Buddhism

Thag 1:118 · Kimbila

Thai temple painting: Prince Vessantara gives away the white elephant — Vessantara Jātaka, Chapter 2 (Himavanta Forest) · Thai, Rattanakosin, c. 1850–1870 · Walters Art Museum

As if sent by a curse,1

it drops on us—

aging.

The body seems other,

though it’s still the same one.

I’m still here

& have never been absent from it,

but I remember myself

as if somebody else’s.

Note

1. Reading abhisatto with the Sinhalese and Burmese editions. The Thai and PTS have abhisattho, “ordered.”

See also: Thig 13:1

Translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu. © 2014 / rev. 2017 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu — released under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 licence, for free distribution only. Source: dhammatalks.org (Metta Forest Monastery).