable roof, bent down,
resting on crutches, with tottering steps, infirm, youth long since
fled, with broken teeth, grey and scanty hair, or bald-headed,
wrinkled, with blotched limbs? And did the thought never come to you
that also you are subject to decay, that also you cannot escape it?
Did you never see in the world a man, or a woman, who being sick,
afflicted, and grievously ill, and wallowing in his own filth, was
lifted up by some people, and put to bed by others? And did the
thought never come to you that also you are subject to disease, that
also you cannot escape it?
Did you never see in the world the corpse of a man, or a woman, one,
or two, or three days after death, swollen up, blue-black in color,
and full of corruption? And did the thought never come to you that
also you are subject to death, that also you cannot escape it?

SAMSARA, THE WHEEL OF EXISTENCE

Inconceivable is the beginning of this Samsara; not to be discovered
is any first beginning of beings, who, obstructed by ignorance, and
ensnared by craving, are hurrying and hastening through this round
of rebirths.
[Samsara-the Wheel of Existence, lit., the "Perpetual
Wandering"-is the name by which is designated the sea of life ever
restlessly heaving up and down, the symbol of this continuous
process of ever again and again being born, growing old, suffering,
and dying. More precisely Put: Samsara is the unbroken chain of the
fivefold Khandha-combinations, which, constantly changing from
moment to moment, follow continuously one upon the other through
inconceivable periods of time. Of this Samsara, a single lifetime
constitutes only a vanishingly tiny fraction; hence, to be able to
comprehend the first noble truth, one must let one's gaze rest upon
the Samsara, upon this frightful chain of rebirths, and not merely
upon one single lifetime, which, of course, may be sometimes not
very painful.]
Which do you think is the more: the flood of tears, which weeping
and wailing you have shed upon this long way-hurrying and hastening
through this round of rebirths, united with the undesired, separated
from the desired this, or the waters of the four oceans?
Long time have you suffered the death of father and mother, of sons,
daughters, brothers, and sisters. And whilst you were thus
suffering, you have, verily, shed more tears upon this long way than
there is water in the four oceans.
Which do you think is the more: the streams of blood that, through
your being beheaded, have flowed upon this long way, or the waters
in the four oceans?
Long time have you been caught as dacoits, or highwaymen, or
adulterers; and, through your being beheaded, verily, more blood has
flowed upon this long way than there is water in the four oceans.
But how is this possible?
Inconceivable is the beginning of this Samsara; not to be discovered
is any first beginning of beings, who, obstructed by ignorance, and
ensnared by craving, are hurrying and hastening through this round
of rebirths.
And thus have you long time undergone suffering, undergone
torment, undergone misfortune, and filled the graveyards full; verily,
long enough to be dissatisfied with all the forms of existence, long
enough to turn away, and free yourselves from them all.