諸經要集 20.21

20.21

"What is meant by the suffering of grief, sorrow, and affliction? It refers to human life in the world: those who are long-lived reach up to a hundred years; those who are short-lived are harmed and aborted in the womb. For those who are long-lived, granting them a hundred years: the nights consume half of it, leaving fifty years. In that, through drunkenness and illness, when one is unconscious of being a person, deduct five years. When small, one is ignorant; up to the age of fifteen, one does not yet understand ritual and duty. Past the age of eighty, the faculties are dull and devoid of wisdom, the ears deaf and the eyes dim, with no sense of principles; deduct another twenty. Ninety years have passed; out of the remaining ten years, they are filled with many anxieties: when the empire is about to fall into chaos, one worries; when there is a drought under heaven, one worries; when there is a great flood under heaven, one worries; when there is a great frost under heaven, one worries; when the harvest fails under heaven, one worries; when many illnesses arise within and without the household, one worries; when managing the household property to make a living, fearing loss, one worries; when the official levies and taxes are not yet paid, one worries; when a family member is prosecuted by officials and locked in prison, not knowing the date of release, one worries; when brothers travel far and have not returned, one worries; when the household is poor and cold, lacking food and clothing, one worries; when neighboring villages face troubles, one worries; when offerings to the local gods cannot be prepared, one worries; when a family member dies and there is no wealth for the funeral, one worries; when spring planting arrives and there is no plow ox, one worries. In these various manners of grief and sorrow, there is no time of joy. Even when festivals arrive and people gather together, when they should be joyful, they end up weeping face to face. Is this suffering or not?" He replied: "Truly, it is great suffering."