坐禪三昧經 1.2

1.2

The Guide’s preaching is hard to encounter, / and those who hear it and rejoice are also rare; / what the great person delights to hear, / the petty person loathes to hear. / Sentient beings are truly pitiable, / falling onto the perilous path of aging and death; / slaves to affection and worldly folk, / dwelling in fearful places yet not afraid through folly. / Whether the worlds be great or small, / in phenomena there is nothing permanent; / not one abides for long, / appearing briefly like a flash of lightning. / This body belongs to aging and death, / the refuge to which all sicknesses flock; / a thin skin covering impurity, / the foolish and deluded are cheated by it. / You are constantly devoured by the thief of old age, / which swallows up your vigorous, flourishing form; / like a withered flower garland, / ruined and broken, of no worth at all. / Through King Māndhātṛ's merit, / he sat together with Śakra, King of the Gods; / his recompense and great fortune were vastly abundant, / yet where are they all today? / Among gods and humans, this king / was supreme in having every sensual pleasure; / yet when dying he suffered extreme agony; / through this one may awaken one's mind. / All sensual desires are pleasant and soft at first, / but in the end they all become great suffering; / just as an enemy seems kind at first, / but the disaster of wiping out one's clan comes afterward. / This body is a vessel of filth, / its nine apertures constantly flowing with foulness; / it is also like a nārī-ulcer, / utterly beyond the cure of medicine. / The chariot of bones has very little strength, / driven as sinews and veins entangle consciousness; / you take it to be a wonderful vehicle, / tolerating and clinging to it without shame. / Where the dead are gathered, / the graves are filled with abandoned bodies; / what was cherished and guarded in life / is completely cast away at death. / One should constantly be mindful like this, / single-mindedly contemplating without distraction; / destroying the dark blindness of foolish inversion, / holding a torch to contemplate clearly. / If one abandons the four applications of mindfulness, / there is no evil the mind will not commit; / like an elephant running wild without a hook, / it will never follow the path of taming. / Today attending to this business, / tomorrow creating that affair; / delighting and clinging without contemplating suffering, / unaware that the thief of death has arrived. / Hurriedly occupied with one's own affairs, / yet never having leisure from other matters; / the thief of death does not wait for time; / when it arrives, there is no condition for escape. / Like a thirsty deer rushing to a spring, / turning toward the water having already drunk, / the hunter has no kindness or mercy, / not letting it finish drinking before he kills it. / A foolish person is also like this, / diligently cultivating all kinds of affairs; / death arrives without waiting for time; / who then will protect you? / Human minds hope for wealth and honor, / their craving for the five sensual pleasures never sated; / even all the great kings / cannot escape this peril. / Rṣis wielding mantra-empowered arrows / likewise cannot escape death and birth; / trampled by the great elephant of impermanence, / an anthill and the flat ground become the same. / Set aside all [ordinary] people; / the Buddhas, the Rightly and Truly Awakened, / having crossed over the stream of saṃsāra, / likewise do not remain forever. / Therefore one should know / that all one loves and delights in / should quickly be abandoned and left behind, / single-mindedly seeking nirvāṇa. / Later, when giving up this body at death, / who will bear witness to whether I / shall encounter the jewel of the Dharma again, / or whether I shall fail to encounter it? / Only once in a long time does the sun of the Buddha arise, / destroying the great darkness of ignorance; / by emitting all kinds of radiant light, / showing people the path and the non-path. / From where have I come? / From what place was I born? / Where shall I attain liberation? / Who will clarify these doubts? / The Buddha, the Sage of All-Knowledge, / appears in the world only after long ages; / with a single mind do not be negligent, / for he can shatter your knot of doubts. / Those [fools] do not delight in true benefit, / but love clinging to wretched, evil thoughts; / you are an elder among sentient beings, / and should seek the true mark of dharmas. / Who can know at the time of death / what path one will go toward? / It is just like a lamp in the wind, / of which the time of extinction is unknown. / The Dharma of the ultimate path is not difficult; / the Great Sage explained it pointing to actual things: / he taught wisdom and the basis of wisdom; / these two do not rely on anything external. / If you are not negligent, / and constantly practice the Way with a single mind, / you will before long attain nirvāṇa, / the foremost place of eternal bliss. / With sharp wisdom, draw near to good people; / revere the Buddha's Dharma with all your heart; / detest the foul, impure body; / leave suffering behind and attain liberation. / In quietude, cultivate a tranquil resolve, / sitting cross-legged in the forest; / guarding the mind without negligence, / awakening the intellect to perceive all conditions. / If one does not weary of existence, / but sleeps peacefully without self-awakening, / not mindful that the world is impermanent, / one does not fear what is truly fearful. / Afflictions are fathomless, / and the ocean of saṃsāra is boundless; / the raft to cross over suffering has not yet been prepared; / how can you find pleasure in sleeping? / Therefore, one should awaken, / and not let sleep cover the mind. / Among the four requisites, / know moderation and know contentment; / having not yet escaped the great terrors, / one should apply diligent vigor; / when all kinds of suffering arrive, / regret and remorse will be of no avail. / Sitting under a tree in patched robes, / eating as one ought to receive; / do not, out of craving for flavors, / bring about your own ruin. / Once food has passed the place of tasting, / good and bad are not different at all; / love and fondness give rise to sorrow and suffering; / therefore, do not generate craving. / In the world of karma and actions, / there is nothing good or bad that has not been experienced; / having fully undergone everything already, / one should restrain oneself through this. / If born among beasts, / slobber and grass are considered full delicacies; / in the hells, one swallows iron pellets, / burning hot, fiercer than bursting iron. / If born among the pretas, / pus, vomit, blazing feces, and dung, / snot, spittle, and all kinds of filth / are taken to be the supreme delicacies. / If in the heavenly palaces, / amid palaces and towers of the seven treasures, / one eats the heavenly sudhā flavor, / and heavenly maidens delight the mind. / In the honored positions among humans, / seven delicacies provide all kinds of flavors; / having previously experienced all of them, / why love them again now? / Wandering back and forth through the world, / one tires of experiencing both suffering and joy; / though one has not yet attained nirvāṇa, / one should diligently seek this benefit.