Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
Human life is short, brief, and fleeting, full of suffering and distress, so one should be thoughtful, wake up, do what's good, and lead the spiritual life, since no one born can escape death — a refrain repeated after seven different similes, then given exact arithmetic to make its urgency concrete rather than merely poetic.
Seven similes, one repeated refrain
Life is compared to a dewdrop on a grass tip, vanishing when the sun rises; a bubble in heavy rain, gone as soon as it forms; a line drawn in water, vanishing right away; a mountain river that never turns back, not for a moment; a glob of spit easily spat from the tongue's tip; a scrap of meat tossed into an iron cauldron heated all day, gone at once; and a cow being led step by step closer to slaughter — each image followed by the same call to be thoughtful and lead the spiritual life.
Even a 60,000-year lifespan wasn't long enough to wait
The discourse then places Araka's urgency in a startling historical frame: in his own era, human beings lived 60,000 years, girls could marry at five hundred, and people had only six afflictions — cold, heat, hunger, thirst, and the need to relieve themselves. Even with a lifespan and ease modern readers can barely imagine, Araka still taught that life was too short and fleeting to delay practice.
Doing the arithmetic on a hundred years
The Buddha then applies the same urgency to the present, where a long life is barely a hundred years, and breaks that span down with exact figures: three hundred seasons, twelve hundred months, 2,400 fortnights, 36,000 days, and 72,000 meals — a hundred years converted into a countable, finite number of actual meals, making an abstract span of time into something that can be numbered and therefore felt as genuinely limited.
The closing instruction: don't regret it later
Having counted the lifespan down to its meals and named what prevents even eating them — anger, pain, sickness, sabbath observance, or simply being unable to get food — the Buddha closes with one of the canon's most quoted exhortations: here are roots of trees, here are empty huts; practice absorption, don't be negligent, don't regret it later. This is his instruction, given out of sympathy, as what a teacher who wants the best for their disciples should do.
Key terms
The text
Once, the teacher Araka
§1“Once upon a time, mendicants, there was a teacher named Araka. He was a religious founder and was free of desire for sensual pleasures. He had many hundreds of disciples, and he taught them like this: ‘Brahmins, life as a human is short, brief, and fleeting, full of suffering and distress. Be thoughtful and wake up! Do what’s good and lead the spiritual life, for no-one born can escape death.
Seven similes for how briefly life lasts
§2It’s like a drop of dew on a grass tip. When the sun comes up it vanishes right away and doesn’t last long. In the same way, life as a human is like a dewdrop. It’s brief and fleeting, full of suffering and distress. Be thoughtful and wake up! Do what’s good and lead the spiritual life, for no-one born can escape death. It’s like when the heavens rain heavily. The bubbles vanish right away and don’t last long. In the same way, life as a human is like a bubble. … It’s like a line drawn in water. It vanishes right away and doesn’t last long. In the same way, life as a human is like a line drawn in water. … It’s like a mountain river traveling far, flowing fast, carrying all before it. It doesn’t turn back—not for a moment, a second, an hour—but runs, rolls, and flows on. In the same way, life as a human is like a mountain river. … It’s like a strong man who has formed a glob of spit on the tip of his tongue. He could easily spit it out. In the same way, life as a human is like a glob of spit. … Suppose there was an iron cauldron that had been heated all day. If you tossed a scrap of meat in, it would vanish right away and not last long. In the same way, life as a human is like a scrap of meat. … It’s like a cow being led to the slaughterhouse. With every step she comes closer to the slaughter, closer to death. In the same way, life as a human is like a cow being slaughtered. It’s brief and fleeting, full of suffering and distress. Be thoughtful and wake up! Do what’s good and lead the spiritual life, for no-one born can escape death.’
Even with a 60,000-year lifespan, Araka taught this way
§3Now, mendicants, at that time human beings had a lifespan of 60,000 years. Girls could be married at 500 years of age. And human beings only had six afflictions: cold, heat, hunger, thirst, and the need to defecate and urinate. But even though humans were so long-lived with so few afflictions, Araka still taught in this way: ‘Life as a human is short, brief, and fleeting, full of suffering and distress. Be thoughtful and wake up! Do what’s good and lead the spiritual life, for no-one born can escape death.’
These days: the arithmetic of a hundred years
§4These days it’d be right to say: ‘Life as a human is short, brief, and fleeting, full of suffering and distress. Be thoughtful and wake up! Do what’s good and lead the spiritual life, for no-one born can escape death.’ For these days a long life is a hundred years or a little more. Living for a hundred years, there are just three hundred seasons, a hundred each of the winter, summer, and rains. Living for three hundred seasons, there are just twelve hundred months, four hundred in each of the winter, summer, and rains. Living for twelve hundred months, there are just twenty-four hundred fortnights, eight hundred in each of the winter, summer, and rains. Living for 2,400 fortnights, there are just 36,000 days, 12,000 in each of the summer, winter, and rains. Living for 36,000 days, you just eat 72,000 meals, 24,000 in each of the summer, winter, and rains, including when you’re suckling at the breast, and when you’re prevented from eating.
What prevents eating, and the closing instruction
§5Things that prevent you from eating include anger, pain, sickness, sabbath, or being unable to get food. So mendicants, for a human being with a hundred years lifespan I have counted the lifespan, the limit of the lifespan, the seasons, the years, the months, the fortnights, the nights, the days, the meals, and the things that prevent them from eating. Out of sympathy, I’ve done what a teacher should do who wants what’s best for their disciples. Here are these roots of trees, and here are these empty huts. Practice absorption, mendicants! Don’t be negligent! Don’t regret it later! This is my instruction to you.”
Self-check quiz
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