📖 The Eight Sufferings

I asked: "All beings suffer. How can they find liberation?" The monk replied: "What suffering do all beings endure?" I said: "Why must we be born into this world after ten months of confinement in the womb? Having spent half a life creating karma, how do we face old age? As all forms cycle, how do we resist illness and pain? Since we have love, why must we part? When encountering dislike, where do we place our resentment? In seeking high and low, why do we not find what we seek? When fate reaches its end, what awaits us in death?" The monk said: "Like a flower born from the earth, dying into the earth, between blooming and falling, that is its whole life. Do you think it's suffering? Form, sensations, perception, mental formations, and consciousness the five aggregates are inherently empty. Thus, there is no suffering in birth, aging, illness, death, no separation from loved ones, no undesirable associations, nor unfulfilled desires. Perhaps because of your life's hardships, you feel that the flower suffers, that all beings suffer, unable to find liberation from suffering." I sighed: "Falling flowers return to the dust, but alas, my life has no place to return." The monk laughed and said: "When you lament the falling of flowers, your heart grieves with them; but when you see the flower as just a flower, only then can you transcend suffering." Recorded at Lingyin Temple, on April 17th, in the second year of Yuanfu.

He said: "When people enter this world, are they born to suffer? If so, why are they born? If not, why do they cry?" The monk said: "Are you grieving for last night's newborn?" He said: "Indeed. I grieve that he was born to face hardships to live his life with a disabled arm." The monk asked: "Are his parents suffering?" He said: "Not suffering. They live by the mountains and water, working by day and resting by night. Though not wealthy, they earn their living and are content." The monk asked again: "Do his parents suffer because of their son?" He said: "Not suffering. The couple is harmonious, and despite the difficult birth, they've finally welcomed their eldest son, both with smiles on their faces." The monk said: "The parents are good people, and they love and protect him. Even with his disability, he may still live a peaceful life." He sighed: "I have long known life is fated that sweetness and bitterness lie within. Yet this scene awakens memories." Recorded in a villager's house on the ninth night of the twelfth lunar month, in the third year of the Daguan era. While traveling through Cloudcrest, I helped deliver a baby during a difficult labor, ensuring both mother and child's safety. The father expressed gratitude and asked me to name the child. Given his challenging fate, I named him "Yi" (Perseverance).

Monk: Badly hurt, the eagle is hard to save. You still want to try? Reply: Yes. Monk: Last ointment. If used, no medicine for your old wound. Reply: It's years of burns. But the eagle will die soon without medicine. Reply: Saving a life from certain death. That is what my master once did. I shall follow him. Monk: Great. Year 1109, New Year's Eve. Departure to Lianyun, there was heavy snow on the way. Took shelter in this cave. Found a young eagle severely burned by a wildfire and saved it with medicine. Named it "Little Black" for its black feathers. Stayed for several days, spent leisure time playing flute and chess with Master, discussing Buddhism and scriptures.

The night snow was heavy, making it difficult to proceed, so I sought refuge in the Cold Stone Ruins of Kunlun and engaged in a conversation with a guest at night. The guest said, "I once saw a remote village in the snowy mountains. There was this strong guy who left his elderly mom in the mountains. Isn't it sorrowful? When people get old, it seems like everything just leaves them behind." I replied, "That's just how nature works." The guest was indignant and said, "How can you be so cold-hearted? Don't you think the elderly are deserving of our sympathy and care?" I said, "The elderly were once young; the young will have their time of aging." That mountain guy left his mom behind because there wasn't enough food. If today he leaves the elderly, tomorrow someone might leave him too. We all get old eventually so why worry about it? When old age is over, death comes next, and after death, there's rebirth. Birth, aging, sickness, and death it's just how everything works. No need for sadness, no need for regret, and no need for pity. As the night came to an end, the sky, cleared of snow, radiated with brightness. The guest was taken aback at first, but then smiled with understanding before heading back home.

I traveled to the snowy peaks of Kunlun, where there is a cave the villagers call the "Fox Immortal Cave." Curious, I asked about its story and eagerly went to see it for myself. There I found an old fox, its legs too weak to stand, its teeth worn down, its eyes clouded and dim. A young fox nestled close beside it, softly crying as it brought meat to the elder, gathered grass for warmth, and stayed loyally at its side, never leaving it behind. Ah! Are beasts truer in their ways than humankind? Even the fox has kin yet I am alone, with no family of my own! When the snow cleared and dawn broke, I wrote down this account. Alas, alas!

(Seems to have been crumpled and discarded, the writing is blurred and hard to discern) To Ming: So many words to write, yet none to express. The world is cold, ruled by fleeting desires and petty quarrels. We fight over what does not matter and kill over what should not be. Thus, hatred grows. When fate pits us against each other, blade meets blade, and there is no victor only unending grief. I've harmed you, staining my hands with our own blood. You've taken my life, severing the bond that once held us as one. Each matter is hard to resolve. Upon reaching the Kunlun Snow Mountain, I saw a fox also serving its parent alas, my brother, fate toys with us. The knot is tied how can it be unraveled? We can only avoid each other, as time changes and years pass, perhaps there will be a day to meet again... Brother (crossed out) Lu Qiu