(6) After his soul has departed he dies, and when it has gone down he decays; he is all corruption; all his bones are rottenness, putrefaction seizes his limbs and makes his bones break down, his flesh becomes a fetid liquid, his breath is stink, he becomes a multitude of worms

(17) God intended that the Body which he should get from the Infection of the four Elements, must die; and it did also presently (in his tender 1 virgin Mind) die to the Paradise, and got the Mind of this World, wherein sticks nothing but patching and piecing, as also Frailty, and at last Death.

(7) For as this World breaks and passes away, so also all Flesh (which is generated out of the Spirit of this World) must break and pass away. Therefore now when the poor Soul must depart out of this Body, wherein yet it is generated, if then it has not the new Garment of the Regeneration of the Holy Ghost in it, and is not clothed with the Mantle of Christ, with his Incarnation, Suffering, Death, and Resurrection, in him, then there begins great Sorrow and Unquietness, [viz.] in those only which at the Breaking of their Bodies are but in the Gate, and so swim between Heaven and Hell; and there then dis Need of Wrestling and Struggling, as is to be seen by very many when they are dying.

(4) As a heavily loaded cart goes creaking, just so this bodily self, mounted by the intelligent Self, goes groaning when one is breathing one's last.

(4) When the body is dragged hither and thither by vultures lusting for meat, why is it powerless to save itself? Why dost thou watch over this frame, O my spirit, as if it were thine own? if it is a thing apart from thee, what canst thou lose thereby? Silly one, what thou claimest as thine is not as clean as a wooden doll; why dost thou cling to this rotten machine framed in foulness? Lift in thy imagination this envelope of skin, and with the scalpel of wisdom remove the flesh from the frame of bones. Open likewise the bones, and look upon the marrow within them. Then ask thyself what essential thing is therein. And now that thou hast made diligent search and found therein nothing essential, say wherefore thou still clingest to the body. Thou canst not eat its impurities and entrails, nor drink its blood; what wilt thou do with the body? This poor flesh, which thou guardest in order to feed vultures, jackals, and the like, is fitted only to be a tool for men's works. Though thou guardest it thus, pitiless Death will tear away the body and give it to the vultures; and then what wilt thou do? To a servant who will not remain, gifts of garments and the like are not given; when it has eaten, the body will depart, then why waste thy riches upon it? Pay to it its wage, then set thy thought upon thine own business; for we give not to the hireling all that he may earn. Conceive of the body as a ship that travels to and fro, and make it go at thy bidding for creatures to fulfil their end.

(3) Now through those means he brought on himself sickness. And there came to inquire after him countless visitors headed by kings, great ministers, wealthy householders, lay-disciples, Brahman princes and other high officials. Then Vimalakirti taking the opportunity of his sickness, preached to any one who came to him, and said : “ Come, ye gentlemen, the human body is transient, weak, impotent, frail, and mortal; never trustworthy, because it suffers when attacked by disease; ye gentlemen, an intelligent man never places his trust in such a thing; it is like a bubble that soon bursts. It is like a mirage which appears because of a thirsty desire. It is like a plantain tree which is hollow inside. It is like a phantom caused by a conjurer. It is like a dream giving false ideas. It is like a shadow which is produced by Karma. It is like an echo which is produced by various relations. It is like a floating cloud which changes and vanishes. It is like the lightning which instantly comes and goes. It has no power as the earth has none. It has no individuality as the fire has none. It has no durability as the wind has none. It has no personality as the water has none. It is not real and the four elements are its house. It is empty 'when freed from the false idea of me and mine. It has no consciousness as there is none in grasses, trees, bricks or stones. It is impotent as it is revolved by the power of the wind. It is impure and full of filthiness. It is false and will be reduced to nothingness, in spite of bathing, clothing or nourishment. It is a calamity and subject to a hundred and one diseases. It is like a dry well threatened by decay. It is transient and surely to die. It is like a poisonous snake or the hateful enemies or the deserted village as it is composed of the (five) Skandhas, the (twelve) Ayatanas and the (eighteen) Dhatus.

(84) And so instead of the paradisical Joy and Refreshment, there has been a mere Brimstone-Spirit, which stands in Anguish and Trembling, of Corruption [or Fragility,] which kindles the Tincture of the Blood, wherein Tearing, Stinging, and Tormenting is wrought; and if the Fire in the Brimstone-Spirit be too much kindled, then it burns the Tincture up, and the Light of Life goes out, and then the Body falls away to be a dead-Carcase; and if the tart Sourness be kindled too much by the hard Attracting and Holding, then also the Light of Life goes out, and the Body perishes; so also of the Water; if the Tincture kindles itself in the Meekness, then it becomes windy, gross, swelled, wholly dark, also infectious.and corrupt, wherein the Flash of the Life is as a pricking Thorn. And so Man's Life is every where begirt with Enemies, and the poor Soul is always in a close Prison fettered with many Chains, and is continually in Fear that (when the Body shall [die or] break) it may fall into the Kingdom of the Executioner, the Devil.

(31) Thus the noble Life in the Tincture stands in great Danger, and has hourly to expect the [Corruption, or Destruction, Breaking, or] Dissolution; for as soon as the Blood (wherein the Spirit lives) flows out [or passes away,] the Essence [breaks, or] dissolves, and the Tincture flies away like a Glance or Shadow; and then the source [or Springing up] of the Fire is out, and the Body becomes stiff.

