Tags
contemplation, death, dying, impermanence, Mahayana, Quote, Shantideva, Virtue
2.33 We cannot trust the wanton Lord of Death.
The task complete or still to do, he will not wait.
In health or sickness, therefore, none of us can trust
Our fleeting, momentary lives.
2.34 And we must pass away, forsaking all.
But I, devoid of understanding,
Have, for sake of friend and foe alike,
Provoked and brought about so many wrongs.
2.35 But all my foes will cease to be,
And all my friends will cease to be,
And I will also cease to be,
And likewise everything will cease to be.
2.36 All that I possess and use
Is like the fleeting vision of a dream.
It fades into the realms of memory,
And fading, will be seen no more.
2.37 And even in the brief course of this present life,
So many friends and foes have passed away,
Because of whom, the evils I have done,
Still lie, unbearable, before me.
2.38 The thought came never to my mind
That I too am a brief and passing thing.
And so, through hatred, lust and ignorance,
I have committed many sins.
2.39 Never halting day or night,
My life drains constantly away,
And from no other source does increase come.
How can there not be death for such as me?
2.40 There I’ll be, prostrate upon my bed,
And all around, my family and friends.
But I alone shall be the one to feel
The cutting of the thread of life.
2.41 And when the heralds of the Deadly King have gripped me,
What help to me will be my friends and kin?
For then life’s virtue is my one defense,
And this, alas, is what I shrugged away.
Shantideva
From the Way of the Bodhisattva