The Buddha shares a reflection on aging and the impermanence of life and possessions. Seeing that all we call ‘mine’ must be lost at death, one should not cling to self. The sage, like a lotus leaf unstained by water, does not cling or spurn what is seen, heard, or sensed.

The Buddha answers step-by-step to a series of questions starting with the source of quarrels and disputes, followed by the arising of various things such as hopes, aims, desires, possessions; leading all the way to the description of the ultimate purity of the spirit.

Singing, dancing, and excessive laughter are all considered inappropriate expressions for the Noble Ones. The appropriate expression of joy for one who delights in the Dhamma is simply a gentle smile, reflecting dignified restraint.

The Buddha explains the distinction between how an uninstructed ordinary person and a learned disciple of the Noble Ones respond to the five unobtainable states of aging, illness, death, perishing, and loss.

In response to a king’s grief over his queen's death, the Buddha teaches that aging, illness, death, and loss are inevitable. He contrasts the self-torment of an ordinary person who resists these truths with the peace a learned disciple of the Noble Ones finds through acceptance, thereby removing the “poisonous dart of sorrow.”