IMPERMANENCE · DHAMMAPADA 153
Change as a Teacher
Looking for the maker of this tabernacle, I shall have to run through a course of many births, so long as I do not find (him); and painful is birth again and again. But now, maker of the tabernacle, thou hast been seen; thou shalt not make up this tabernacle again. All thy rafters are broken, thy ridge-pole is sundered; the mind, approaching the Eternal (visankhara, nirvana), has attained to the extinction of all desires.
Dhammapada 153, 154 · Chapter 11, Old Age · trans. F. Max Müller · Read the full text at Project Gutenberg
Reflection
The verse begins, “Looking for the maker of this tabernacle, I shall have to run through a course of….” In its chapter, this image points toward the body, time, and the inevitability of change. It locates the turning point before outward action, in the quality of attention you repeatedly cultivate. Because this is a historic English translation, test the teaching in experience rather than treating its wording as a demand for belief.
Practice prompt
What becomes less frightening when change is expected?