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Linked Discourses · SN 4.10

  • Linked Discourses 4.10Saṁyutta Nikāya 4.10
  • 1. Lifespan1. Paṭhamavagga

Lifespan (2nd)Dutiyaāyusutta

So I have heard.Evaṁ me sutaṁ— At one time the Buddha was staying near Rājagaha in the Bamboo Grove, the squirrels’ feeding ground.ekaṁ samayaṁ bhagavā rājagahe viharati veḷuvane kalandakanivāpe. There the Buddha … said:Tatra kho bhagavā …pe… etadavoca:

“Mendicants, the lifespan of humans is short.“Appamidaṁ, bhikkhave, manussānaṁ āyu. We are headed for lives to come. We must do what is skillful, we must practice the spiritual life.Gamanīyo samparāyo, kattabbaṁ kusalaṁ, caritabbaṁ brahmacariyaṁ. No one born is immortal.Natthi jātassa amaraṇaṁ. A long life is a hundred years or a little more.”Yo, bhikkhave, ciraṁ jīvati, so vassasataṁ appaṁ vā bhiyyo”ti.

Then Māra the Wicked went up to the Buddha and addressed him in verse:Atha kho māro pāpimā yena bhagavā tenupasaṅkami; upasaṅkamitvā bhagavantaṁ gāthāya ajjhabhāsi:

“The days and nights don’t rush by,“Nāccayanti ahorattā, and life isn’t cut short.Jīvitaṁ nūparujjhati; The life of mortals keeps rolling on,Āyu anupariyāyati maccānaṁ, like a chariot’s rim around the hub.”Nemīva rathakubbaran”ti.

“The days and nights rush by,“Accayanti ahorattā, and then life is cut short.jīvitaṁ uparujjhati; The life of mortals wastes away,Āyu khīyati maccānaṁ, like the water in tiny streams.”kunnadīnaṁva odakan”ti.

Then Māra the Wicked, thinking, “The Buddha knows me! The Holy One knows me!” miserable and sad, vanished right there.Atha kho māro pāpimā “jānāti maṁ bhagavā, jānāti maṁ sugato”ti dukkhī dummano tatthevantaradhāyīti.

Similar passages elsewhere

Found by meaning, not by citation: the passages in other texts whose wording sits closest to a passage here.

  1. SN 4.9 Lifespan (1st) 0.84near 0.1Linked Discourses 4.9 1. Lifespan Lifespan (1st) So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Rājagaha in the Bamboo Grove, the squirrels’ feeding ground. There the Buddha addressed the mendicants, “Mendicant…
  2. SN 4.7 Sleeping 0.55near 0.1Linked Discourses 4.7 1. Lifespan Sleeping At one time the Buddha was staying near Rājagaha in the Bamboo Grove, the squirrels’ feeding ground. He spent much of the night walking mindfully in the open. At the crack of da…
  3. SN 4.8 Delighting 0.52near 0.1Linked Discourses 4.8 1. Lifespan Delighting So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery. Then Māra the Wicked went up to the Buddha and spoke this verse i…
  4. Thag 2.13 Heraññakāni 0.50near 0.1Verses of the Senior Monks 2.13 The Book of the Twos Chapter Two Heraññakāni The days and nights rush by, and then life is cut short. The life of mortals wastes away, like the water in tiny streams. But while doing bad d…