Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: Impartiality Toward All Sentient Beings (眾生平等觀)
I constantly been reminding you and sharing that we must be aware of the concept of cause and effect. Even a single word can bring karmic retribution. Every moment in daily life, in our interactions with people and things, we can see the full cycle of karmic causes and effects. If we can carefully and mindfully observe it, then we can learn the most profound teachings.
The Buddha taught us to see all sentient beings equally. With this mindset, we cannot overlook the lives of small life forms, nor can we behave inconsiderately toward them. If we do, then our love does not reach all beings. Our loving hearts must always extend to all types and forms of life. This is the attitude we need to foster.
Let us look at the passage, “We may raise chickens, pigs, cows, sheep, dogs, geese and ducks, and cool them ourselves.”
This passage is simple. People raise chickens, ducks, pigs and sheep for slaughter; then the meat is sold for people to cook at home. These animals are mainly raised for that purpose.
Domesticated animals are actually more genie, weak and simple. Though cows are large, they have a simple nature. Agricultural societies in the past relied on cows to pull plows and carts for farming. When they grew old, they were sold for slaughter. A lifetime of toil ended at the butcher’s knife, then, the cow was served at people’s tables. These animals are truly pitiable. This happens to cows, as well as to lambs and pigs, not to mention chickens and ducks. Aren’t they are in the Animal Realm? If they cry out, can anyone understand how they feel?
We humans are said to be the most sentient of all being, but we are really not. We cannot hear the agony in the voices and cries of the creatures on this planet. So, can we say that humans are really all-powerful? No, we are the least sentient.
The text continues, “We may have others kill for us. Before their cries even end, fur and feathers are peeled off; scales and shells are broken; bodies are decapitated. Bones and meat are shattered, split open and scraped. By frying, roasting, boiling and broiling, we force cruel and painful suffering upon innocents.”
The meaning of this passage is clear. Everyone should understand it upon reading. I just talked about killing sentient beings. Some protest and say, “I have not killed; I asked someone else to do it.”
“No, I did not kill anything. I only buy what others have killed.”
Is this right? Even if we did not carry out the act of killing, we asked someone else to do it. The bad karma still belongs to the instigator.
Take eating seafood, for example; nowadays, seafood is kept in a tank at restaurants. To eat fresh seafood, people simply point at the fish tank and say, “I want this one. I want that one.”
Then someone else goes and catches it. It is a living creature, but with the point of a finger the restaurant staff catches it, kills it and cooks it. Then it is served at the table. All this to satisfy a craving for taste! If we direct someone else to kill to satisfy our appetite, the bad karma is on us.
Of course, the one who kills creates bad karma, but the person who selects and eats the creature, certainly has tremendous bad karma as well. We can imagine that this is like dragging a living person to be executed. All sentient beings, including chickens and ducks, scream loudly when they are caught. The same sound is heard when pigs are slaughtered in the middle of the night. The ancients said, “If you want to ask when warfare will vanish, you must first listen to the sound of slaughterhouses in the middle of the night.” Once there is no sound from killing pigs, we will no longer suffer from war.
For thousands of years, we have killed for food. Hatred as deep as the sea is hard to quell. To know why there are calamities of war, listen at the butcher’s door in the middle of the night.
Even the ancients said this. Now that we are studying Buddhism, we must be even more mindful and compassionate. All life forms are equal. So we must be compassionate and care about the pain and illnesses of animals.
There is a story in the Essay on Liberating Life. One winter, a person who really liked dog meat decided to catch and kill a dog because of the nourishing qualities of dog meat. He heated a pot of water before killing the dog, and when the water was hot enough, he killed the dog. He thought that the dog, lying on the ground, must be dead, so the man threw the dog into the boiling water. Suddenly, the dog jumped out of the pot. The man was right next to the pot, so when the dog jumped out with his mouth wide open, it took a bite out of the man’s neck before sinking back into the pot. In killing the dog and cooking dog meat, the man was badly hurt. He wailed in pain. Over many days the wound festered. It spread from his neck to the fest of his body. He screamed every day like a dog. It was very painful. This went on until he died miserably.
This is an example of Present-life Retribution. The living creature was killed. Being captured and killed is terrifying enough. But on top of that, the dog was not quite dead, its soul had not departed, so it was still in pain when it was thrown into the pot. That painful struggle is so cruel. As the dog struggled, poisonous thoughts of anger and hatred arose, so it opened its mouth and bit the man. Cause and effect is truly frightening. This is an example of strong evil causes bringing very swift retributions.
