法苑珠林 48.55

48.55

A person might live a hundred years, / Their stinginess and greed growing ever fiercer; / This is not as good as a single day / Relinquishing wealth and sensual desires. / A person might live a hundred years, / Delighting in not upholding the precepts; / This is not as good as a single day / Purifying the mind and observing the precepts. / A person might live a hundred years, / Full of anger and incapable of patience; / This is not as good as a single day / Harboring joy and free of wrath. / A person might live a hundred years, / Indolent and lacking diligence; / This is not as good as a single day / Exerting body and mind. / A person might live a hundred years, / Their emotions delighting in heedlessness; / This is not as good as a single day / Directing the mind to emptiness and stillness. / A person might live a hundred years, / With a dark and confounded consciousness; / This is not as good as a single day / Thoroughly awakening from ignorance. / A person might live a hundred years, / Clumsily steering body and mind; / This is not as good as a single day / Utilizing skillful means. / A person might live a hundred years, / Constantly harboring timidity and weakness; / This is not as good as a single day / With courageous strength of wisdom. / A person might live a hundred years, / Never giving rise to good vows; / This is not as good as a single day / Generating the practice of the four great vows. / A person might live a hundred years, / Without producing a single wisdom; / This is not as good as a single day / Where the nature of wisdom is keen and bright.