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EMANCIPATION
355
vena parivahittae, se anupuvvenaṁ āhāraḥ samvattejjă, ānupuvveņañ áhārań saṁvattettā, Kasãe payaņue kiccă, samāhiyacce phalagāvayatthi, Utthāya bhikkhū abhinivvudacce.
Conscious Preparation for Death
105. If a monk feels - 'Infirmity is forcing my body to
cease functioning and I cannot do my duties (at the right time)', he should gradually reduce his diet, and through this reduction, try to chisel his passions (anger, pride, deceit and avarice) (just as a carpenter does a beam).
After attenuating his passions, a monk who has completely subdued his emotions and has his body attenuated and passions well-curtailed through vigorous external and internal austerities, like (the two sides of) a beam well-chiselled and evened out, and, having thus prepared himself for Death Sublime (sa mādhi-marana), should become free from attachment and activities of body.
ANNOTATION 105. Generally one becomes infirm through some sort of disease. But, as the author of the Cürni has pointed out, insufficient food, little or no clothes, or squatting for hours on end like a cock etc. also make one infirm. Severe austerities may also result in infirmity. When the body becomes extremely emaciated, the monk should prepare himself for Death Sublime through gradual attenuation (saṁlekhană). The main constitutents of attenuation are:
(a) Gradual reducing of diet. (b) Scrupulous diminution of passions. (c) Keeping the body in a state of stillness.
Exertion (utthana or vigorous preparation for something) is of three kinds:
(a) Exertion in self-discipline - to get initiated into
ascetic life,
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