Old layman Li Bingnan's "Cause and Effect Can Be Changed"

Abstaining from killing is the foundation of sword fighting

Dear teachers, distinguished guests, and fellow practitioners: This is the first time tonight for students to talk about Qianjin’s Dharma and interact with you. Let’s do some research. Please give me your advice. In our life, we live in this world. One kind of suffering is not over, and another kind of suffering comes again. It can be said that there are eight kinds of sufferings, which are unspeakable and unbearable! But in addition to the eight sufferings, there are many undetermined sufferings, such as disasters caused by weapons and weapons, which are really difficult to describe in a word.

A. Source of weapons

We all need to understand, where does this pain come from? Everything is inseparable from cause and effect. In the past, the causes of the eight sufferings were caused, and now we will suffer the results of the eight sufferings. If we understand the relationship between cause and effect, we will know that the calamity of swords and soldiers is also a kind of retribution. However, there are some people who do not believe that all phenomena have cause and effect. Because they have not studied Buddhism, they do not believe in the principle of cause and effect! Since we don’t believe in cause and effect, then please tell us what is the reason for the catastrophe with swords and weapons! Okay, let's pursue it to the end and see what is the reason for the swordsman calamity?

1. Ordinary wisdom knows the present

You should know that the views of ordinary people in the world are fundamentally different from the views of saints. There are two types of views of ordinary people. : First, he believes that the war is caused by imperialist invaders who want to conquer the world and cause war. Another view is that domestic careerists failed to abide by their duties, disturbed internal security, rebelled against the country and started fighting, so military disasters occurred. Ordinary people think that these two are the reasons for the sword and weapon calamity. In fact, this is not the fundamental reason, but just a kind of help. Listen to what you said: The calamity of swords and wars is fate, so where is the cause? This is not something that ordinary people can understand. Only a wise saint can understand it.

2. Holy Wisdom Sees the Past

Buddhism is boundless, and only Buddhism can explain it clearly. Let me give you an analogy: take a melon and fruit seed and plant it in the ground. This is called the cause; later the seeds sprout and grow, and the fruits mature and are called fruits. Helping conditions are opportunities to help grow, just like seeds. After being planted, they must be watered, exposed to the sun, and fertilized before they will bear fruit. Therefore, there must be a cause and a predestined relationship for the fruit to appear, so it seems obvious. When you see the fruit, you know the cause, just like when you see a melon, you know it was born from the seeds of the melon. The reason why there are tribulations with swords and weapons now is also the cause of tribulations with swords and weapons in the past. You should know that since a calamity with swords is the result of a killing, its cause is of course inseparable from the cause of the killing. With the help of imperialists and careerists, the effect of a calamity with swords is produced. But this kind of cause is unknown to ordinary people, and only Buddhas and Bodhisattvas can understand it. This is not empty talk, nor is it speculation. Buddhas and Bodhisattvas have clairvoyance. Therefore, when looking at the cause and effect of sword and weapon tribulations, they can see clearly. They understand that all living beings have been unable to stop killing since ancient times, and there is no one who does not kill. Killing can be divided into two types: one is direct killing and the other is indirect killing. The causes of these two types of killing are the consequences of weapons and calamity caused by encountering them over a long period of time. What is direct killing and indirect killing? The butcher kills pigs, sheep, and cows directly, which is called direct killing; because we eat meat every day, he kills it for us, which is called indirect killing. These two are the causes of murder.

B. The main culprit of killing

From what you said, the crime of killing people directly is more serious, and the crime of killing people indirectly (eating meat) is less serious, right? Everyone thinks that direct killing is a serious crime and eating meat is a light crime. This is not right! *** Under the law, crimes are also divided into two types: principal and accomplice. The principal commits the crime himself, and the accomplice is an accomplice. But what if the person who directly kills is the principal offender? Or are meat eaters the main culprits? Not necessarily. For example, when a butcher kills a pig and sells it, he is the principal offender, and the person who buys the meat is an accessory. However, if there is not enough meat to sell, and there are still many people buying the meat, the butcher kills it again. At this time, the person who buys the meat becomes the principal offender, and the butcher becomes the principal offender. He becomes an accessory to the crime, and for this reason, each will receive his retribution.

