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# Snp 4:6 · 4:6 Old Age
- URL: https://www.journal.ninthheaven.co/civilisation/trad-buddhism/snp-4-6/
- Published: 2026-06-01T00:44:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-07-13T16:40:19.000Z
- Description: Sutta Nipāta · Snp 4:6. Translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu.
- Author: Ninth Heaven Literature & Arts Association (NHLAA)
- Tags: Buddhism, Sutta Piṭaka, Text, Indian, The Buddha, Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, Sutta Nipāta, Verse, Pali, Early Buddhist, Library, #Import 2026-07-06 03:29

How short this life!

You die this side of a century,

but even if you live past,

you die of old age.

People grieve

for what they see as *mine,*

for nothing possessed is constant,

nothing is constantly possessed.[1](https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/StNp/StNp4%5F6.html?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co)

Seeing this separation

simply as it is,

one shouldn’t follow the household life.

At death a person abandons

what he supposes as *mine.*

Realizing this, the wise

shouldn’t incline

to be devoted to *mine-ness.*

Just as a man doesn’t see

on awakening

what he met in a dream,

even so he doesn’t see,

when they are dead

—their time done—

those he held dear.

When they are seen & heard,

people are called by this name or that,

but only the name remains

to be pointed to

when they are dead.

Grief, lamentation, & selfishness

are not let go

by those greedy for *mine,*

so sages

letting go of possessions,

go about

seeing the Secure.

A monk, living withdrawn,

enjoying a dwelling secluded:

They say it’s congenial for him,

he who wouldn’t, in any realm,

display self.

Everywhere

the sage

independent

makes nothing dear or undear.

In him

lamentation & selfishness,

like water on a white lotus,

do not adhere.

As a water bead on a lotus leaf,

as water on a red lily,

doesn’t adhere,

so the sage

doesn’t adhere

to the seen, the heard, or the sensed;

for, cleansed,

he doesn’t suppose

in connection

with the seen, the heard, or the sensed.

In no other way

does he wish for purity,

for he neither takes on passion

nor puts it away.[2](https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/StNp/StNp4%5F6.html?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co)

vv. 804–813

Notes

1\. “Nothing possessed is constant, nothing is constantly possessed”—two readings of the phrase, *na hi santi niccā pariggahā.*

2\. Nd I: An arahant has put passion totally away once and for all, and so has no need to do it ever again.

See also: [SN 21:2](https://www.journal.ninthheaven.co/civilisation/trad-buddhism/sn-21-2/); [AN 4:184](https://www.journal.ninthheaven.co/civilisation/trad-buddhism/an-4-184/); [Dhp 21](https://www.journal.ninthheaven.co/civilisation/trad-buddhism/dhp-21/); [Sn 5:16](https://www.journal.ninthheaven.co/civilisation/trad-buddhism/sn-5-16/)

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*Translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu. © 2014 / rev. 2017 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu — released under the [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co) licence, for free distribution only. Source: [dhammatalks.org](https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/StNp/StNp4%5F6.html?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co) (Metta Forest Monastery).*