The Sūtra of Sitting Meditation and Samādhi (One)

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 Zuochan Sanmei Jing (Sūtra on the Meditative Concentration of Sitting Chan) is difficult to encounter and difficult to meet with. It is also very difficult for those who hear this sūtra to give rise to a mind of joy. Only those who have made the great resolve to seek the unsurpassed Buddha Way are willing to listen to it, while those with narrow minds who are unwilling to seek unsurpassed bodhi are unwilling to listen to it. Sentient beings are truly worthy of pity and lamentation, having 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 not knowing fear or dread. Whether the world is large or small, no dharma in the world endures without perishing; 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; a thin layer of skin covers filthy and 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 like a flower garland that, once withered, decayed, and ruined, has no value whatsoever.

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 (Ding Sheng). After ruling over the four continents, he ascended to heaven and shared a single seat with Śakra Devānām Indra, the lord of the desire-realm heaven, dividing dominion over the heavenly realm. His retribution was extraordinary and his merit vast and abundant—so where is he now? This King Māndhātṛ possessed the most superb objects of enjoyment among humans and devas, yet at the time of his death he suffered extreme pain. From this one should awaken to a truth: the pleasures of the five desires in the world may at first be comfortable and delightful, but in the end they all become immense suffering. It is just like when enemies first meet: at the beginning everything is amicable, but the calamity that annihilates the nine generations of one's clan follows closely behind.

This body of the five aggregates is a vessel filled with filthy things; from its nine orifices constantly flow foul and impure discharges, and it is also like a malignant sore for which medicine can no longer provide any cure. A cart made of bones has very little pulling power; with sinews and veins entwined, several consciousness-minds operate within it in this way. Yet you all consider it a most wonderful carriage to ride, enduring its torments without the slightest sense of shame, until at last it is discarded in the wilderness of graveyards where the dead gather. While alive, you protect and cherish it in every way; after death, it is all cast away entirely.

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 as these: contemplate this dharma with single-minded focus and do not let your thoughts 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 of the four foundations of mindfulness, the mind will commit every evil without exception. It is like a great elephant roaming loose without hook or fetter, which can never follow the path pointed out by the elephant trainer. Today you attend to one undertaking, tomorrow you manage another affair; you delight in and cling to what you do without observing the suffering within it, and before you know it, the thief of death has arrived. Throughout one's whole life one busily builds up one's own enterprises, while also expending effort and worry on other matters. But the thief of death does not wait for the proper season—when he arrives, there is no longer any chance of escape. It is like a wild deer, parched with thirst, rushing to a spring: just as it is drinking the water it has only just found, the hunter, utterly devoid of compassion and kindness, does not wait for the deer to finish drinking before killing it. Foolish people are just like this: diligently engaged in all manner of enterprises, yet death does not choose its timing when it comes—when that time arrives, who will come to protect you?