法苑珠林 69.39

69.39

Within a person's body, there are one hundred and one diseases arising from wind; cold and heat together each have one hundred and one; totaling four hundred and four diseases within the human body. Just as wood produces fire which turns back and burns itself, diseases are also like this. Just as wood, by virtue of its form, brings forth that which returns to endanger a person, so too do the worms within the body agitate and cause unrest. Thirty-six substances are provisionally named 'a person,' serving as a cover that deludes and deceives ordinary fools, who falsely give rise to affectionate attachments and cling to one another. The wise perceive it as empty; how could they draw near to it? For instance, like a ceramic vessel that must ultimately shatter, this body is false and deceptive, bound to meet an early death. Noble and lowly are equally deluded, remaining ignorant until death. Just as when fire breaks out at the four gates of a great city, burning them one after another until reaching the eastern gate, reducing everything to ashes, so it is likewise with birth, aging, sickness, and death.