People today are less willing to believe in karma than people in ancient times. In the past, not only ordinary people were afraid of karma, but also butchers were afraid of karma! So when he wanted to kill a pig, he would mutter: 'Pig, pig, don't blame me! You are a dish in the world. If he doesn’t eat it, I won’t kill it. You go collect debts from those who eat! ’ Look, aren’t the people who kill pigs also afraid that pigs will come to collect debts? But should we collect debt from the person who ate it, or the person who killed it? As the saying goes: "Every injustice has its owner, and every debt has its owner." Therefore, if you eat, you will be punished, and if you kill, you will be punished.

C. Situation of the Sword and Soldier Tribulation

At this point, we already understand the reason for the Sword and Soldier Tribulation.

So how terrible is the sword robbery? Some people have seen it with their own eyes, but have forgotten it after a long time. Some people have never seen it at all and do not know how terrible the sword and weapon tribulation is. Therefore, I will now divide the sword and weapon tribulation into four types to explain.

(1) Murder---After a war in ancient times, the common people lived and died together with the soldiers. Once the opponent invaded the city, the innocent common people were killed like the soldiers, and tragic things like massacres occurred. That's it. Some people will say: The ancient times have passed, and now there is no slaughter of cities and people! You must know that it is now a three-dimensional war, which is more dangerous and more tragic. Country A is manufacturing atomic bombs, and country B is also manufacturing atomic bombs. Let me ask you, what is the purpose of manufacturing atomic bombs? Will it be stored in the warehouse forever? If an atomic bomb were dropped from the sky, no one could absolutely guarantee that they would not die in the flames of war.

(2) Arson---when there is a war, there will be arson. Now there are petrol bombs, incendiary bombs, etc., designed to burn the opponent. Once a fire breaks out, either the person will be burned to death or the house and property will be burned. Light.

(3) The family is broken---In order to avoid the casualties of war, one has to escape, and the family is broken. Like our compatriots in the mainland, their hometowns have a lot of farmland and huge wealth, but they can't take it out because of the war.

(4) People dispersed---the artillery fire was approaching the city. They hurriedly wanted to escape. They took the man with one hand and the woman with the other. The station road was packed with people. The car drove away and listened to the cry of the child. There is no way, parents, wives, children and brothers are all separated. This is the situation in the sword and weapon tribulation.

Mainland compatriots are more aware of the situation of military disasters, because our country was fought by warlords thirty or forty years ago, and one province was overrun by another. In the Sino-Japanese War, planes bombed and destroyed their families, and even a small number of people in this province were killed. I've had a taste of this. Although the calamity of swords and weapons has not yet arrived, it has been created for too long and will break out as soon as it meets the fate. However, when the fate of the sword catastrophe has not yet arrived, there are ways to save it, but most people do not believe in the cause and effect of the sword catastrophe, so there is nothing they can do. Scholars can cite the ancient Zen Master Cishou's verses to prove it, and they will know that the cause and effect of the sword and weapon calamity is absolutely correct.

The verse goes: ‘There is a lot of killing in the world, so there will be disasters caused by weapons and weapons. I will kill you if I fail to live up to my fate, and I will burn your house if I owe you money. Separating your wife has broken his nest. The retribution will be equal to each other. Listen carefully to what the Buddha says. ’

Explanation of Zen Master Cishou’s verse by Ding

The last two sentences say: ‘There is a lot of killing in the world, so there will be calamities with swords and weapons. ’ The first sentence says: There are many people in the world who kill animals because it is the cause, and the second sentence ‘There will be disasters with swords and soldiers’ is the result. These two sentences are logically speaking. The ancients said: 'Harmony leads to good fortune, and violence leads to good behavior. ’ It means: It is good to be harmonious and bring good luck; it is not good to be behaving well if you are angry, and the ghost of the enemy will come to collect debts. Think about the words of the butcher mentioned above: you have to collect debts from the meat-eater, because you have owed him for too long, and he will come to collect the debts. What debt is there? That is the calamity of swords and weapons. Speaking of which, I'm afraid everyone doesn't believe it. Let me cite another fact to prove it.

The Song Dynasty Monk Enters Dingzhi to Know the Anyang Tribulation

During the era of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, the Northern Jin soldiers attacked from the south. Everywhere they went, they were burned and killed by him, especially Anyang Town in Henan Province. , suffered the most severe disasters. At that time, there was an eminent monk in Anyang who could enter samadhi and observe cause and effect! The people in Anyang felt that there must be some reason for such a tragic disaster, so they went to ask the eminent monk. The eminent monk said to everyone: "This is because the people in Anyang have committed more murderous karma than other places." For this reason, the calamity of swords and soldiers suffered this time is more severe than that of other places; but the retribution of this murderous karma has not been over yet, and the calamities of swords and soldiers will continue to come. You people in Anyang should change your mind and stop killing as soon as possible. Reduce future consequences. ’ But the people in Anyang didn’t believe what this eminent monk said, and they still carried out mass killings. After several years of continuous fighting, the people of Anyang were massacred every time. Only later did I believe that the monk's words were right, but it was already too late. This public case proves: Killing is the cause, and robbery with weapons is the effect.