In the past, we have said that Next-, Present- and Future-life Retribution are different. Some say, “I have also killed many dogs, but that did not happen to me.” They said, “I have also eaten a lot of dog meat, and this did not happen.” Retribution will come; it is just a matter of time.
The abovementioned man had also eaten a lot of dog meat in the past, with no problems. He had also killed many dogs with no problems. But with this particular dog, when the man thought it was dead and threw it in the pot, it jumped out and bit him. Even the flesh the dog bit off was cooked. This man was alive and well until he was suddenly dragged into a long and painful death. Was this retribution without reason? There were karmic causes and effects present.
The text says, “Before their cries even end, their fur is removed, their feathers are plucked, their shells are cut off, their scales are shaved.” There are many such instances. See, a fish is still alive and jumping while its scales are shaved off. There are also instances of chickens and ducks that were thrown into a pot and then jumped out. Such a case was brought to Tzu Chi Hospital. A chicken jumped out of a pot and ran into a nearby child. The child fell into the pot and ended up staying at the hospital for over six months. When the nurse tried to give him shots, she could not. It was very difficult, as the child’s muscles were delicate, with very thin blood vessels. The mother would cry as she watched. When people see a chicken being killed, they do not think much of it. When a child is scalded by hot water, look at how the entire family, including grandparents and parents, wait at the hospital. Their minds are filled with regrets and struggles. Seeing the kid in pain and screaming, we know how much he is suffering.
So let us think, if our own child is scalded, it is a very painful situation. When animals are scalded, to whom can they complain about their pain? They must simply follow karmic cause and effect. Whoever kills me or eats me will face retribution in the future.
So this section in the text says, “We do this satisfy a momentary craving for only a few tastes that do not go beyond our three-inch tongue.”
Isn’t this the case? We just think about what is tasty for us. Some people do not find farm-raised chickens tasty. They say, “I love free-range chickens. I really do not understand this. In my mind I think “Either way, you are taking a life. And then you quibble about whether it is tasty or not!” It is only a momentary taste that only exists on our three-inch tongue. What is taste anyway? So, “The resultant retributions will last for unending Kalpas.” The transgressions from killing and eating are just for the sake of our tongue, our tastes. If we continue to create these transgressions of eating, the retributions of suffering will last for endless Kalpas.
The resultant retributions will last for unending Kalpas. For these and other wrongdoings, we repent today with deep sincerity.
Remember, there was once a woman who came to the Abode with the resolve to practice. She had already traveled all over the world. She openly repented [her previous way of life]. After she repented, she quickly began her spiritual practice. She donated money as part of her practice. But in the meantime, her karma manifested and she became ill. She often said, “The more I thought about the past, the more scared and regretful I became and the more I had to repent.” I believe that because she repented, had regrets, she was comforted by many people in the hospital when her illness manifested. She often shared with our medical students and even traveled around Taiwan to tell her story. Although she was ill, she was still brave. Do you think she was in pain? She was in a lot of pain. But she willingly endured her retribution. She understood how cause and effect works, so she willingly accepted her karma. She opened her heart and continuously and openly repented.
Think about it. She was a living example for others. In the end, two days before she died, she asked her younger sister to bring her back here in her wheelchair. She told me, “Master, I am ready. When can I go? I am prepared.”
I said, “Let go of everything, come and do freely. When it is time to go, leave happily. When it is time to wake up, be grateful that you are awake. Let go of everything, come and go at ease.”
That afternoon I received a phone call informing me she had died. She truly openly repented and shared her story with others. Though she did this, the misfortune which struck her, this karmic retribution, still occurred. I believe she had completely repented, so her heavy karma should be easy for her to bear. She repented everything she should have and donated all of her wealth. In the end many people were by her side, and she died happily.
Karmic retribution is truly frightening. “For these and other wrongdoings, we repent today with deep sincerity.” We should always be repentant. We cannot just be repentant for one day. Everyone, please be mindful. Truly, we cannot overlook and living being. We must see everything equally. Do not disparage tiny life forms. Do not commit small evils thinking them trivial. Do not assume that any wrong is insignificant. “I am just eating meat. How can that be evil?” Do not think this way, or the evils will pile up. Do not avoid small good deeds thinking them slight. Do not wonder about the merits of being vegetarian. At the very least we are not adding to the killing. So, being vegetarian is much better. Everyone, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
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