meaning of living, getting older, getting sick, dying

 Here’s the translation of 生老病死:

1. 【老】“**Aging** (getting older) encompasses the entire journey of life from the moment of fertilization until the last heartbeat and breath, rather than just the final segment of the ‘aging period.’ **Aging** is synonymous with ‘healthy growth,’ while

2. 【病】 its counterpart is **illness**, which represents ‘healthy growth encountering challenges.’ **Aging** and **illness** are like a yin-yang fish: you exist within me, and I exist within you. Behind you and me is a larger yin-yang fish: Living and dying.

3. 【生与死的阴阳鱼】 journey of living and dying , form and shadow, the yin-yang of **life and death**. Life is the form originating from the realm of things-in-themselves (true essence of being), while death is merely the shadow cast by existence in the realm of phenomena. 

4. 【死】Death can only dance with life in the realm of phenomena; in the realm of being, death has no place. The so-called ‘heaven after death’ in religious circles is an illusion of the brain, for there is fundamentally no such thing as ‘after death.’ **Death** is a process that occurs simultaneously with **life** in the realm of phenomena.”