The third and fourth stanzas say: 'I will kill you if I fail to live up to my destiny, and I will burn your house if I owe you money. ’ The first sentence says that because you took his life, he came to kill you; the next sentence says that if you don’t repay him the money you owe him, he will burn your home and cause you to lose your property. From a theoretical point of view, these two sentences are the law of cause and effect. If there is a cause and the condition is ripe, the result will be. If you want to avoid disasters, you must wait for the fruit to be immature. There is no way to eliminate the disaster if you wait for the fruit to mature. . If you don’t believe it, let me tell you another public case to prove it.

King Liuli destroyed the Sakyamuni caste

When Sakyamuni Buddha was alive, King Liuli led a large army to attack Kapila's city. Before the war began, Lord Sakyamuni He once went to see King Liuli in person to ask for a peaceful solution, but no matter how much he talked, there was no peace, so the Buddha ordered the Sakya clan not to attack, but to defend. King Liuli's soldiers invaded the city and killed the residents indiscriminately. The Buddha's disciples all asked the Buddha to try to rescue them. At this time, Venerable Moggallana, who has great supernatural powers, used the Buddha's bowl to take three thousand people from Sakyamuni's family into the bowl and threw them into the sky, thinking that I had rescued all three thousand people. After the war between King Liuli stopped, Venerable Moggallana took down the bowl and saw that the people in the bowl had turned into blood. The Venerable Moggallana asked the Buddha about the cause and effect of this great disaster. The World Honored One said: 'This is a karma that is difficult to reverse, because many lifetimes ago, there was a fishing village near Kapila Yue City. There was a big fish pond in the village. The people in the village netted all the fish in the pond and ate them. A big fish was also killed and eaten. Only one child, who had never eaten fish before, just knocked the big fish on the head three times for fun. The World Honored One said: "Everyone must know that the big fish at that time is the current Liuli King, the small fish are his army now, the people in the fishing village are the Sakyamuni tribe who are being killed by them now, and the child who had never eaten fish at that time is It’s me (the Buddha refers to himself), because I knocked the fish’s head three times at that time, and now I have a headache for three days. ’ If you think about it, the Buddha also has such fixed karma that it is difficult to escape. It seems that the ripe fruit cannot be undone.

Verses 5 and 6: ‘Separating your wife has broken his nest. ’ The meaning of these two sentences is: The reason why your wife and children were separated in this sword catastrophe is that you have destroyed the nests of birds and bees in the past. This is retribution. There is nothing wrong with the principle of karma, but some repay directly, some indirectly, some become enemies to repay, and some become father, son, husband, wife, and brothers to repay. This also needs to be told a historical story to prove.

