釋禪波羅蜜次第法門 4.98

4.98

Third, the māra of death: all karmic retributions of birth and death, revolving without cease, are called māra. Furthermore, if a practitioner wishes to arouse the mind to cultivate the Path, and then falls ill and dies, or is harmed by others and cannot cultivate the Path, his practice is abandoned. Between this life's cultivation of the noble Path and reaching future lifetimes, conditions change and alter, and one forgets and loses the original intention; all of this is called māra-affairs. Furthermore, when the practitioner is cultivating the Path, he worries about dying and not surviving, and thereupon lovingly clings to his body and does not cultivate the Path; this is also subsumed under the māra of death.