摩訶止觀 4.66

4.66

三者怖畏惡道。人命無常，一息不追，千載長往；幽途綿邈，無有資糧；苦海悠深，船筏安寄？賢聖呵棄，無所恃怙；年事稍去，風刀不奢，豈可晏然坐待酸痛？譬如野干失耳、尾、牙，詐眠望脫；忽聞斷頭，心大驚怖。遭生老病，尚不為急；死事弗奢，那得不怖？怖心起時如履湯火，五塵六欲不暇貪染。如阿輸柯王，聞旃陀羅，朝朝振鈴，一日已盡，六日當死；雖有五欲，無一念愛。行者怖畏，苦到懺悔，不惜身命，如彼野干決絕；無所思念，如彼怖王。以此翻破不畏惡道心。

Third is dreading the bad destinies. Human life is impermanent; once a single breath is lost, one departs for a thousand years. The dark path is long and vast, devoid of provisions; the sea of suffering is deep and boundless, where can a raft or boat be found? The worthy and holy ones reproach and abandon [one], leaving no one to rely upon. As years gradually slip away, the wind-knives [of death] are not remiss; how could one sit tranquilly waiting for anguish? For instance, a jackal, having lost its ears, tail, and fangs, faked sleep hoping to escape; hearing suddenly that its head was to be severed, its heart was seized with great terror. Encountering birth, old age, and illness is not yet considered pressing; but the matter of death is not remiss—how could one not be terrified? When fear arises, it is like treading on boiling water and fire; one has no leisure to covet the five sense objects and six desires. Like King Aśoka, hearing the cāṇḍāla shake the bell morning after morning: one day had passed, and in six days he would die; though he had the five desires, he felt not a single thought of attachment. The practitioner dreads [the bad destinies] and repents with utmost anguish, not begrudging body and life, resolute like that jackal; devoid of any other thought, like that terrified king. In this way one overturns and shatters the mindset of not fearing the bad destinies.