Fang Xiaoru’s father built a tomb and burned snakes

During the Ming Dynasty, there was a very famous person in history named Fang Xiaoru. He protected the Ming Dynasty’s great ancestor Zhu Hongwu and created the world. A loyal minister who assisted Emperor Hui after Taizu's death. Before Fang Xiaoru was born, his father chose a piece of land with good feng shui in all directions, and planned to build a tomb to bury the bones of his ancestors. As a result, I had a dream that night. I dreamed of an old man in red. I bowed to him and begged him: "The Feng Shui location you chose is exactly where I have lived for a long time. I beg you to extend it for three more days." , wait for my descendants to move to other places, and you will build another tomb, and I will definitely repay your kindness. ’ He respectfully said it three times, and asked him to dig the soil after three days, and then he bowed and left. After Fang Xiaoru's father woke up from the dream, he wondered where such a thing could happen? Most of the things in dreams are illusory. We have already seen that tomorrow will be auspicious, so how can we extend it for another three days? He ordered the workers to start digging the ground. He dug underground and found a cave with hundreds of red snakes. He burned them all to death with fire. That night, I dreamed of the old man in red. His face was full of resentment, and he cried and cried to him: "I beg you from the bottom of my heart. You actually burned all eight hundred of my descendants to death in the fire. Since you destroyed my clan, I I will also destroy your clan. ’ Later, the man who burned the snake gave birth to Fang Xiaoru after the tomb was ready. Fang Xiaoru's tongue was as pointed as a snake. Later he grew up and became a Hanlin bachelor. He was a very knowledgeable, loyal and filial man. After the death of Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, the King of Yan in the north wanted to seize the throne of his nephew Emperor Hui, so he led his troops south to attack Nanjing. All civil and military officials surrendered, except Fang Xiaoru, who refused to surrender. The King of Yan ordered Fang Xiaoru to write The imperial edict in the list states: "The King of Yan invaded Nanjing in order to protect the country of the Ming Dynasty." ’ Fang Xiaoru knew that this was not the case, so he wrote a report saying: ‘The Yan thief has usurped the throne. ’ He immediately angered King Yan and lost his temper and said, ‘Aren’t you afraid of destroying the nine tribes? ’ Fang Xiaoru replied: ‘What about destroying the ten clans? ’ When King Yan heard this, he was furious and said, ‘Okay, I will destroy your ten tribes. ’ But King Yan thought, there are only nine clans, how about ten clans? After thinking about it, he has a teacher, so he can be considered a member of the clan! Everyone, the above are historical facts. Fang Xiaoru was reincarnated by the old man in red, the leader of eight hundred red snakes who were burned to death. Eight hundred people from the ten tribes killed this time were the same number as the eight hundred snakes burned to death. Don’t you feel displeased at all about karma?

The last two verses are: 'Every retribution will be proportionate, so listen to the Buddha's words. ’ These two sentences are the conclusion. The theories and facts mentioned earlier have causes and consequences, and retribution is proportional. Therefore, we must wash our ears and listen carefully to what the Buddha said.

The Buddha is a man of great wisdom. He has knowledge of destiny and can know the past and future events. He also has clairvoyance and can see everything from top to bottom. At this point, some people will say: Since the Buddha has supernatural powers and power, why didn't he save the Sakyamuni clan when King Liuli destroyed them? You must know that the Buddha has great compassion, but because of the evil karma created by all living beings, karma and retribution are certain. If sentient beings create evil causes now, they will definitely suffer bad consequences in the future, so Buddhist sentient beings use correct methods to solve them. What method? That is the way to resolve grievances and eliminate evil causes. If you don't create bad causes, you will definitely not suffer bad consequences in the future. For example, as mentioned just now, if the people in a village had not eaten a pond of fish, they would not have had the result of King Liuli destroying the Sakyamuni clan. However, King Liuli committed a serious crime of murder and was an evil cause. He was burned to death soon after and fell into the world. Go to hell, this is the consequences.

E. The order of refraining from killing

Please read the topic that the scholar is talking about today: "Killing is the foundation of fighting with weapons." Now the disaster of weapons is also before us. Tribulation with swords and weapons comes from the cause of killing. We should not create causes for killing, which is called refraining from killing, so as to avoid the pain of calamity with swords and weapons in the future. This is the fundamental method. In addition, the karma of swordsmanship is a karma, but there is no karma in the karma, which means that everyone else has committed the karma of killing, but if I do not create the karma of killing, I will not suffer the suffering of the karma with others. Reported. But I often hear people say: I’m not a butcher, and I don’t kill animals, but it’s impossible for me not to eat meat. What should I do? It's good that you don't kill animals. I'll introduce you to the convenient method, because there are third-level disasters in sword and weapon calamities, and there are also third-level merits in abstaining from killing.

Higher merits will eliminate higher disasters, medium merits will eliminate medium disasters, and lower merits will eliminate lower disasters. The best merit is to be a vegetarian for many years. If you can't do it, you have to look at the effects and fear the causes. The medium merit is to eat vegetarian food in June, December and every morning. If you can't do this, you can do lower merits. The lower merits are to eat vegetarian food during the ten fasts, the sixth fasts, the flower fasts, and the Christmas Days of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and at least eat three kinds of pure meat. What is three pure meats? Those who do not see killing, do not hear killing, and do not kill for me.

Having said this, I suddenly remembered that I saw a couplet in a vegetarian restaurant the day before yesterday, which was very interesting. The first couplet was: 'If you fast for one day, there will be no one in the world who will kill you. ’ The second line is: ‘Who knows the debt, wear two horns to repay it in ancient and modern times. ’ It means: If I eat vegetarian food for one day, I will not be guilty of killing tens of millions of living creatures today. Who can know about debt collection and repayment? Look at the two horns on the heads of cattle and sheep. From ancient times to the present, they have been begged and returned again, and returned and begged again. Let's think about it, is it terrible or not?

