This gatha is simply an offering given to us by the Buddha, the Buddha’s way of saying goodbye: “Until we meet again, here is something for your empty bowl: regard all things, all beings, this teaching, this sutra, this body of merit, this realization, regard them all as unreal.”

“Bhikkhus, we meditate on impermanence and fading in order to see into the true nature of all dharmas so that we will not be bound by them. Enlightenment and freedom cannot be attained by escaping the world. They can only be attained when one sees deeply into the true nature of all dharmas. These brothers did not understand and so they foolishly so

Records of High Monks and The Gateless Gate