Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: Wisdom-life and Blessings Develop with Compassion (慈長慧命 悲增福)
I often say we should safeguard our Wisdom-life and not damage our loving-kindness. We must love and cherish all living beings to develop our compassion.
We should nurture a compassionate heart. First, we must take care of our loving-kindness by protecting our Wisdom-life. Our Wisdom-life is our wisdom. With wisdom, our minds will naturally be spacious. We will regard others’ well-being and happiness as our own. Then, we will truly rejoice in seeing others’ success and happiness.
Being joyful is a blessing and being understanding is wisdom. So, to protect our Wisdom-life it is very important to not let our kindness diminish. If our kindness remains undiminished, our Wisdom-life will grow.
By cherishing all lives, we develop our compassion. We should always love all living beings. We have discussed before that all beings, no matter how small, possess Buddha-nature. We also talked about “all forms of life.” Regardless of form, all lives are equal. So, do not think that animals with different forms are unrelated to us and can be killed. We should protect, love and cherish all lives. Animals are just as alive as humans. If we can cherish them, we do not let our compassion diminish. I often say, “When others hurt, I hurt; when others suffer, I grieve.” This is universal compassion. If we love and protect all animals, regardless of their form, we can safeguard our own compassion. So, wisdom is kindness and compassion. With kindness, one develops wisdom. With compassion, one cultivates blessings.
Protect your Wisdom-life and do not damage your loving-kindness. Love and cherish all lives to develop our compassion. With kindness, we develop our Wisdom-life. With compassion, we increase our blessings.
Let me first share a story. Once there was a scholar who was walking aimlessly and arrived at a place where a river entered the sea. He saw a fisherman who had just caught a red carp. As he watched the carp being pulled in, it seemed that the carp was constantly looking at the scholar. This scholar, named Qu Shi, watched the fish, and noticed that the fish’s two big eyes appeared to be looking right at him, no matter where he stood.
He could not bear seeing it killed and asking this fisherman if he would be willing to sell the fish.
“Yes, I will sell it.”
“Then I will buy it.”
“Alright, if we can agree on a price, I will sell it to you.”
Although it was expensive, he bought the fish to save its life. Afterwards, he released it into the water. The fish joyously swam towards the sea. Seeing this, Qu Shi was joyful himself, and returned home.
That night he dreamed of a youth in red, who joyously bowed to him with respect, then invited him to visit his home. The scholar saw a vast and boundless ocean, and followed this youth in red to his home in the water. It turned out to be the palace of a sea dragon, which was filled with treasures. The Dragon King respectfully greeted him, and bowed to him with respect and gratitude. He invited the scholar to eat with them. During the meal, the Dragon King told him, “Thank you for saving my son. Because of your kindness in protecting his life, I am extending your life 12 years.”
At that time, he woke up. He was 48 years old. Later, he went to a fortune teller, who told him, “How strange! According to your fortune, you should die this year! But now, something has changed. I can no longer determine how long you will live.”
In this way, he lived peacefully with good health till he passed away at the age of 60. His life had been increased by 12 years.
Whether this story is true or not does not matter. But someone in the past took the time to write it down. It was probably true. Today, we should just do what is right, because at least we will be joyful. Perhaps a dangerous matter may occur; but luckily, we are able to escape unharmed. Or we may suffer a grave illness, but escape from the jaws of death. We often talk about giving unconditionally. As long as we have gratitude and love in our hearts, we are blessed.
We have previously mentioned that the karma of killing is severe. We heard the story about eels that sought revenge. When a man placed his arm into the bucket, they all bit him. Every eel was staring up at him with both eyes. He really loved eating them and had consumed innumerable eels in his life. So he received his retribution in the same life.
Likewise, if we release captive animals, we receive blessings in the same lifetime. However, we do not seek blessings when we give, nor do we ask others to capture fish so we can liberate them. This is not correct. If you ask someone to catch fish, you are damaging his compassion. Only one without compassion would catch fish. Fish out of water are like humans without air. If we cause them to struggle and endure unspeakable suffering, and only then “liberate” them, the fish may not even survive. So, one is still harming living beings. We must not ask others to capture fish for us to liberate. It is wrong to command others to kill while hoping to create blessings through liberation.
The scholar we spoke of happened to pass by and saw the fish. The fish was also a living being that seemed to be very intelligent. It kept gazing at the scholar, as if begging him to save its life. Only with the wisdom of great compassion can one realize that all lives are equal. This is love with wisdom.
So, we must maintain our compassion in order to develop our Wisdom-life and our blessings. But do not intentionally create these types of situations. Just do what is right when the time comes. Then blessings will naturally accumulate.
The repentance text also says, “The transgression of killing can cause beings to suffer in the Hell and Hungry Ghost Realms.” The effects of karma cannot be avoided. If one kills or harms others, one creates negative karma. Negative karma comes from negative causes and varies in severity. Those who kill without mercy will definitely descend into Hell and suffer in the Three Lower Destinies.
So, transgressions “can cause beings to descend into Hell.” These kinds of negative causes and effects will certainly lead us to Hell. This is the force of karma. Although we cannot see or touch karmic force, it directs us and is beyond our control. This is fearsome. So karma forces lead us. We have mentioned before that even if we just made a tiny mistake, whether it is intentional or not, when we arrive in this life we will face obstacles. We will be obstructed by others. Nothing will go according our wishes. Nine out of ten things will be unsatisfactory. So, our minds often face torment and suffering, and cannot be freed. This is because of karmic forces.
What is even more serious than karmic forces acting in the Human Realm is the karmic force causing us to uncontrollably descend into the Lower Realms. Karmic forces cause one to enter the Hell, Animal or Hungry Ghost Realms. This is the retribution of Lower Realms.
Thus “as an animal, one takes the form of a tiger, leopard, wolf, eagle, hawk, snake, or scorpion, etc.”
There are many types of animals. Besides humans, all other forms of life are called animals. Some animals are domesticated, like cows, goats, horses, chickens, ducks, etc. These forms of life are raised for money. There are countless other wild animals, such as tigers, leopards, wolves, poisonous snakes, scorpions, etc. They dwell mainly in the mountains. They can harm people. Then there are eagles and hawks. These are types of very aggressive birds that kill other animals and births. You may have heard of eagles snatching chicken.
When I was a child, the adults would say, “Take good care of the chicken flock, watch for eagles. In order to sustain their own lives and raise their young these eagles will seize small animals. The weak become food for the strong. So we say, “The weak are meat for the strong.”
We were discussing aerial predators. Snakes and scorpions crawl on the ground. On this Earth there are many species of ferocious beasts and aggressive birds of prey. They are all within the Animal Realm.
Their physical forms frighten people. So when people see snakes, they attack them. When people see tigers or wolves they try to capture them or at least avoid them. In short, this is all within the Lower Realms, which include the Animal Realm. Their world is filled with suffering beyond words.
So we should safeguard our minds. A slight deviance of the mind leads us onto the wrong path, and away from the Dharma. In that case, we easily descend into the Hell or Animal Realms. Although these are ferocious beasts that many people are afraid of, their lives are actually very difficult. So we should guard our thoughts and seize the chance to practice to practice as humans. We should always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
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