I would like to advise you all, in order to avoid the coming terrible military disaster, come to practice vegetarianism as soon as possible and stop killing as soon as possible.

Cause and effect can be changed

Dear teachers, great sages, and fellow practitioners: The abstinence from killing mentioned last time is the foundation for eliminating weapons and weapons. We all already understand that we must eliminate the disaster of weapons and weapons. , we must put down our butcher knife and learn Buddhism. Is this method of changing past and future truly reliable? What scholars are going to talk about next is that ‘cause and effect can be changed’.

A. The Law of Cause and Effect

(1) Non-annihilation---Some of you here must be thinking: You say that cause and effect can be changed, which seems inconsistent with the principles of Buddhism. Buddhism is about Where there is a cause, there is an effect, and the law of cause and effect will never be eliminated. Why do you say cause and effect can be changed? right! The law of cause and effect cannot be eliminated. There is also a verse in the sutra that says: "If the work is not destroyed for thousands of kalpas, the cause and effect will meet at the right time, and the retribution will be paid to you." ’ The meaning is that even after hundreds of thousands of kalpas have passed, the sins committed by each person will still not be eliminated. You must know that there is a "destiny" between cause and effect. When cause and fate meet, you will still have to suffer the consequences.

(2) No offset---If you have done a lot of evil in the past, is it impossible to offset it by doing a lot of good now? right! impossible! Because the law of cause and effect cannot be offset, it is a certain principle that good will be rewarded with good and evil will be punished with evil. It is like planting melon seeds and bean seeds on a piece of land at the same time. In the future, the melon seeds will surely produce melons and bean seeds. Beans must be born, melons will not destroy beans, and beans will not destroy melons. But now it is said that cause and effect can be changed. How can we change it?

B. Know the cause, cut off the fate and change the effect

(1) Understand the truth---you must know that the cause is the cause, the condition is the condition, the effect is the effect, this must be divided into Explain in three paragraphs. Causes produce results due to conditions. What students are going to talk about today is conditions. What is conditions? Let me ask you: ‘Will the military calamity come now? ’ You must answer: ‘I won’t come. ’ This is because the fate of the sword-fighting calamity has not yet arrived. Only when this fate is immature can the cause and effect be changed.

If you cut off the immature fate of the sword calamity, you can change the consequences of the sword calamity; once the fate matures, there is no way to remedy it, because the karmic fate created together in the past has matured, and even if you have great supernatural powers, you cannot solve it.

(2) Methods of luck---So what method should be used to remedy the situation before the weapon disaster is immature? That is to use the method of eliminating "increasing the upper edge", just like a doctor who treats a patient by prescribing the right medicine. If the patient has a fever, he must prescribe cooling medicine; if the patient has cold, he must prescribe warming tonics. Prescribing the right medicine is the best medicine! If a patient uses tonics for fever and cool medicine for cold, this kind of doctor will kill people. At this point, some people may say: 'Do more good deeds, build bridges and roads, and you can eliminate the disaster of war. ’ Such words are unreliable, because being robbed by swords is not the result of destroying roads or bridges in the past! Now we use building bridges and roads to offset the problem, which is completely wrong and unreasonable. It is just like a quack doctor who does not recognize the disease and prescribes random medicines, or prescribes tonics when a patient has a fever. You must know that the retribution for suffering a calamity with swords and weapons is the cause and effect of being killed because you created the cause of killing in the past. If you cut off the cause of killing now, there will be no fate. If there is no destiny for killing, there will be no retribution for killing, and there will be no calamity with swords and weapons. If you don’t understand this principle of severing ties, I will tell you a story to illustrate it.

