The Sūtra on the Samādhi of Sitting Meditation (I)

导师说难遇    闻者喜亦难

大人所乐听    小人所恶闻

众生可愍伤    坠老死险路

野人恩爱奴    处畏痴不惧

世界若大小    法无有常者

一切不久留    暂现如电光

是身属老死    众病之所归

薄皮覆不净    愚惑为所欺

汝常为老贼    吞灭盛壮色

如华鬘枯朽    毁败无所直

Explanation: The great teacher of the three realms, Śākyamuni Buddha, said that this Chan Samādhi Sūtra is difficult to encounter and hard to come by. It is also difficult for those who hear this sūtra to give rise to a mind of joy. Only those who have made the great resolve and seek the unsurpassed Buddha path are willing to listen to it, while those of narrow mind who are unwilling to seek unsurpassed bodhi are unwilling to listen. Sentient beings are truly worthy of pity and lamentation: they have fallen onto the perilous road of birth, aging, sickness, and death, becoming slaves of love and attachment in the wilderness of saṃsāra, dwelling in fearsome places yet, out of delusion, knowing no fear. Whether the world is large or small, no dharma in the world endures forever; no dharma remains for long—all appear only temporarily and then vanish swiftly like a flash of lightning.

This impermanent physical body belongs to aging and death and is the gathering place of all afflictions and illnesses. A thin layer of skin covers filthy, impure things, and the deluded are deceived by such an impure form body. You are constantly swallowed and destroyed by the thief of old age, which devours your healthy and vigorous body, just as a flower garland, once withered and decayed, is ruined and worth nothing at all.

顶生王功德    共释天王坐

报利福弘多    今日悉安在

此王天人中    欲乐具为最

死时极苦痛    以此可悟意

诸欲初软乐    后皆成大苦

亦如怨初善    灭族祸在后

是身为秽器    九孔常流恶

亦如那利疮    绝治于医药

骨车力甚少    筋脉缠识转

汝以为妙乘    忍着无羞耻

死人所聚处    委弃满塳间

生时所保惜    死则皆弃捐

Explanation: In the past there was the cakravartin (wheel-turning) sage king Māndhātṛ, who, after ruling the four continents, ascended to heaven and sat together with Śakra, the lord of the desire realm, sharing dominion over the heavenly realm. His retribution was extraordinary and his merit vast—where is he now? This King Māndhātṛ possessed the most superb objects of enjoyment among humans and devas, yet at the time of death he suffered extreme agony. From this one should awaken to a truth: all worldly pleasures of the five desires may at first be comfortable and delightful, but in the end they all become immense suffering. It is like meeting an enemy: at first everything is amicable, but the calamity that annihilates the entire clan follows closely behind.

This body of the five aggregates is a vessel filled with filthy things; from its nine orifices foul impurities constantly flow. It is also like a malignant sore for which no medicine can any longer avail. A cart made of bones has very little pulling power, yet with sinews and veins entwining the consciousnesses, it thus keeps running. You all take it to be a wonderful carriage and endure its torment without the slightest shame, until at last it is discarded in the wilderness and among the grave mounds where dead people gather. While alive, it was protected and cherished in every way; after death, it is all cast away.

常当念如是    一心观莫乱

破痴倒黑暝    执炬以明观

若舍四念止    心无恶不造

如象逸无钩    终不顺调道

今日营此业    明日造彼事

乐着不观苦    不觉死贼至

匆匆为己务    他事亦不闲

死贼不待时    至则无脱缘

如鹿渴赴泉    已饮方向水

猎师无慈惠    不听饮竟杀

痴人亦如是    勤修诸事务

死至不待时    谁当为汝护

Explanation: You should constantly hold such thoughts: contemplate this dharma with single-minded focus and do not let the mind scatter. You must break through the great dark mansion of delusion, confusion, and inversion, holding aloft the torch of wisdom and observing with clear eyes. If one abandons the practice of śamatha and vipaśyanā on the four stations of mindfulness, the mind will commit every evil without exception. It is like an elephant gone wild and unrestrained, with no hook to govern it, that will never follow the path pointed out by its tamer. Today one attends to this affair, tomorrow manages that business; delighting in and clinging to what one does, without contemplating the suffering within it, one fails to notice the arrival of the thief of death. Throughout one's whole life one busily builds up one's own enterprises, and likewise expends effort and worry on other matters. But the thief of death does not wait for the proper season; when it arrives, there is no longer any chance of escape. It is like a deer, parched with thirst, rushing to a spring: just as it is drinking the water it has only just found, the hunter, utterly without compassion or kindness, kills the deer without even letting it finish drinking. The deluded person is just like this: diligently engaged in all sorts of enterprises, yet death, when it comes, does not choose its timing—who then will come to protect you?