Understanding Suffering and Aging : หน้า 69/263

bear. When the sun shines in the morning, all the different flowers of the meadow and the water, open up their petals to welcome its rays. However, when the rays of the sun become hotter, the same flowers become withered by the heat. Even the moon which is so bright with its own radiance must hide itself away when the sun rises. The time of the rising sun is comparable to our youth when our body is still fresh, and when we are still strong and healthy. However, later in life, the same rays of aging bring us skin which is wrinkled and dry, dull and unattractive like the flowers withered by the extended heat of the day. All these are ways in which aging brings misery to living beings. 3. Suffering as a result of Illness [byādhi dukkha] The Lord Buddha taught that suffering as a result of illness comes from the malfunction of the bodily elements. Sometimes such malfunction leaves us feeling cold. Sometimes we are left feeling intense heat and pain inside. Metaphors for Suffering as a result of Illness 1. A donkey dying while giving birth to a mule: to bear the suffering of illness is as hard to bear as the suffering of a mother donkey who dies painfully while attempting to give birth to the kicking mule in her womb. 2. A parasitic creeper: A creeper starts by growing on a tree trunk, but eventually it will compete for the nutrition of that tree and eventually strangle that tree to death — like reed and bamboo competing for nutrients in the soil. Illness brings pain, weariness, aches and weakness to the home that is our body. Illness undermines the sturdiness of our body and deprives us of happiness, bringing us misery