摩訶止觀 4.66

4.66

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.