11: The Book of the Elevens
22–29. Contemplation of Impermanence
- fdg sc © Translated from the Pali by Bhikkhu Bodhi (More copyright information)
1"Bhikkhus, possessing eleven factors, a cowherd is incapable of keeping and rearing a herd of cattle. What eleven? Here, (1) a cowherd has no knowledge of form; (2) he is unskilled in characteristics; (3) he fails to pick out flies’ eggs; (4) he fails to dress wounds; (5) he fails to smoke out the sheds; (6) he does not know the watering place; (7) he does not know what it is to have drunk; (8) he does not know the road; (9) he is unskilled in pastures; (10) he milks dry; and (11) he shows no extra veneration to those bulls who are fathers and leaders of the herd. Possessing these eleven factors, a cowherd is incapable of keeping and rearing a herd of cattle. |
2"So too, bhikkhus, possessing eleven qualities, a bhikkhu is incapable of dwelling contemplating impermanence in the eye … incapable of dwelling contemplating suffering in the eye … incapable of dwelling contemplating non-self in the eye … incapable of dwelling contemplating destruction in the eye … incapable of dwelling contemplating vanishing in the eye … incapable of dwelling contemplating fading away in the eye … incapable of dwelling contemplating cessation in the eye … incapable of dwelling contemplating relinquishment in the eye … " |