DHARMA IN EVERYDAY LIFE

By Nhat Quan

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The more crowded the world of humans, the more killing because of humanity's need for life. Killing animals to provide food for human life is of course necessary, but still sinful. Sin is serious or light depending on the will, or unwillingness for the sake of life, but the sin or the blessing is somewhat specific and clear. The blessing here is to provide the necessary needs to feed people. The crime is because of wanting to preserve the life of you and the person you directly killed the animals.

Cause and effect are very fair, and not partial to anyone, doing good is blessed, and doing sin is guilty. If you have good fortune, your material life will be full, but if you do sin, you will be retribution for premature death, illness, and eternal life, sowing resentment, hatred, borrowing and paying, paying and borrowing, there is no day stop. Therefore, sentient beings for their own lives devour and kill each other mercilessly. Now, you try to divide it into four parts to discuss sin and blessing:

- One is the eater

- Two is the foster,

- Three is the seller,

- Four is the killer,

Some people blame it on the fact that some people eat it, so some people raise it, some people sell it, and some people kill it. Indeed, eating and drinking are to preserve the lives of humans and animals, which is an inevitable rule that no one can deny. This is what the Buddha saw so clearly. The world is a long chain of predestined conditions, mutual killing, big bullying small, strong bullying weak, eating each other and preserving life.

People who both raise and kill are serious crimes because they intentionally kill or harm animals to feed themselves and hire other people to kill them together. Those who have planted karma like that can hardly have a good life. After the common life was lost, countless lives were suffered, tortured, and killed again. Until he was born as a human, his life was short. Persons directly fishing, trapping, and hunting nets are also guilty of the same crimes. And those who eat but do not directly kill or incite others to kill, eat only for life, although guilty but mild, can repent and do good deeds, their sins are gone, because they have no intention of killing. Sins and blessings are heavy or light, more or less intentional or unintentional. There are ten different ways of killing:

- One is self-killing,

- Second is to advise others to kill,

- Third is to praise killing,

- Fourth, seeing killing gives rise to joy,

- Five is for the person you hate to want to be destroyed,

- Six is to see the person you hate being destroyed with a heart of joy,

- Seven is to destroy the fetus,

- Eight is to teach people to destroy themselves (or destroy themselves),

- Nine is to build a slaughterhouse,

- Ten is to make weapons of war yourself and teach people to harm each other.

In the Differential Karma Sutra, the Buddha taught that due to these ten karmas, sentient beings suffer from short-lived retribution. There are nine types of sudden death by karmic killing, according to the Buddha's teaching in Bhaisaya-guru-vaiduryaprabhasapurvapranidhanavisavistara The Medicine Buddha Sutra

First, sudden death: The disease is not worthy of death, but dies, due to lack of medicine and no one to take care of.

You should note at this point, those who have sick relatives need to take care of their medications. Next, when you see a doctor who gives you the wrong medicine, it can also kill you. Therefore, the person taking care of the sick must also take care of your sick relative one. Even if there is medicine, without someone to take care of it, it can also be deadly. This is also the case often. Or superstitious, believe in evil teachers, and evil friends, kill animals to sacrifice to gods, cause more killing karma, diseases are not worthy of death but must die. Usually, you do not have a deep understanding of human life and belief in cause and effect, so it is easy to be seduced by the doctrines of wrong views, costing money, fear, stupidity, and killing. So you have to accept life premature death.

Second, sudden death: Because you have a disaster due to a relationship with a relative. Because of the king's spell, you must die unjustly.

In the feudal era, the king was the absolute authority, killing whoever wanted to kill. As long as one member of the family commits a crime or opposes, or is suspected of something, the king can order the killing of three families or nine generations. Dying in that way is called unjust death because someone's own body is not guilty but also has to die. Such a death is called an untimely death because the king's exclusive power is the son of the heavens who rules over the world.

The third died unexpectedly: Due to a depraved life, insatiable indulgence, passion for alcohol and sex, playing around, and not knowing how to keep himself, one had to die prematurely.

In this third unexpected death, most of the kings, or the descendants of kings and mandarins, are entangled because they think that:

- I am a child of heaven. I replace heaven to rule the world, so I do whatever I want.

Therefore passion, alcohol, insatiable sex with concubines, and beautiful girls. People in the world, if they get caught up in the passion for too much enjoyment, will also become ravaged and rabid, making their families miserable and suffering short-lived retribution. Today, with the progress of human civilization, people are more and more corrupted by the attraction of debauched passions, so the number of alienated people is increasing day by day.

