The
four most frightening things
One day, while the Buddha was discoursing in Jetvana Vihara, King Prasenajit
came to visit him. On seeing the king dressed in attire of mourning with
expressions of bereavement, the Buddha was told that the king's ninety year old
mother had died a few days earlier from a serious illness. King Prasenajit and
his court of ministers had just completed the funeral proceedings and escorted
the coffin to the graveyard before coming to pay the Buddha a visit.
Seeing the sad expression on the king's face, the Buddha said to him:" There are four things in life which are most frightening:
1. Aging and death necessarily follow birth.
2. Illnesses make us grow thin and look haggard.
3. Consciousness will leave the body at death.
4. It will be an eternal farewell to our family at death.
No matter how much we detest them, nobody can avoid them because they are within the law of impermanence. It is impossible for our dearest ones to be with us forever, as life is like time and running water which will never return once it is gone. Since no one can escape death, we might as well accrue some merits for the dead rather than just mourn for them. Devoting our prayers for their repentance and deliverance is like preparing meals for those in readiness to travel far. Only in doing so are we really benefiting the dead."
After hearing this revelation of the Buddha, King Prasenajit was finally relieved from his sorrow. The gloom of the last few days was lifted, and he resumed his normal self with a sense of purpose again when he departed.
[Death
inevitably comes with birth. Becoming is necessarily followed by extinction.
This is the track of cause and effect upon which life and death cycle. There is
no need for joy at birth or sorrow at death. Birth is not a beginning, and
death is not the end. The birth-death-birth relationship is a phenomenon
typical of constant change. It is therefore true wisdom to be able to attain
deathlessness through the Dharma of becoming and unbecoming.]