The wise man, leaving first principles, should go
on to get more light; evil words will be repeated far and wide by the
multitude, but there are few to follow good direction: It is impossible,
however, to avoid result of works, the doer cannot escape; if there had
been no first works, there had been in the end no result of doing--no
reward for good, no hereafter joy; but because works are done, there is
no escape. Let us then practise good works; let us inspect our thoughts
that we do no evil, because as we sow so we reap. As when enclosed in a
four-stone mountain, there is no escape or place of refuge for anyone,
so within this mountain-wall of old age, birth, disease, and death,
there is no escape for the world. Only by considering and practising the
true law can we escape from this sorrow-piled mountain. There is,
indeed, no constancy in the world, the end of the pleasures of sense is
as the lightning flash, whilst old age and death are as the piercing
bolts; what profit, then, in doing iniquity! All the ancient conquering
kings, who were as gods on earth, thought by their strength to overcome
decay; but after a brief life they too disappeared. The Kalpa-fire will
melt Mount Sumeru, the water of the ocean will be dried up, how much
less can our human frame, which is as a bubble, expect to endure for
long upon the earth! The 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.
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