釋迦譜 1.447

1.447

Then the Bodhisattva next observed human beings. He saw that, beginning from the intermediate state when about to enter the womb, their parents unite, and through perverted notions, give rise to thoughts of lust, whereby impure fluids become their own bodies. Once dwelling in the womb, located between the raw and digested receptacles, their bodies are scorched and smoked as if by the torments of hell. Only after ten months are fulfilled are they born. At the time of first birth, they are held and handled by other people, experiencing coarse, harsh suffering and pain as if pierced by knives and swords. In this manner, before long, they return to old age and death, once again becoming infants and revolving through the five paths, unable to awaken on their own. After the Bodhisattva [saw] this path, he gave rise to great compassion and thought to himself: 'Sentient beings all suffer from afflictions such as these; why do they indulge in the five desires, perversely regarding them as pleasure, and remain unable to sever the root of inverted views?'