e fierce wind scatters the thick mists, the sun's
rays encircle Mount Sumeru, the fierce fire licks up the place of
moisture, so things are ever born once more to be destroyed! The body is
a thing of unreality, kept through the suffering of the long night
pampered by wealth, living idly and in carelessness, death suddenly
comes and it is carried away as rotten wood in the stream! The wise man,
expecting these changes, with diligence strives against sloth; the dread
of birth and death acts as a spur to keep him from lagging on the road;
he frees himself from engagements, he is not occupied with
self-pleasing, he is not entangled by any of the cares of life, he holds
to no business, seeks no friendships, engages in no learned career, nor
yet wholly separates himself from it; for his learning is the wisdom of
not-perceiving wisdom, but yet perceiving that which tells him of his
own impermanence; having a body, yet keeping aloof from defilement, he
learns to regard defilement as the greatest evil. He knows that, though
born in the Arupa world, there is yet no escape from the changes of
time; his learning, then, is to acquire the changeless body; for where
no change is, there is peace. Thus the possession of this changeful body
is the foundation of all sorrow. Therefore, again, all who are wise make
this their aim--to seek a bodiless condition; all the various orders of
sentient creatures, from the indulgence of lust, derive pain; therefore
all those in this condition ought to conceive a heart, loathing lust;
putting away and loathing this condition, then they shall receive no
more pain; though born in a state with or without an external form, the
certainty of future change is the root of sorrow; for so long as there
is no perfect cessation of personal being, there can be, certainly, no
absence of personal desire; beholding, in this way, the character of the
three worlds, their inconstancy and unreality, the presence of
ever-consuming pain, how can the wise man seek enjoyment therein? When a
tree is burning with fierce flames how can the birds congregate therein?
The wise man, who is regarded as an enlightened sage, without this
knowledge is ignorant; having this knowledge, then true wisdom dawns;
without it, there is no enlightenment. To get this wisdom is the one
aim, to neglect it is the mistake of life. All the teaching of the
schools should be centred here; without it is no true reason. To recount
this excellent system is