Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: Form is Empty with Ever-changing Appearances (色空無定相)
Every day we come into contact with the world through our Six Sense Organs. The one nearest to us, which we cannot do without, and use at least three times a day, is our nose. Through smell, we recognize the emptiness of form. We all have three meals a day with different dishes. Our nose will come into contact with whatever vegetable we cook today. We can tell what dishes are on the table based on the smell.
However, through smell, we recognize the emptiness of form. Are the smell and the dish the same thing? We can smell it before we even get there. Sometimes we can tell in the hallway, even before we enter the dining room, that we are having dried bamboo shoots today. Then we walk in and there it is. So we can smell it from very far away.
Is this the original scent of the bamboo shoots? No, a fresh bamboo shoot does not have this scent. After it is dried and then boiled, it no longer has the original bamboo shoot scent. After it is dried in the sun, and then stored, when cooked this smell will come out.
How strange! It is the same thing, but it has been stored for a period of time after being dried in the sun. Then, when it is cooked, it now has a different smell. So, we should understand that form is empty in nature.
With smell, there is no way to take out something and see what it is. Is it the original object? It is not.
So, based on this principle, we can experience and recognize that all material things, whether we see, hear or smell them, have an empty nature and no fixed appearance. We clearly know that they are the same thing, yet some people say, “I prefer eating the fresh kind.” Other say, “No, I prefer the other kind.” It is the same thing, so why are there different preferences? Our sense of taste is derived from the discrimination of the nose. Attachment to taste is illusory; it is immaterial, but we still get attached. We might clearly smell the scent of stinky tofu. Since it stinks, why do we like it so much? This is attachment to the taste. We become attached to this taste.
With durian, even before it comes in the door, we already know what it is. But some people deliberately fly to another country for it. What do they do? They eat durians fresh off the tree. Think about it, isn’t this attachment to taste? They have a craving for that taste.
But the taste is illusory and immaterial. After we eat something, what does it become in our stomachs? If the things we eat every day build up in there, we will get sick. After our stomach digests and passes that food, does it still resemble what we ate? Not at all. It becomes feces and urine with unbearable odors. Why do we crave the illusory and immaterial?
Why are we so attached? Our tongues consume the raw and the cooked. They are simply nerves for our sense of taste. So, our cravings for certain foods come from the sense organ of our tongue. When we crave something, we consume it. Some things are eaten live. When I was young, I saw people catch shrimp and peel and eat them while they were still jumping. Nowadays, some people eat sashimi. Who knows how many things people have consumed with their three-inch tongues? Who knows how many beings have been harmed?
Killing is the first of the Ten Evils. We kill living beings for taste, for our tongue. So, craving for food causes many people to create karma.
Through smell, we realize that all form is empty. Taste is illusory and immaterial. The tongue craves the taste of eating the flesh of sentient beings. Thus we create countless bad karma.
So this section of the text says, “When the nose smells scents like musk and sandalwood, turmeric and storax, our minds give rise to unwholesome thoughts.”
The nose craves.
It craves this and that, prefers certain scents. We saw a bed auctioned off in China for hundreds of millions of dollars. Why was that bed so valuable? Because the emperor slept on it. It was made using musk and sandalwood. These are very fragrant, but very expensive. They are very valuable. Beds in ancient times were all one piece. This bed had legs and posts and a canopy on top. Beds from ancient times were as valuable as gold. This is still just a bed.
We can take a couple of wooden boards, put down some bedding, pull some blankets over us and get a comfortable and healthy sleep on a firm bed.
A person told me, “My body has hurt for a long time. Sitting is painful, so is prostrating to the Buddha and walking. This has been a problem for many years.” Once he went out and stayed with a Tzu Chi family. They offered him the master bedroom because it was the best. As he lay down, he thought the bed was too hard. When he woke up the next morning, he felt no pain, even after he sat and talked for a long time.
At that point he told me, “Master, my pain is healed.”
What happened?
He said that the pain went away after sleeping on a hard bed, so now he only sleeps on firm beds.
So, what do we feel when we sleep? Wooden boards have no fragrance, yet we can sleep quite well on them. But humans are vain and extravagant. So, the things we use have to be made with the best and the most expensive materials, things that are as valuable as gold. “Musk and sandalwood” are fragrant and very expensive. “Turmeric and storax,” are not only fragrant, they add to the sense of luxury. So “unwholesome thoughts arise.”
