I will tell you the kind of dismay and terror that I felt seeing people struggling like fish, writhing in shallow water, with hatred against one another. In vain I searched for some place where I could take shelter. For there is nothing in this world that is solid at base and not a part that is changeless.

Seeing them trapped in conflict I felt repelled, but then I noticed something buried deep in their hearts. It was—I could just make it out—an arrow. Overcome by this arrow you run in all directions. But simply on pulling it out you don’t run, you don’t sink."

~Siddhartha Gautama
Sn 4.15 PTS: Sn 935-954

#buddhism #sutta