Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: The Four Cravings (四貪)
We have been constantly talking about ignorance and afflictions. Our minds have been constricted and bound by greed, hatred, etc. We have tied ourselves up. What is it that has tied us up? The Four Cravings.
The Four Cravings may cause all wrongdoings. The Four Cravings: Craving for food, Craving for clothing, Craving for sleep, Craving for medicine.
There are four kinds of cravings; we are greedy for many things. It seems that everything we have spoken about is related to cravings. So, we can see that craving truly compounds the ignorance and afflictions that we already started with, and increases our countless karmic obstructions.
All of this originates from cravings. Of the 84,000 afflictions, all are related to cravings. Since the Buddha’s teachings had to counter 84,000 afflictions, of all 84,000 methods of practice, there is not one that does not deal with cravings. All the methods must counter cravings. There are many types of cravings. Here, they are categorized into four types. These Four Cravings are for things that we think we should have in our lives.
So we are not aware that we are committing the transgression of craving. It is related to the Four Offerings for Monastics. As we engage in spiritual practice, we must not crave these four kinds of offerings. Of course, monks and nuns in a monastery live a simple life. Their clothes are unrefined, their food light-flavored, and their dwellings simple. This is the monastic way of life.
But if monastics overstep these bounds, that constitutes greed for the Four Offerings. These are clothing, food, bedding materials, and medicine. These are the four kinds of offerings made. Monastic practitioners also need to eat, but what we eat is lightly seasoned and unrefined. If it is sufficient to maintain our health, isn’t it good enough? Some people, however, are very picky. They want to eat fine foods, and be particular about flavors. This is not what a monastic should do.
Should lay people do this? No, they shouldn’t either. We should know that when we eat a bowl of rice, whether we are monastics or lay people, we ought to think of where the rice came from. When we hold a bowl of rice, we must think of all the hard work it took to produce this. How many farmers have had to tend their rice fields, irrigating them, weeding them, harvesting the grain? In winter, despite the cold, they pull weeds. In the summer, no matter how hot and sweaty they get, they must harvest the grain.
But is it that easy to grow the crop? Will the rice grow if they just plant the seedlings and pull out the weeds? No, the weather is very important. The weather must be just right; the sun shining when sunny days are needed, and rain falling when rain is needed. The air must be very clean and fresh, and the soil quality must also be very good. Only then can the rice grow successfully. If the weather is good, the rice flowers bloom, the grain grows; that we can harvest when the time comes. These are all things that we must worry about.
The world is impermanent. Can the weather always be so favorable? Especially now, much of the land is contaminated. Soil contamination is due to contaminated water. Water sources are contaminated by various chemicals discharged by factories. Even the cleansers they use in chemical baths cause serious pollution. So, as chemicals are mixed with water, the water becomes contaminated. As we can recall, there was a time when the rice harvested on several dozen acres of land in central Taiwan was found to contain cadmium, which is toxic, so it could not be consumed.
This was in central Taiwan, but in northern Taiwan’s Taoyuan area there was also a time when the soil was contaminated by polluted water. We could only watch helplessly when all the harvested rice had to be discarded. Even that land had to lay empty for several years, because aside from rice, other crops could not be planted there, either.
Just think: all plants and grains grow from the soil. If the soil is contaminated, nothing will grow. Consider our food supply. The human population continually grows but the water and soil are continually contaminated, so the yield of food crops is decreasing. What will we do in the future? This is worrisome indeed. Isn’t this all due to human actions? Water does not naturally contain chemicals. This is human influence. The land did not naturally contain cadmium. In the past, it also produced crops and provided food for us. But suddenly, we found cadmium in the soil, and we couldn’t consume the crops grown in it. Just think: didn’t humans cause this? Because of humankind’s pursuit of comfort and convenience, we kept building factories. And factories must use chemicals. That is for certain. So all the problems can be traced back to humankind’s pursuit of comfort.
If we can live on the bounty of nature, and not seek anything more, without a doubt, the land would be able to provide all the food we need. Modern life is too mechanized and too industrialized. This has created a vicious cycle. Thus, even when we eat simply, we sometimes need to worry about what we eat. We must be vigilant.
All things on Earth coexist in balance according to the laws of nature. If we all abide by these laws, we will grow and thrive together. Thus, everything will go as smoothly as we desire.
There are some lay people who are very particular about cuisine. Because of that, they eat all kinds of living creatures. Humans slaughter and eat all animals for food, does that not create negative karma? Indeed, it does. Thus, human craving for food and taste has led us to kill so many living creatures. Humans can indeed be heartless and cruel.