Story: The Master’s Parable

There was a temple somewhere in the past, and a Master was preaching there. At the same time, there was a man who had committed great sins. After listening to the Sutra, he Go and ask the Dharma Master: 'I have committed great sins by killing lives in the past. What should I do? ’ The Master taught him: ‘You have to express your sincerity and repent. If it hasn’t come to fruition yet, just end the relationship. ’ But this person only knows cause and effect and does not understand the principle of fate. The master was skillful and convenient, and gave him a bag of tribulus and taught him to plant it on the east and west paths in the open space behind the temple. The tribulus planted on the east side should be sprinkled with lime but not watered; the tribulus planted on the west side should be watered every day. The master also told him to walk barefoot once every five days, walking east and west. This person walked around for the first time and felt nothing. The Master then told him to still water the west side every day, but still not water the east side. After another five days, I walked around with bare feet. After another five days, I suddenly saw that the thorns had sprouted in the west. After five days, I saw that the buds had grown three inches and had yellow flowers. Five weeks later, while walking barefoot in the west, he was stung by thorns and could no longer walk. The Master then asked: ‘Where is the east side? ’ The man replied: ‘I don’t feel anything. ’ The Master then said: ‘Tribulus seeds are planted on both sides of the east and west. Why can we walk on the east side but not on the west side? ’ Then he suddenly realized that the east side was sprinkled with lime and was not watered, so it would not have any effect if the conditions were broken. The west side was watered every day, and the water would increase the strength and produce power. Therefore, when the seeds are planted at the same time, the ones in the east will not germinate, but those in the west will flourish. This is the principle of life if there is a predestined relationship, and death if there is no predestined relationship, and the cause and effect can be changed.

C. Breaking off the relationship, etc.

Listening to what you said, we all believe that the disaster has not come yet. If we break the relationship quickly, there will be no retribution. But how can we break the relationship? The order of breaking off the relationship is divided into three levels: upper, middle and lower. The lower level will stop killing from today and eat the three pure meats (that is, meat that does not see killing, does not hear killing, and does not kill for me). If you do this, you will be a good person; medium level. Those who practice Kungfu not only do not kill animals but also maintain vegetarian diets, and thus are equivalent to self-salvation Arahants; those with superior Kungfu not only refrain from killing animals and maintain vegetarian diets, but also go a step further to release animals and save their lives. This kind of person is equivalent to a Bodhisattva who benefits others. The above three levels of merit can be achieved according to circumstances and ability. It is further described below:

1. Cutting off the karma and abstaining from killing - easy to do Merits must start from breaking ties and abstaining from killing. There are two verses from the ancient great virtue: "Let old karma be eliminated by following fate, let alone create new disasters." ’ It means: If there is meat to eat, just eat it. If there is no meat, forget it. The old sins will be eliminated if you let it happen. You must not kill lives just to eat meat, and create new sins and suffer disasters.

There is a passage in the Tripitaka called the Posha Treatise, and one sentence says: "If you keep the precept not to kill for a day and a night, you will never encounter any danger from the sword in the next life!" ’ You see, the merit of just upholding the precept for one day and night is so great, not to mention the fact that upholding the precept of not killing for a long time is even greater? At this point, someone may ask: Listen to you, not killing is to avoid tribulations in the next life. If we hope to avoid the tribulations of swords and weapons in this life, is it possible? My answer is 'maybe'! Let's tell a story to prove it:

Evidence: Fake fast to avoid drowning

Once upon a time, a man took a boat and went out. In the boat, he saw two live things in the boat owner's barrel. The lively fish was swimming around in the bucket, and it looked like it might be killed for dinner at noon. The man said to the boat owner: "Can you sell these two fish to me?" ’ The captain said, ‘Okay! But the price of this fish is very high, two tails cost three hundred yuan. Whenever you want to eat it, it will be cooked for you. ’ The man bought the fish for the boat owner with 300 yuan. He couldn’t bear to eat it, so he said, ‘I won’t eat it today and don’t want to cook it. ’ The next day, the boat owner asked him again: ‘Do you want to cook fish today? ’ The man replied: ‘No, no! I eat Guanyin Zhai today. ’ In fact, this person did not eat Guanyin Zhai. He saw two fishes swimming around in the barrel. They were so cute that he couldn’t bear to eat them. He felt very pitiful if he killed them and cooked them, so he lied about eating Guanyin Zhai. Finally, he put the fish into the river and set them free.

Another day later, the boat was sailing on the river. Suddenly, there was a strong wind and huge waves. The people on the boat were all frightened. When they were kneeling down and calling for help, they suddenly appeared in the clouds. When the word "false fast" comes out, everyone can see it clearly. Someone asked, "Who in the boat is eating false food?" ’ After asking several times, the man thought: ‘I must have violated heavenly rules by pretending to eat Guanyin Zhai. If I concealed it, wouldn’t I have harmed everyone? ’ He immediately responded loudly: ‘It’s me, it’s me! ’ Everyone said, ‘Go down! ’ and pushed him into the water. Strangely enough, a wooden plank drifted up from nowhere, and the man who jumped into the water managed to catch the plank without incident. A strong wind blew him to the shore, and he was rescued. Looking at the boat again, it was no longer capable of being overturned by the violent wind and waves. All the people in the boat sank to the bottom of the river to feed the fish. If we all think about it, a single thought of compassion can save a life.

