Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: Protect the Mind, Protect Living Beings (護心 護生)
We must always protect our body, speech and mind. Even in the smallest things we say and do, we need to always be vigilant. Do not cause sentient beings fear. Protect all beings so they find peace. This should be our basic mindset.
We shared this yesterday. Remember I said, “We may set fires when there is wind or release eagles or hounds to distress and harm all beings. For these and other transgressions I repent today.”
These are all transgressions. These actions disturb the peace of sentient beings. If we often disturb their habitat or threaten their lives, we are creating bad karma. If we release hounds that hunt animals or birds that are trained to fish, we are harming living beings on land and sea. Humans cause this damage. Where do we attribute these transgressions? To the source, to the person who raised these animals and commanded them to attack. The bad karma does not belong to the dog or the hawk. No. Only to the people who feed and train them to do these things. The bad karma belongs to the people. So, not only should we not do these things, we must not cause others to do them.
In Master Lian-Chi’s Essay on Liberating Life, he addressed this as well. When we earn money, how do we want to do so? There are many ways to make a living, many ways to support a wife and parents. We can do it with hard work. However, some people’s efforts are slightly misguided. But they say, “I just do it to support my parents.” This story is from Jiaxing in Zhejiang Province. There was an old woman with a son. Her son was completely filial. To support his mother and allow her to live more comfortably, he earnestly went out all the time to catch crabs, hairy sea crabs, and the like. When he caught them, he strung them together with coarse grass. He took the strings of crab to sell at the market. He sold entire strings of them at a time. He did this for many decades. After he sold them, he would buy his mother’s favorite food. Besides rice and firewood, he bought her things she liked. So he was considered a filial son who supported his mother.
As time passed, over many decades he sold strings of crabs every day. The number of lives was incalculable. The mother was very happy and satisfied with her life. She often bragged, “My son is incredible. He can do all these things. He is very good at catching crabs and stringing them together. He is amazing.” She praised the way her son made a living, how he handled his business. She was very happy.
Gradually, she grew older. One day she became mysteriously sick. It was very strange. She began to swallow grass from the crab ropes. Every time she did, it wound through her stomach and intestines. After she swallowed it, she would draw out the rope, one section at a time. When she was done, she would swallow it again. Then she would pull it out again. She kept doing this. If she stopped, she felt uncomfortable. So she kept doing this although she felt unspeakable pain.
After many days, even her gastric juices were drawn out and she also began bleeding. She was tormented like this for a long time until she bled out. They did not perform autopsies back then, but she probably ruined her intestines and ruptured her stomach. After suffering massive blood loss, she died. During these many days of torment, everyone from the village visited her. When they came, she said, “I am suffering retribution in my son’s place.”
Others told her, “Stop swallowing it.”
“But I can’t bear it if I don’t.” So if she stopped, she would wail. She cried can kept saying, “I am suffering in my son’s place.” This is truly karmic retribution.
Although her son did wrong, he did it to support her. Her son created this karma all to buy the things that she liked. She also praised him and his work. Over many decades, her son had killed so many living creatures for her sake. If this bad karma came to his mother, does that mean her son was free of karma? No. But this is still a living example of karmic cause and effect. The woman kept saying, “I am suffering retribution in my son’s place. I am doing this for him.”
She was tormented until she died.
Don’t we often say that karma is shared equally? The one who created it and the one who incited him share the karma equally. Everyone, in learning the Buddha’s teaching we must look after our body, speech and mind. We must be vigilant about karmic retribution.
The next passage continues, “We may use traps, pits, pitchforks, and bows. We shoot birds that fly and creatures that walk. We also use nets and hooks.”
This means there are many tools for killing. Some use traps with a mechanism inside to catch beasts, or land-based animals. For example, some people catch rabbits, or many other animals. They use traps baited with food. When an animal goes in to eat, the door closes, and it is caught. This is how people trap land-based animals. Sometimes the dig a pit in the forest. When animals try to run across, they fall and cannot climb back up. These traps are used to capture beasts on land. They also “use pitchforks and bows.” They use pitchforks to stab and bows to shoot. These are tools and methods for killing. Sometimes they use slingshots to hid birds with rocks and pellets. They use slings or bows and arrows to frighten and kill the creatures of land and air. These are tools for damaging living creatures.
“Nets are hooks” are tools used in the water. I have heard about people using trawls to capture fish. For some fish, they use a big net drawn by boats. This is called a trawl. They block off sea creatures form their habitat. After it surrounds them, they are captured. Many living creatures [are captured this way].
“Fish, tortoises, sea turtles, alligators, shrimps, clams, snails, or mussels live in wet places. Creatures for water, land or air will have nowhere to hide.”
There are many types of living creatures and we have many ways to kill them. Some people find methods to use [creatures] that live in water. Some use oysters to grow pearls. We disrupt their natural way of life and force them open to embed particles. This is another way of harming creatures. Many creatures live in the water or in wetlands. Humans try to be clever and do everything they can to harm and kill creatures “of sea, land or air” so they “will have nowhere to hide.”
All of them are killed. The human mind shapes the realm of sentient beings. Sentient beings take many different forms. They have different ways of life. But humans disturb them and try to kill them all, whether they fly in the air, run on land, or live in the water or in damp places, or in dry places, etc. There is life everywhere. Humans can be so vicious. They disturb all sentient beings’ ways of life. Think about it. This entire planet, our entire world, is in great unrest.
If we live in this world, we are also in danger. We can see climates change. The Buddha already told us, “Life is impermanent; the land is fragile.” This impermanence and fragility can be seen in the vulnerability of all life. Look how heavy rains affect mountains and rivers. There are landslides deep in the mountains. An entire mountain can shift
Why are there landslides? Because people change the ecosystem. Originally, the creatures and plants in the undisturbed forests have their habitat and environment. But people damage them. We think “humans can conquer nature.” This damage and destruction may have taken place hundreds of years ago, decades ago, or within the last ten years. This destruction is continuous. Perhaps our ancestors went into the mountains to cut down forests. Those people no longer exist, but perhaps their descendants are still doing the same. Perhaps people nowadays seek those resources for transportation or to satisfy their needs, so they destroy those habitats. Perhaps they are causing damages faster now than in the past. In the past they used human labor to dig into the mountains or build reads. Both required slow human labor.
Now it is different. Nowadays they use explosives, excavators, backhoes and bulldozers, all kinds of robotic machines, to dig straight into the heart of the mountain. People nowadays are very smart. They invent things with great destructive power. Now they can cause greater damage to mountains, rivers and living creatures. This Earth is being destroyed more quickly. Now the land appears to be more fragile. Our generation can already feel this. When the next generation of young people and children grow up, the ecology of the Earth will be very frightening. We can see now how humans are destroying the realms of sentient beings. We harm them and frighten them. We destroy their homes….
Look at how many people are homeless after a huge storm. In an earthquake, many house collapse. A tsunami may even come to destroy our homes. A typhoon may sweep things away. How is this different from the way we destroy others’ habits? These cycles of cause and effect are growing stronger and taking effect faster. This is truly worrisome.
Everyone, we must follow our conscience. Monitor your body, speech and mind. Take good care of the mind. We must act to benefit others and protect living beings. We hope to have a good environment for people and animals to live in, for all sentient beings to live peacefully. That is truly protecting all living beings. So, we must always carefully protect our minds and all life. We protect our minds and keep ourselves on track. We should ensure a peaceful life for all beings. That is our responsibility. So everyone, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)