法苑珠林 95.5

95.5

Now, the tridhātu is vast and expansive, and the six destinies flourish in profusion. None fail to rely on the mutual sustenance of the four great elements and the five sense faculties to constitute their physical form. When gathered, they make a body; when dispersed, they return to emptiness. However, wind and fire differ in nature, and earth and water are distinct in substance. Each according to its share seeks comfort and harmony. Since the principle of seeking comfort is difficult, the occurrence of disharmony is easy. If suddenly one great element falls out of harmony, all four great elements are impaired. If the earth element increases, the physical form becomes sallow and black; the flesh develops livid contusions, and abdominal masses congeal and aggregate like iron and stone. If the earth element declines, the four limbs become impaired and weak, or one loses half one's body, or suffers hemiplegia, lameness, and deformities, or has one's sight ruined and hearing lost. If the water element increases, the flesh becomes dropsical and swollen, the body devoid of radiance, the entire frame sallow and withered, the vitality of the countenance habitually vanished, the hands and feet dropsical and swollen, and the bladder tight and distended. If the water element severely declines, one emaciates to skin and bones, sinews show and pulses sink, lips and tongue dry up, ears and nose become parched and blocked, the five viscera burn within, bodily fluids exhaust without, and the six entrails deteriorate so that one cannot stand on one's own. If the fire element increases, the whole body suffers vexing heat, scorched as if burning; ulcers, carbuncles, abscesses, and swellings break out in purulent sores, with pus and blood overflowing and foul filth competing to abound. If the fire element severely declines, the four limbs become emaciated and frail, the viscera and entrails turn cold as ice, the chest and diaphragm congeal in chill, the mouth feels as though holding frost, heavy furs in summer heat bring no warmth or relief, food does not digest, and one habitually suffers nausea and vomiting. If the wind element increases, qi fills and obstructs the chest, the entrails and stomach suffer blockage and indigestion, the hands and feet become slack and weak, and the four limbs ache and go numb. If the wind element severely declines, the bodily form becomes emaciated and frail, breathing is thin as a thread, movement brings exhaustion, inhalation is labored like drawing rope, coughing, belching, and hiccuping cause tightness in the throat and tongue, the abdomen feels sunken and the back hunched, the heart feels frozen like ice, and the tendons of the neck and vessels of the throat throb and swell. Such various kinds are all caused by the four great elements abruptly increasing or decreasing, resulting in diseases. Once one great element becomes afflicted, the other three great elements all suffer; revolving in turn, all fall ill, together producing burning distress. The mutual discord of the four great elements is truly due to the retribution of suffering. Shameless and unconscionable, ungrateful and unjust, one constantly provides what it needs according to the four seasons, nourishing it day and night, yet it has never felt gratitude; if the slightest provision is neglected, it immediately incurs illness and suffering. Knowing that it has no gratitude, nurturing it is in vain. Even if provided with delicious foods and splendid garments, it ultimately becomes excrement and filth. One should only seek to sustain the body to avert hunger and cold, and never follow past habits of hoarding on its behalf, fatiguing one's mind and abandoning the pursuit of cultivating the Path. This is truly because the body is a vessel of suffering, and the aggregates are an unfired earthenware jar—easily broken and difficult to maintain. The four great elements are fleeting and vacuous, repeatedly clashing with one another; the five aggregates are conditionally produced and false, engendering many afflictions and worries. Therefore, receiving form in the human world, one encounters an age of defilement and turbidity; taking substance in a spurious body, one dwells in a realm of fear and dread. The unseen realm is limitless, with spirits and ghosts numerous as the sands of the Ganges, their kinds especially plentiful, beyond counting. Some rely on rooms or temples; some cling to mountains or mounds. All living beings reverently revere them, causing their spiritual consciousness to grow dim and dark, their discernment and thoughts confused and bewildered, so that waking and sleeping they suffer much dread. May they, in times of peril, collect their thoughts without waiting for three recitations; encountering safety amid danger, why labor over a thousand repetitions? May the spiritual realms increase their majestic light, benefiting living beings with goodness, and cease afflicting and harming one another. True words may be recorded, and faithful verifications indeed have proof.