2. The middle meritorious deeds are not only about abstaining from killing but also being vegetarian. It is a little more difficult to implement than the previous one, because in life I have developed the habit of eating meat since I was born, and it is very difficult to stop eating meat. What should I do if it is not easy to break? This requires the following visualizations:

(1) The coming of a terrible calamity of weapons---Are you afraid of the coming of a calamity of weapons? If you are afraid, and this bowl of meat is placed in front of me, you should visualize how terrifying and frightened the animal was when it was being slaughtered, as if you were being robbed by a sword. In order to avoid being robbed by a sword, I will not eat this bowl of meat. This is The first step is visualization.

(2) Horrible thieves will come and be captured---The second step is to visualize: Once the war breaks out and the enemy soldiers come, how terrible it will be for the people to be tied up! At this time, you should visualize: The beast that thought about this bowl of meat was so pitiful when someone bought it and tied it up. In order to avoid being tied up by the thief, I will not eat this bowl of meat.

(3) Fear of family separation---The third step of visualization: Every family has parents, brothers, sisters, wives, and dependents. Once they are tied up by thieves, the six relatives, dependents, wives, and dependents will feel sad after being separated. You should visualize: After the animal was tied up and captured, its relatives looked pitiful when they screamed. I couldn't bear to eat this bowl of meat.

(4) Fear of being killed---The fourth step of visualization: If we were to be killed, would we be willing or unwilling? At this time, you should visualize: the bleeding when the animal is slaughtered, and the pain of cooking, frying, and frying with the knife and anvil. In order to avoid being killed, I will not dare to eat this bowl of meat again!

If you achieve these four visualizations, not only will you no longer want to eat meat, but you will also repent of your past wrongful actions and give up eating meat forever.

3. The superior merit of cutting off the fate and releasing lives - difficult and easy in each case

(1) It is better to build a seven-level pagoda---and speaking of the superior merit, in addition to breaking the fate, it must be both There is a saying in Buddhism: saving one sentient being is better than building a seven-level pagoda. The Seven-Level Pagoda is the seven-story pagoda of the temple. Looking at it this way, you know how great the merit is of saving a sentient being. Because the Buddha wholeheartedly wants to save all sentient beings, saving the life of a sentient being is the same as repaying the Buddha's kindness.

(2) Past dependents and future Buddhas---We all need to know that in the six realms there are past parents, brothers, sisters, and six relatives and dependents. The six realms are the heavenly realm, the human realm, the asura realm, the animal realm, the hungry ghost realm, and the hell realm. In these six paths, the nature of all sentient beings is originally pure and bright. Because they are tainted by ignorance without beginning, they are confused and confused in these six paths. After birth and death, after death and life, once you are born, you will have the same parents and six relatives. . Since immeasurable kalpas, there have been so many parents and dependents that it is impossible to calculate the number, because ordinary people have the mystery of separation from the underworld as soon as they are reincarnated, and they cannot see it themselves. How can you know if you can't see it? You must know that this is what the Buddha said. Sakyamuni Buddha is a great sage with great wisdom, great enlightenment, and the Buddha's eyes can see clearly. He said: 'All living beings have Buddha nature. ’ Once sentient beings meet the fate of Buddha, believe in Buddhism and study Buddhism, they can become Buddhas! Therefore, all living beings are not only the parents of the past, but also the Buddhas of the future. If you let their lives go, you will be a Bodhisattva (you cannot become a Buddha without being a Bodhisattva). This requires citing a public case:

Public case: Master Yongming was saved

In the Song Dynasty, there was a master Yongming, whose surname was Wang when he was secular, and he worked as a tax manager in a river mouth. Officer, it seems like the person who collects customs duties at the port now. He is a Bodhisattva who has come again with his vow. Because he lives by the river, he sees fishermen catching lively fish every day, which arouses his compassion and uses his monthly salary to buy fish and release them. After a while, the fishermen all knew that Mr. Wang was a good customer, and if there were any live fish, they would pick them and sell them to him for release. His monthly salary is not enough to buy fish, and he feels bad if he buys this or not. What will he do if his salary is all spent? Just use the money from the tax treasury to buy fish and release them. Once, when a superior supervisor came to investigate Kuyin, he was unable to return home for a while and was reported to the court by his superiors, who immediately ordered him to die. You must know that all money in the national treasury can only be used with the approval of the ***. This time, Mr. Wang secretly took gold and silver from the treasury. He took a lot of it in one year without permission from the ***, so he was sentenced to death. (The law was much stricter in the past than it is now.)

