Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: Patience and Compassion (懷忍心慈)
In daily life, we encounter many beings and objects that support our livelihood. So, we should cherish everything; this is called the cycle of love.
If we are selfish and greedy for the momentary satisfaction of taste, we kill animals and eat their flesh. This severely damages our compassion. We should know that only humans are capable of fully expressing love. Yet even loving humans, for the momentary satisfaction of taste, eat meat. They do not consider the fact that all meat comes from beings that once possessed life. No matter the species, after animals are killed, they are called meat. Killing for meat truly damages our compassion.
So, it would be best to stop consuming meat, especially now when people suffer over-nutrition. Moreover, animals today are fed and injected with chemicals that may drastically affect our health when consumed. To be healthy, we must first nurture a healthy mind. If we cherish all beings on Earth then we truly have a healthy mindset.
We must possess patience and compassion. Transform evil with kindness. This is the Bodhisattva’s supreme practice.
We are practicing to be Bodhisattvas, enlightened sentient beings. Cherishing all beings on Earth is supreme love. We must have a mindset of endurance to not give in to momentary impulses for pleasure or taste. If we can be patient, such impulses will pass and our love will manifest. Moreover, we can protect lives. By being able to withstand temporary cravings, all wrongdoings can be avoided. When we eliminate wrongdoings, benevolent conduct arises. So, we should always nurture kind actions.
We may have committed wrongs, and as ordinary people, who has not? What should we do? We should transform evil with kindness. If we created negative affinities, or with evil intent harmed others in the past, we will receive retribution in this life. We will experience many unpleasant things being forced upon us. Therefore, we should heighten our awareness. If we realize this was done before we began our spiritual practice, in this life or a past life, we can accept our current situation with ease. Even if unpleasantness occurs, we can transform evil with benevolence. When others treat us badly, we should counter it with kindness. That is truly the Bodhisattva’s supreme practice.
The next part of the passage says, “How can we eat fish and meat?” “The Buddha also said one may kill sentient being for wealth, catching them for money”.
This passage is very simple. When we see meat, we should consider whether we are starved enough to kill and eat our children. If we see meat as the flesh of our family members, we would not dare eat it. In a common and simple meal, most ordinary people consume fish and meat. They eat meat at almost every meal.
The text says, “How can we eat fish and meat?” Actually this is very common. The Buddha also said, “one may kill sentient beings for wealth, catching them for money.” Some people kill for money some kill for food. Then there are those who go fishing as a hobby. When they catch a fish, and see it painfully struggling for its life, they derive happiness from it. Some people love fishing.
There was a case in our hospital involving an avid fisherman who was sent to the emergency room for a severe injury that required surgery. What happened? He had gone to a fishery. He had cast his fish hook, and sure enough, he got a bite. He was very happy and started reeling it in. It seemed that he had caught a very large fish. He was so happy he started shouting with joy. His mouth was wide open. He pulled up the fish hook with all his might, but the fish did not come with it. With great force the hook swung right into his open mouth and got caught in his throat. His fish hook actually went into his own throat. He immediately tried to pull it out, but it was wedged. The harder he pulled, the deeper it went.
So, he arrived in our emergency room and was in the operating room for many hours. His throat was badly injured. So, some people fish for pleasure, not money. When they catch a fish, they enjoy seeing the fish struggle; afterwards they remove the hook and release it. They do not eat the fish. They do not need to eat it, they just do it for fun. They gain joy from the suffering of living beings. Some kill beings not for food, but for wealth. Besides fish, there are many other beings, such as cows, pigs, goats, chickens and ducks, which are all often consumed by people. Some people specialize in killing these animals in order to make money. They catch and slaughter sentient beings. Catching refers to using a net in the water. Slaughtering is raising animals and killing them. Such killing creates karma. Both killing for money and killing for taste damage our loving-kindness.
A long time ago, I read a book by Master Lian-Chi about releasing captive animals for merit. In one story, there was a vendor selling eels at a market. The eels were still alive. There were both eels and morays kept alive in buckets of water. One buyer placed his hand inside to pick out one of the large ones. He stuck his arm deep into the water. At that time, all the eels swam over to his outstretched hand. They all started biting him; it was so painful and he could not get them off. When he pulled out his arm, it was covered with eels. He screamed with pain, but the eels would not release him. When his son heard this, he quickly came to take his father home. But there were still many eels clinging to his father’s arm. He had to cut them off one by one with scissors. He cut and cut, but the heads were still attached to the arm. This was in the past; they did not have the same kinds of medical treatment we have today. In order to remove the eel heads, they had to dig out the flesh of the arm. The process took several days, while the man screamed in agony. In the end, the man died. This occurred in Master Lian-Chi’s time. At that time, everyone was scared. This elderly man loved eating eels. He selected, bought and consumed many eels each day.
So we can say that karmic retribution sometimes occurs in this life, and sometimes in our next life or future lives. We mentioned this before. So, it would be best not to consume meat. It is cruel to eat the flesh of living beings. As we eat their flesh, we should know that they struggled through immense pain. So, the resentment they had was very strong.
Next, the text reads, “Those who kill create negative karma and will descend into the Howling Hell after death” “Harming, killing and eating animals will create transgressions deep as the ocean and heavy as a mountain” “Those who kill” refers to those who kill for consumption or for wealth. These people continue to accumulate negative karma. After they die, they descend into the Howling Hell. In that place, they scream in pain day and night.
I often say that a hospital is like Hell. With sickness comes pain. Once one is ill, one suffers beyond words. There are some illnesses which are beyond the doctors’ abilities. When Wu-Da, the Imperial Preceptor, suffered from a sore that was shaped like a face, none of the doctors that the emperor summoned could help him. In hospitals today, there are a variety of illnesses. The doctors are attentively working to reduce patients’ suffering. Yet, many patients still scream in pain all day. It seems that many people have not yet died but are already in Hell. They suffer unspeakable pain. How much worse will it be in the Howling Hell?
Why is it called Howling? We can see the ill scream in agony all day, so we can imagine that in this Hell, there are Yaksas who punish and torture the beings there. This causes them to continuously scream in pain. They are tortured till they lose consciousness, but then they are splashed with water, and awakened again, so the suffering continues.
If you read the Hell Chapter of the Earth Treasury Sutra, you will understand. Whenever I have talked about the Hell Chapter, people truly become very frightened. So, we must not commit wrongdoings, which will cause us to descend into Hell. Besides facing the retributions in this world, if we commit severe wrongdoings, we will continue to suffer in Hell.
Thus, according to this passage, if one kills for wealth or to satisfy one’s craving for tastes, one’s transgressions continue to accumulate. They become as deep as the ocean. Once they fill up the ocean, will they disappear? No. There is still space to accumulate. If we do not stop in time, we will amass layers upon layers of transgressions. Together these layers form a hill or mountain. A hill is lower, a mountain slightly higher. But regardless of how deep or high they are piled, how heavy or light they are, these transgressions will continue to accumulate.
If one continues to commit minor transgressions, they become major ones. As all these transgressions accumulate, they become heavy defilements. So we must be mindful in our daily living. We must safeguard our minds and not damage our kindness by harming and killing for a momentary taste. We must not kill large numbers of beings to make a living. We must not act against our conscience. Then, we can be free of suffering from transgressions and karma, life after life. Since we are able to hear the Buddha-Dharma, and understand the principles, we should seize this opportunity for spiritual practice. Otherwise, the consequences will be frightening. There is still much to do. So everyone, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
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