What are the causes and retributions of Asuras in Buddhist scriptures? Disperse the other four paths? If Buddhist practitioners are competitive and don't know how to rejoice and praise, will they be

What are the causes and retributions of Asuras in Buddhist scriptures? Disperse the other four paths? If Buddhist practitioners are competitive and don't know how to rejoice and praise, will they be able to become asuras in the next life?

I rejoice and praise Master for practicing Buddhism

The following is a lecture given by the contemporary great master Khenpo Sodarji. It records the relevant parts. I hope it will be helpful to you and basically answers your question. question.

Feitian, also known as Asura. "Surangama Sutra" says [1] that asuras are divided into four types according to the four births of womb, egg, moisture, and transformation. Among them, those born in the womb are captured by the human path, those born in moisture are captured by the side-born path, and those born in transformation are Those born from eggs are taken by the way of heaven, and those born from eggs are taken by the way of ghosts. There are also two types of Asuras in the Lotus Sutras: "Those who live in the ghost realm live on the seashore; those who live in the animal realm live at the bottom of the ocean."

Originally, they were not created by heaven in previous lives. Through good deeds such as giving, the wealth you receive in this life can be comparable to that of gods and humans. However, because they were jealous of talents, competitive, and had all seven kinds of conceit in the past [2], they were influenced by their bad habits and karma and felt the identity of asuras.

Asuras are also very blessed. The "Six Interests of Samsara Sutra" says: "I often engage in flattery and deceit, enjoy anger and fights, and become an Asura Lord because of my charity in the past." It can be seen that if you have given charity in the past, you will have the opportunity to be born as an Asura in this life. Therefore, as practitioners, we must control our own mentality. If we are accumulating blessings and have a strong jealousy, especially competitiveness, and are unable to tame the continuum after learning Buddhism, we will easily be reborn as A in the next life. Shura often has wars with gods and humans.

The root cause of reincarnation as an asura is actually jealousy. As mentioned before, if you are intolerable and anxious about someone who is better than you, this is jealousy. During the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty, there was a Bai Taiguan who was one of the eight great martial artists at that time. Once when he was on his way back to his hometown, he happened to meet a child who was practicing kung fu against a big stone. Wherever he touched his palm, fire flew out, and his kung fu was extraordinary. Taiguan Bai thought to himself: "There is such a child in my hometown. His martial arts is so good now. He will definitely surpass me when he grows up." Driven by strong jealousy, he actually had murderous intentions and beat the child with one palm. dead. Before dying, the child glared angrily and said through gritted teeth: "If you kill me, my father Bai Taiguan will definitely seek revenge on you!" When Bai Taiguan heard this, he was like thunder, and he realized that it was his son who was killed, but he regretted it. It's too late.

Therefore, hurting others with jealousy will eventually hurt yourself. Shakespeare once said: "Beware of jealousy, it is a green-eyed monster!" Indeed, once a person has jealousy, it is like being possessed, and many things will not be considered. Therefore, if there are competitors among classmates, colleagues, and fellow practitioners, we must observe our own minds. Otherwise, if you are too jealous in this life, you will easily be reincarnated as an Asura in the next life.

In the heavenly realm, if the power of Asuras is strong, the power of heavenly beings will be weakened. Once the two sides go to war, if the heavenly beings are defeated, all kinds of bad luck will appear in the human world, resulting in the four major disharmony. , natural disasters and man-made disasters and many other sufferings. Of course, the strength of the power of gods and humans is also related to whether people do good deeds in the world. If people in the world do a lot of good deeds, not only will the weather in the world be smooth and the four seasons are auspicious, but the power of the gods and humans will also increase, thereby defeating Asuras. As the "Satipa?a Sutra" says: "If people in the world follow the Dharma and practice, the gods will win, and the asura army will retreat and destroy."

As practitioners, if we don't want to be reborn as asuras , on the one hand, we should think more about the pain of reincarnation, on the other hand, we should not have a bellicose mentality. Some people love fighting and weapons, and like to read martial arts novels and martial arts movies. This habit is very bad. Monks should not be like this, otherwise, there would be no need for you to shave your head; and as a layperson, if you do this every day and often watch movies, TV or books about war, it will be harmful to yourself.

In fact, it is not difficult to be reincarnated as an Asura. It is said in the Sutra of Miscellaneous Parables[3] that King Asura was a poor man in his previous life. He lived by a big river and often crossed the river to cut firewood. Due to the deep water and strong waves, he was submerged by the river several times, but fortunately survived. One day, he happened to support a solitary sleeper. After eating his meal alone, he threw his bowl into the air and flew away. After seeing this, he felt joyful and silently made a wish: "May I use this merit to be tall in the next life, and no deep water can reach my knees." Due to this fate, he was later reincarnated as one of the four Asura kings[4].