法苑珠林 47.11

47.11

Moreover, the Nirvāṇa-sūtra says: "As for death, in that perilous and difficult place there are no provisions; the destination is far away without companions; one journeys day and night without knowing the limit; it is profound and dark without lamp or light; entering has no door yet there is a place; although there is no specific locus of pain, it cannot be cured; going there cannot be hindered; arriving there, one cannot escape." Furthermore, the Sukhāvatīvyūha-sūtra says: "Born alone, dying alone, coming alone, going alone. In places of suffering or joy, one undergoes it by oneself; none can take one's place. Dim and murky, parting is for long; paths are different, meeting again has no fixed time. It is exceedingly difficult, exceedingly difficult to encounter one another again." In life, relatives gather in joy, fully expressing the harmony of affectionate love. In death, dying in the morning and buried in the evening, there are immediately signs of fear and separation. Singing and weeping escort the departed, yet the dead knows nothing of it. Returning to the empty hall of the chamber, all is silent and extinguished with nothing to behold. Existence and non-existence, being and nothingness, transform in an instant. Thus in the Udāna-sūtra the Buddha again spoke a verse on the suffering of death, saying: