Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: Refrain from Wrongdoings, Be Vigilant and Reverent (離非懺過 虔誠戒慎)
We must diligently develop our sincerity to protect our minds from greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance and doubt. We must refrain from evil and repent our mistakes. This means that we should always reflect on ourselves and work hard to train the mind. We must always nurture our sincerity and maintain it when interacting with people and handling matters. As practitioners, we should possess pure and sincere thoughts. Always be vigilant against greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance and doubt. Without a repentant heart, these Five Poisons will arise again.
We must distance ourselves from negativity, and always be repentant. In addition to correcting our mistakes, we must also be vigilant to prevent future ones. Constantly be reverent after repenting. With a reverent and repentant heart, we can heighten our vigilance and awareness, and be cautious in dealing with people and matters. We must always heighten our vigilance when interacting with others.
So the repentance text reads, “With greed, anger, ignorance and arrogance, we may give rise to thoughts of killing. With evil intentions, we may vow, resolve or swear to kill.” Evil thoughts are strong. According to this passage, if one’s thinking goes even slightly astray, evil thoughts continuously arise. “Killing” creates negative karma. When one kills, negative karma is immediately established. Karma comes from a cause; this cause originates in the mind. All the karma we create originates in the mind. So when greed, anger, ignorance and arrogance accumulate and come together, karma is produced. These are the roots of evil. When the mind functions with these roots of evil, karma is being created. Then one vows, resolves or swears to harm another. These are the precursors of evil acts.
Why does one wish to kill? There must be a cause. This cause can be called a precursor. To kill, one must have had malicious thoughts. When this negative thought or habit encounters certain conditions, one takes action. With action, karma is established. During the Qing Dynasty, there was a scholar named Ji, who lived in a rural area of Shan-dong. He witnessed an incident, which he would often recount to others to remind them that they should not have evil thoughts.
The story went like this. There was a man who owned and raised a cow. When the cow grew fat and strong, he decided it was time to sell it for slaughter. That day, he planned to take the cow to the market. The cow knew that after it was auctioned off, it would be slaughtered for meat. So, it refused to move. The owner started to beat it with a rod until the rod broke in half. Then he started whipping it. After suffering so much pain, the cow helplessly followed the man into the market. At the entrance of the market lived a rich man, who happened to be on his way out. When the cow saw the rich man, it knelt down and looked at him with tearful eyes. Tears streamed down its face as if it was begging him to save its life.
The wealthy man could not bear it and asked the owner where he was taking the cow.
The owner told him he was taking it to the market to be sold for slaughter.
The rich man asked how much it would cost to buy it.
The owner quoted a high price of 8,000 taels of silver.
Seeing how earnestly the cow begged for its life, with tears in its eyes, the wealthy man could not bear it, and agreed to buy it.
However, the owner, as he looked at the cow, became infuriated. His anger and evil thoughts had been building as he dragged the cow to the market. He said, “This detestable cow struggled with me for hours and made me work so hard. I am tired and mad. Even if you pay three times what it is worth, I’m not selling.” “Regardless of how much you are willing to pay, I am going to kill it myself. I will first eat some of it, then sell the rest.”
He continued to forcefully pull the cow, and whip it. The cow knew that it was hopeless to continue begging for its life. So, the cow got up and followed its owner. They arrived at an abandoned house in a field. The owner thought this would be a good place to slaughter and cook it. Night had already come, so he killed the cow and found the stove. Although the house was abandoned, there was still a stove. He gathered some wood and started cooking. With the cow dead and the meat cooking he grew tired and lay down to sleep. At dawn, he thought that the meat should be done, so he leaned over the big pot to check. Meanwhile, his wife had been waiting at home. A day had already passed, and the second day was almost over. Yet, her husband had not returned. So, she walked along the path to look for him. At the village, she saw a pool of blood in front of an abandoned house. When she looked inside, she saw her husband. The upper half of his body had fallen in the pot, in the eater that was boiling the meat. He was just hanging there. His upper body, along with his head, was entirely cooked along with the meat.
Scholar Ji heard what had happened. During his talks in the villages or in his lectures to his students in the city, he would share this story from his hometown. There is already negative karma for those who raise and sell livestock. Moreover, this individual had evil intentions. He wanted to kill the animal himself. This thought to kill animal was an evil intention, a precursor of evil. Isn’t this an entanglement of greed, anger, ignorance and arrogance? The precursor was the cow’s unwillingness to follow and obey him. Later, when a kind person offered to buy it at a high price, his negative thoughts arose and prompted him to kill and eat it instead. Such evil is the accumulation of other evils. As layers of evil accumulate, they become powerful.
So, negative causes and karma were so strong that they resulted in immediate retribution. With greed anger, ignorance and arrogance his wrongdoings led to immediate retribution. Thus greed anger, ignorance and arrogance give rise to thoughts of killing. When one’s mind gives rise to evil, one vows and wishes to kill. One is determined to kill. You see, this story is so appropriate. He could have sold the cow and made money while allowing it to live. Wouldn’t that have been wonderful? But because of the struggle with the cow, he gave rise to evil thoughts. So, he vowed and wished to kill. He was resolute about killing and eating it himself. This is truly very malevolent. He swore he must kill it; such evil thinking is indeed terrifying.
Next, the text reads, “Perhaps we destroy lakes and ponds, burn mountains and fields to fish and hunt.” This passage indicates that besides creating karma of killing, we may also destroy lakes and ponds. There are many living organisms in the lakes and ponds. Because of certain conditions, some people destroy these habitats. For example, some wish to obtain land for development, so they backfill ponds and lakes. In the process, they kill countless beings. This is also a type of killing. It is actually extermination. Such conduct is truly evil.
Next is “burning mountains and fields,” which is similar to what we just mentioned. Mountains and forests can prevent erosion of land. But to cultivate marketable vegetables, people burn down forests to farm. They set the land on fire to alter the soil, then cultivate quickly-growing vegetables instead. For example, we always hear about the [famous] cabbages, pears, plums, etc. from Pear Mountain. These produce are grown there. The area was originally so beautiful, with forests that protected the land from erosion. But due to human greed and ignorance, we mistakenly believe we can conquer nature. We become arrogant and self-important and try to conquer the land. Our wild ambition drives us to burn forests and dig mines to extract all sorts of minerals. We are always creating karma and transgressions.
We also hunt and fish. People use electricity or nets to capture living beings in water. Others use traps to capture animals in the forests. On land or in water, men go to any lengths to ensnare all beings. Humans think they are smart and can overcome anything so they create a lot of negative karma.
Everyone, we should always safeguard our minds. An instant of carelessness will cause greed, anger, ignorance and doubt to arise. People find many reasons and precursors to harm other sentient beings. When such thoughts arise, we create much karma. Now that we understand, we should distance ourselves from such activities. We should not even give rise to thoughts of harm. We must disassociate from evil, repent our past wrongs and protect our thinking. We must truly be vigilant and reverent. In life, we must not deviate even slightly. So everyone, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
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