(61) And here now was no Remedy, neither in Heaven, nor in this World, they were captivated in hard Slavery, in Misery and Death; the Abyss of Hell held the Soul, and the Spirit of this World held the Body [captive.] Death and Corruption was in the Body; and there was nothing else in them but Enmity to itself, [proceeding] from the tart Essences of the Stars, wherein one Source [or Quality] strives against the other, and one breaks [or destroys] the other with greater Pain and Torment to the Body, with Trembling and Shrieking; and at last [comes] Corruption and Death, as it is before our Eyes.

(51) The Flesh is not the Life, but is a dead inanimate Being, which when the Government or Dominion of the Spirit ceases to qualify or operate therein, soon becomes a dead Carcase, and putrefies and turns to Dust or Ashes.

(27) For thou seest plainly, how all the Fruits of the Earth, whatsoever it brings forth, must putrefy and rot; also they are a Death.

(72) For this Body is but a Shell, from which the new Body grows, as it is with a Grain of Wheat in the Earth. The Husk or Shell shall not rise and be living again, no more than it is in the Wheat, but will remain for ever in Death and in Hell. "The new Body grows out of the heavenly Substantiality in the Word, out of the Help and Blood of Christ, out of the Mystery of the old Body." [Ggg]

(47) Here, ye beloved Sheep, observe: When Christ died, he did not cast away his Body (which he had here) and yield it up to the four Elements to be swallowed up, so that he must have wholly a strong Body; no, but zthe Source [or Property] of this World, which is in the Stars and Elements; and the a Incorruptible swallowed up the Corruptible, so that it is a Body which lives (in the Virtue of God) in God, and not in the Spirit of this [sour elementary] World; and Paul says concerning the last Judgment, That the Incorruptible (viz. the new Man) shall overpower the Corruptible, and shall swallow up the Corruptible, so that Death shall be made a Scorn, according to that Saying, [O Death!] where is thy Sting? O Hell! where is thy Victory?

The FUMIGATION from MANNA. HEAR me, O Death, whose empire unconfin'd, Extends to mortal tribes of ev'ry kind. On thee, the portion of our time depends, Whose absence lengthens life, whose presence ends. Thy sleep perpetual bursts the vivid folds, By which the soul, attracting body holds: 6 Common to all of ev'ry sex and age, For nought escapes thy all-destructive rage; Not youth itself thy clemency can gain, Vig'rous and strong, by thee untimely slain. In thee, the end of nature's works is known, In thee, all judgment is absolv'd alone: No suppliant arts thy dreadful rage controul, No vows revoke the purpose of thy soul; O blessed pow'r regard my ardent pray'r, And human life to age abundant spare.

(4) Verily, this person, by being born and obtaining a body, is joined with evils. When he departs, on dying, he leaves evils behind.

(12) But despite its fall, the whole earth cannot satisfy the lust of the flesh; who can do its will? To him who longs for the impossible come guilt and bafflement of desire; but he who is utterly without desire has a happiness that ages not. Then give no room for the lust of the flesh to swell; blessed indeed is the thing that is not imagined for the sake of its pleasant- ness. The body is a motionless thing stirred by something without, and ending in ashes, a loathsome frame of foulness; why do I cling to it? What have I to do with this machine, alive or dead? What distinguishes it from such things as clods of earth? Alas, O thought of self, thou wilt not die! Through complicity with the flesh I win sorrow, all to no purpose; it is no better than a thing of wood, and what should avail its hatred or its kindness? It feels no love when I guard it, no hate when vultures devour it; then why do I love it? I am angered when it is treated with scorn, delighted when it is honoured; but if it has no knowledge, to what end is my toil? My friends, forsooth, are they who wish well to this body; but all men wish well to their own flesh, and why are not they also my friends? So I have surrendered my body indifferently for the weal of the world; it is but as an instrument of work that I still bear it, with all its guilt. Enough then of worldly ways! I follow in the path of the Wise, remembering the Discourse upon Heedfulness and putting away sloth. To overcome the power of darkness I concentre my thought, drawing the spirit away from vain paths and fixing it straightly upon its stay.

(114) Behold! Man becomes weak, faint and sick, and if no Remedy be used, then he soon falls into Death. The Sickness is caused either by some bitter and astringent Herb which grows out of the Earth, or else caused by an evil, mortiferous deadly Water, or by several Mixtures of earthly Herbs, or by some evil stinking and rank Flesh or Meats, and Surfeit from thence to Loathing;

(39) But hearken, Friend, tarry yet a little while, and then give the bestial Body for Food to the Worms: But when the Total God shall kindle the seven Spirits of God in the corrupted Earth, then if that same Saltiter which thou sowest in the Earth, will not be capable of the Fire, then thy qualifying or fountain Spirits, which thou sowest in thy Life-time, and are sown in thy Departure from hence, will rise again in the same Saltiter which thou hast sown, and will triumph therein, and become a Body again. [Or whole Saltiter. See Ch. 10. verse 107. the Saltiter which they have corrupted. And Ch. 11. verse 157. the corrupted Saltiter.]

(43) For the dead or mortal Flesh has encompassed the astral Birth, and Man's Flesh is a dead Carcase, whilst it is yet in the Mother's Body or Womb, and is encompassed with Hell and God's Wrath.