Signs of Waning Health
Wherever he went, no matter how frail he was, he always promulgated Humanistic Buddhism. In November 1954, a checkup revealed that the master had long been inflicted with pulmonary tuberculosis. His lungs were calcified and the tracheae were abnormal. He needed to receive immediate medical treatment and get adequate rest. Still, he had to fly to the Philippines to give a series of lectures. When he finally returned to Taiwan, five months had passed. The trip took a heavy toll on his health. He barely had the strength to eat or talk. However, when people came to him with questions on Buddhism, he would summon his strength and answer spiritedly.
In 1999, another life-threatening illness befell him. Because of months of incessant diarrhea, the signs of life were fading from the 94-year-old Mentor of Buddhism. Such pain and fatigue would be unbearable to any robust youth, let alone a man of his age. Yet never once did Yin Shun panic or complain. Whenever guests came to visit the venerable master, he summoned up his spirit to speak to them.
Read more about this topic: Yin Shun
Famous quotes containing the words signs of, signs, waning and/or health:
“All signs of superhuman nature appear in man as illness or insanity.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“[Christianity] endeavors equally to establish these two things: that God has set up in the Church visible signs to make himself known to those who should seek him sincerely, and that he has nevertheless so disguised them that he will only be perceived by those who seek him with all their heart.”
—Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)
“And let Reform her columns roll.
With thunder peal, and lightening flash.
We’ll preach deliverance to the soul.
‘Mid proud Oppression’s waning crash.”
—Ignis, U.S. women’s magazine contributor. The Genius of Liberty, pp. 9-10 (November 1853)
“The same soil is good for men and for trees. A man’s health requires as many acres of meadow to his prospect as his farm does loads of muck.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)