Cold-suffering bird
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cold-Suffering bird
寒苦鳥 ( Jpn kanku-cho )
A legendary bird said to live in the Snow Mountains.
This bird, tortured during the night by the cold, determines to build a nest in the morning.
When day breaks, however, it instead sleeps away the hours in the warm sunlight and forgets about building its nest. When night falls, the bird suffers again. Thus it continues to be tortured by the cold throughout its Life.
The cold-Suffering bird often appears in Buddhist works in reference to the tendency of ordinary beings to easily forget their resolve to seek Buddhism and to live vainly and shortsightedly without making efforts toward their Enlightenment.