In truth, many disasters and man-made calamities have their root human actions. If all things in the world could coexist in peace and harmony, then this world would be very beautiful. Some encourage interaction and mutual caring to foster happiness in the home.
In addition to humans, animals can also be very adorable. Look at the ads shown on Da Ai TV with mother birds and their nestlings. How adorable are those imagine! There are many other animals in this world. It would be great if we could admire and care for them. When we see a dog, we see how intelligent it is, and it brings us a lot of joy.
On day, I was walking outside, and saw a dog whose coat was bare. I approached the dog and asked, “Are you Dabao?” Someone had shaved entire body. When it heard me ask, “Are you Dabao?” it seemed embarrassed, as if it was embarrassed to be improperly dressed. It then quickly dodged us, and ran away with its head down. The dog seems very intelligent. We all love it dearly.
One time, as I was about to leave the Abode, Dabao ran ahead of me to the car and waited there. As I approached the car, it jumped into the car, thinking that we were taking it out. It was just following one of us, so it blindly followed us into the car. People had to get out of the car and say to her, “Come down! You can’t go out. Go back and look after our home.” She obeyed and exited the car. You see, she wanted to be a member of the group.
Indeed, like Dabao, animals are adorable. We need to cherish living creatures, and not harm or kill them. In fact, there are people who claim that animals are born to be eaten by humans. Who said so? This is not true. But people will justify eating meat with excuses. “If we don’t kill these animals for food, then they would be all over the place.” Probably no. See, humans don’t sell or eat other humans. The population hasn’t exceeded some threshold, we still go about our normal lives. Some people even want to have more children, so some people are truly confused. If we’re not concerned about human overpopulation, why worry about that for animals? Why think it will happen if we don’t eat them? It won’t.
We can all coexist peacefully, as long as we stop breeding them. The reason there are so many chickens and ducks is because commercial poultry farmers continually breed them. Look at how they stimulate hens to lay eggs. Nowadays, they use machines to hatch eggs, so they don’t even need the hens to hatch the eggs. This increases production volumes significantly. Think, will these animals multiply in such numbers if humans stop eating them? No. It is people who bread these animals, yet the more animals there are, the more of our grain they consume. This goes for goats, cows, horses, etc., which are bred for human consumption.
Imagine how much they eat in one day? Cows, goats, and horses need to eat grass. To plant all this grass, people cut down forests, clear them for pasture. Chickens and ducks also need to be fed. Their feed consists of grains that humans could eat, but we have to give them a share too. If we could stop breeding these animals and allow them to breed naturally, then they would find food in nature for themselves. There would be no need to give them massive quantities of food that humans can eat.
Moreover, the animals produce a lot of excrement. Their excrement pollutes the soil and the water supply, and makes it hard to keep drinking water clean. This is a vicious cycle. Because we want to eat them, we must use a lot of grains to feed them. These grains could otherwise have been consumed by humans. Aside from using up human food, they also pollute the soil. This polluted soil becomes unfit to grow crops. Even the water human’s drink becomes polluted.
So, many factors are involved just in the action of eating. Everyone, do not think that I am just talking about cravings. In truth, as we live in this world, we do not realize that in our daily lives, we have already committed these wrongs and created negative karma. We must truly be self-disciplined and on guard. Diseases often enter through our mouths.
During the SARS epidemic, everyone was frightened and scared. But worrying is useless, instead we should be disciplined, and refrain from eating meat. The Japanese call the vegetarian diet a healthy, or diligent diet, which means that a vegetarian diet allows us to be diligent because it fosters mental clarity, and also gives us good health. So, it’s a diligent diet, a healthy diet. If more people are vegetarian, we kill less, and create less negative karma. Not having the heart to eat the flesh of other living creatures allows our minds to be calmer and gentler. Meat-eaters tend to be more volatile and lose their tempers more easily. If we eat a vegetarian diet, we can be gentler. Cows are vegetarian. Look at how gentle they are. Tigers are meat-eaters. Look at how savage they are. Yet cows are still very strong.
Cultivating a vegetarian diet as a way of life is not only beneficial to one’s health; it also nurtures one’s compassion. Also, we are safeguarding the Earth and crating a harmonious living environment.
So a vegetarian diet is absolutely beneficial. It helps mitigate global warming, it cleanses the land, and cleanses our water supply. Furthermore, it fosters a return to normal climate patterns because the climate is influenced by pollution. This is all brought about by human actions. Everyone, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
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