20180816茹素健康救倒懸Promoting Vegetarianism to Save Lives and Planet Earth
"We see that many countries have been struck by heatwaves this year. Indeed, the best way for us to mitigate global warming is by going vegetarian. Above all, since amny people who come here are advanced in age, adopting the vegetarian diet is more healthful to them."
"Master says that instead of praying for blessings, we must do good to create them and that only with correct beliefs can we stay safe and well. I've truly taken in Master's teachings and I've been living them out. For example, I no longer burn paper money. "
"For the sake of my company, I used to burn a lot of paper money in the seventh lunar month. Before, I'd spend about 1,000 USD on paper money, thinking that the more paper money I burned, the more profits my company would make. But burning paper money pollutes the air, and it didn't bring more profits to my company. So, I think sincere piety is more important. "
"Today, I've changed my perspective on the seventh lunar month. Because of the custom, I used to be afraid of going out at night in this month. Now, I'm not afraid anymore. The seventh lunar month is actually a month of auspiciousness, so we must do good and give with love. "
"Because it is the seventh lunar month, more pigs, ducks, and chicken are getting killed, and I feel sorry for them. So, I hope that people can eat less meat, which will make our Earth a better place to live."
The seventh lunar month is meant to relieve all living beings from suffering (instead of having animals killed as offerings.) Many would buy chicken or ducks in the markets, have them bound and hung upside down, and then they'd take them home to kill. That's what many people did in the past. Now, livestock slaughtering has mostly become automated, so a great number of animals have been killed.
Just think. It's no wonder that every day, over 100 million animals are killed to supply meat to billions of people in the world who crave for meat dishes. In one of our events for the seventh lunar month, a participant (shared how he was impressed by) the vegetarian lunch that we offered for more people to understand that vegetarian meals can be very delicious as well.
"We were offered a vegetarian meal. Although it was just a small boxed meal, it was even more delicious than any meat dish. I am a meat lover, so I used think that a vegetarian meal is not tasty at all. However, the boxed meal tasted surprisingly good and it was very healthful, so in the future, I'll eat vegetarian as much as possible."
He was impressed by how tasty and wonderful a vegetarian meal can be although he loves to eat meat. It's lamentable that many people do not understand the law of karma. We often remind others that karmic retribution will eventually manifest in this or future lifetimes.
Isn't the story of Master Wu Da a good example? For ten lifetimes, he was a high monk. In his past nine lifetimes, his karmic retribution didn't have a chance to come to bear. But, due to his pride, his karmic retribution manifested. The bruise on his leg deteriorated. It began to suppurate and ended up as a human-faced sore. This is a true story in history. (There are also similar clinical cases.)
We see an elderly lady. Originally, she had a small bump, which was like a pustule, at the corner of her mouth. After it was left untreated for more than two years, the small bump became larger and larger, and even festered, bled, and suppurated. Later, one of our Tzu Chi volunteers learned of her situation and sought help from our Tzu chi International Med. Assn. (TIMA). So, the elderly lady was sent to hospital.
Since the mass of tissue hurt and itched badly, she would often scratch it. (And to prevent her from further scratching,) her hands were bound. It's not hard to imagine how terribly she must have suffered. There are indeed many medical cases like this, so we truly must heighten our vigilance and share an understanding of the karmic law of cause and effect. May we all understand that the seventh lunar month is a time for us to relieve all living beings from suffering. In truth, not only in this month but also every single day, we must work to relieve all living beings from suffering.
The seventh lunar month is also a month of auspiciousness, joy, and filial piety. (Back in the Buddha's time,) the Buddha's disciples would settle down together to focus on spiritual cultivation in a three-month summer retreat. When the summer retreat came to an end on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, the Buddha's disciples would share what they've learned and the Buddha would feel great joy.
So, it's a month of joy and auspiciousness. In Buddhism, this month is a time for us to care for all living beings instead of harming them. However, many people kill animals to provide food (for spirits form the underworld) without understanding the true meaning of this month. We must find ways to share its true meaning with others as soon as possible.
Although I talk about this every year and try to inspire everyone by sharing the true meaning behind this month, we must now all the more share it with others whenever we can because many people still kill animals for meat and hence create bad karma. If we choose not to eat meat, animals won't be killed to produce meat.
In addition, the environment and the air around the world have been polluted. We also see global warming, and when we're affected by the hot weather, it reminds us that wildfires have been raging through forests in many countries, which also leads to the rising global temperatures. See how we are all subject to the consequences of the bad karma we have collectively created. So we truly must seize time to make a difference.
"In the seventh lunar month, to encourage people to go vegetarian, we prepare vegetarian boxed meals at our recycling station. So, our volunteers who are too busy to prepare vegetarian meals or don't know how to do it can all go vegetarian."
"We prepare different dishes every day and pay close attention to hygiene, nutrition, and other details. We only make vegan dishes, which do not have egg or any of the five pungent plants."
"I've been a vegetarian for many years. The vegetarian diet makes me full of energy and no animals will be killed as a result. So, I hope my family can go vegetarian, too."
"I love the vegetarian dishes made by Tzu Chi volunteers. I hope they can promote vegetarianism every year so more people can go vegetarian.”
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