Next it is written, “We crave the tasty, sumptuous and appetizing. We devour flesh and blood to nurture our Four Elements. This adds to our suffering and gives rise to unwholesome thoughts.” This section refers to what I said in the beginning. Our tongues crave tasty things. So, we want to eat foods that are fresh, or fatty, or lean, and so on. We are picky. People do not think about the animal. They do not think that this was a living, breathing creature. People crave meat, so they think it can nurture their Four Elements.
What are the Four Elements? If the Four Elements of our bodies are not in harmony, we get sick. This refers to the elements in our bodies, earth, water, fire and wind. I’ve explained this before. People think they have to eat meat to get the best nutrition for their bodies. But modern medical science says we should eat healthier food. Being vegetarian is best.
Clearly, the flesh and blood of sentient beings are not helpful to our bodies. Heaven and Earth nurture all things equally. Grains and cereals can nourish our bodies just as well. Why do we need to be carnivores, to eat meat? Furthermore, so much of the livestock we raise has been contaminated. They are bred and raised for human consumption.
I remember that after some mad cows died, their bones were ground into feed. That feed was fed to many different kinds of livestock. Naturally they became infected by the virus. In places that raise animals, the animal excrement is filled with germs, and these conditions lead to many problems and dangers for humans. If we exploit animals and slaughter them for our benefit, just because we crave a flavor or taste-sensation, then because of these animals, we create so much karma.
They did not force us to crate karma. They had their own karma. They were reborn according to their karma, just as we were born human based on karma. But now, we humans, are creating more karma on the backs of these animals already suffering from karma. Because we want to eat meat, other people raise and slaughter animals. This clearly brings karmic retribution.
In Master Lian-Chi’s Essay on Liberating Life, there is a story that is an example of karmic cause and effect. It is a record of a true event. This happened in Henan Province ,in Gui-de. There was a doctor with the last name Yin. He loved to eat beef. Doctors in the past made house calls. So, when people wanted him to come, they had to offer him beef. If they did not give him beef, he would provide a cursory diagnosis and prescribe medicine randomly.
One day this doctor suddenly passed away. After he died his consciousness seemed to arrive at King Yama’s Palace. He saw King Yama. Judging someone who killed a cow. The man knelt in front of King Yama. When he raised his head and saw this doctor, he pointed at him and said, “That doctor loved eating beef. If he did not eat it, I would not have killed.”
When the doctor heard the man blame his wrongdoings on him, he quickly knelt and said, “If he did not kill it, then I would not have eaten it.”
They pushed blame back and forth. King Yama became very angry and said, “When you killed the cow, did you know it worked hard for humans its entire life? With hard labor it farmed for humans and transported goods for them. It toiled its entire life, yet instead of being grateful, you killed it. So you, the one who killed it, must go to Hell.”
“You, the doctor, craved beef. If you were not given beef, you gave the wrong diagnosis and prescription. You caused the death of 11 people. So you have to be a cow for 11 lifetimes.”
We know this story is true because it was told by Mr. Du in Hubei Province. Once he suddenly fainted and went to King Yama’s Palace to await judgment, to see if his time was actually up. He saw this incident happen.
Because he still had an affinity with the living and did many good deeds in this world. He was able to come back. He vowed, “I will share all the judgments. I saw in Hell with everyone.” So this story was recorded in Master Lian –Essay on Liberating Life.
This is to teach us not to kill. “If he didn’t eat it, I wouldn’t kill it. If he didn’t kill it, I wouldn’t eat it.” This does not need to be debated. Everyone had a part in creating that karma. This happened during the Qing Dynasty.
Everyone, this is truly frightening. In life, when we create karma, did others cause us to create it, or did we create it on our own? It is hard to say.
In summary, we have to be pure in body and mind. Do not have unwholesome thoughts and eat animals. Do not consume meat, whether it is raw or cooked. The desires of taste lead us to eat the flesh and blood of sentient beings and thus create much karma. For the sake of our bodies, it is better not to eat meat. To be pure in body and mind, being vegetarian is best.
Everyone, taste is a very insubstantial thing. After we digest something, it is quite unclean. So we must always contemplate the body as impure so that we do not suffer future retributions. Contemplate sensations as suffering. Please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
首頁 