Everyone sympathized with him and knew that Mr. Wang did not use the treasury money for food, drink, whoring and gambling, but they were helpless. At that time, the Communist Party of China sent a beheading official named Xu Zixin, who was usually close friends with Mr. Wang. Before he was beheaded, he said to him: "Although I know that you use public funds for good deeds, but the boss ordered, I have no way to save you now, so I have to ask for your forgiveness! ’ Mr. Wang answered him: ‘Thank you for your kindness, brother. I will die with no regrets, because I have saved hundreds of billions of lives. Now I am only focused on surviving in the Western Paradise. ’ After saying that, he put his palms together and recited ‘Amitabha’ with all his heart, without fear of death at all. As soon as three quarters of noon arrived, the prison officer ordered the executioner to behead the person. But when the knife reached Mr. Wang's head, there was only a clang sound. It was strange that the big knife had been broken into three sections. Xu Zixin, the supervisor and beheading officer, immediately made a report and reported this information to King Qian Mu. King Qian Mu was also a compassionate man who believed in Buddhism. He immediately pardoned Mr. Wang's death sentence and restored his official position. After Mr. Wang was released, he no longer wanted to be an official. He had seen through the world, immediately became a monk, studied Buddhism, practiced precepts, concentration and wisdom diligently. Later, he was praised as the sixth generation founder of the Pure Land Sect, Master Yongming, who once wrote "Four Materials" Jian Ji' was famous for a while.

Finally, I will tell you the simple method of releasing animals: first, bless a cup of Great Compassion Mantra water, put the wine on the bodies of the living beings, and recite the confession: 'All the evil deeds created in the past are all caused by Beginningless greed, anger, and delusion were born from body, speech, and mind. I now go before the Buddha to seek repentance. 'Recite this three times and then recite three refuges for it: 'Take refuge in the Buddha, take refuge in the Dharma, take refuge in the Sangha, take refuge in the Buddha and not fall into hell, take refuge in the Dharma and not fall into hungry ghosts, take refuge in the Sangha and not fall into animals...' We need to know: Why What about preaching the Three Refuges to all sentient beings? Since all sentient beings have two lives, one is life and the other is wisdom life, releasing them not only saves their lives, but also saves their wisdom lives. Tell it the Three Refuges, and you will not go to hell, become a hungry ghost, or become an animal in the next life, and avoid falling into the three evil realms and suffering. If you gain a human body, develop bodhicitta, and deeply believe in the Dharma, it is possible to become a Buddha. This is to save it. wisdom. Another example is when we see someone killing a life on the side of the road or anywhere and there is no way to save it, we should show compassion and quickly recite the Three Refuges and the Rebirth Mantra for it, and also use up a little compassion of our disciples of the Three Jewels. . This is the end of the simple method of releasing animals. Let me finish this question with another verse:

'Because solidity is terrible, there is no chance of birth, and thorns and thorns have no water, so it is difficult to hope for formation! ’

The many evil causes created in the past are indeed terrible, but they will not happen without increasing conditions.

For example, as mentioned before, the master taught the man to plant tribulus grass in the east and west. Tribulus is like a bad fruit. When you step on it, it will pierce the skin and bleed. But if you don't water it, it will be difficult to grow. If you step on it, it will grow. Don't be stabbed to pieces and bleed. This means: Although we have created a lot of bad karma of killing and harming lives in the past, as long as we stop killing and protect living beings now, the bad consequences will be reduced. I advise you all to learn Buddhism quickly and change your cause and effect!

Killing is violent and the most harmful

Dear teachers, distinguished sages, and fellow practitioners: It is already the third day that I have been studying Buddhism with you at your place. To know the first condition for believing in Buddhism and learning Buddhism, you must first understand the Buddha’s teachings. The Buddha’s teachings include the following six types: 1. Compassion. 2. Sadness. 3. Equality. 4. Don’t do any evil. 5. Perform good deeds. 6. Purify your mind. To do these six things, you must first abstain from killing, so the topic that students will talk about today is: "Killing is violent and most harmful to the harmony of heaven."