Unexpected death fourth and fifth: Burned by fire, burned whole body or drowned.

These two retributions are common in the world. Drowning or burning to death are also caused by the karma of killing, so you as a Buddhist should be aware of the suffering caused by killing that you try to keep this precept completely to avoid bad results.

Sixth Unusual Death: Being torn to pieces by wild beasts and eaten.

When you live, you often kill animals, especially those who do direct slaughter will suffer this retribution. If you don't kill anyone, how can you get retribution for killing? Because cause and effect are always fair and equal. So nothing happens without a cause.

Seventh Unexpected Death: Falling down the mountain, the body is broken, extremely painful.

This retribution is often encountered in mountainous areas. Or the gold diggers were crushed to death by the collapse of the tunnel. Or like the case of the bridge collapse, countless deaths are also caused by killing, so they have to suffer the retribution of dying prematurely.

Eighth unexpected death: Drinking the wrong poison, talismans, caresses, harming demons.

Being forced to death, drinking poison to commit suicide, being charmed by people, and being taken away by demons are all caused by killing karma from the past. This is the case, but very rare.

Ninth Unexpected Death: In the circumstances of starvation and death.

This kind of death tortures people ferociously, starving without food, thirst without drinking, and dying slowly look miserable. Especially in 1945, more than two million Vietnamese living in the North starved to death because the Japanese fascists burned all the rice. In addition, there are countless deaths such as suicide, or many other forms.

The Buddha, through his practice, clearly saw the great harm caused by killing to create retribution, so he instructed and advised people not to kill to cultivate great compassion and respect for all lives. all beings. When you kill animals such as cattle, pigs, goats, chickens, ducks, shrimps, and fish, they still struggle, screaming pitifully. In fact, there are no animals that feed themselves to humans, because although they have strength, they have no intelligence, so they have to be killed like that. Almost all animals are killed before their lifespan, by the needs of human life.

Therefore, one of the basic ethical principles of Buddhists is not to harm, not to kill living beings. The students of the Buddhist family, when they first entered the temple, memorized the sentence:

- I love people and animals.

Not only do not kill, but Buddhists also cultivate loving-kindness, and always practice freeing animals to save animals. If anyone creates the karma of killing many living beings, he will surely suffer the result of physical illness and many diseases. Life is short, and people and animals are shunned because they always emit a dangerous and cold murderous aura. According to the wisdom of the World-Honored One, those who do a lot of killing, especially those who practice hunting and butchers, are not only deprived of blessings in terms of health and longevity but also suffer from poor and miserable retribution.

Observing the lives of hunters and butchers, you will see very clearly what the Buddha taught above. Because of creating heavy killing karma, over time, their careers quickly fade away, suffering from constant illness and accidents. A broken family is generally. But not yet, many people before death also show heavy near-death karma, struggling, howling, writhing, and bleeding profusely. The souls were as lost as the animals they had killed before. It is worth noting that, in addition to those who have a heavy karma to kill and then suffer from immediate cause and effect, some people are slow to get retribution, so they are still rich. Your own ordinary eyes do not understand this, so you doubt cause and effect. This is a true story, of the retribution for killing frogs to make hotpot, so the karma changed to sitting like a frog and then dying in a tragic way:

- In a city in the north of Thailand, there is a certain noodle shop, famous for making very good broth. Reputation echoes far and near, everyone comes to eat. The contemporaries were all praising them. So even though the shop only works in the morning, it sells hundreds of bowls every morning. Before 12 noon, everything is gone. Each bowl costs about 15-20 Thai dollars. Every day, the income is about 6 thousand, and the profit is three thousand.

The shop was formerly a small shop on the roadside, due to increasing profits, within a few short years, they were able to buy land and build a spacious new shop. Behind the shop is a large flower garden. In the afternoon, take a break to sell, but coming here to rest is really a fairyland in the world.

The owner is surnamed Lien, and the couple is over 60 years old and has enough sons and daughters. Their children are all married. The whole family of five people works together to do business, do not hire people to work.

Because the broth of this restaurant has a better taste than other restaurants, gourmets love it as soon as they enjoy it. So from officials, and merchants, below to customers, and tricycle assistants, they regularly come to this restaurant to eat. The shops of the same profession are not good at processing and try to ask for their professional secret, but they never reveal them. Proverb says:

- Do the same job, and treat each other as enemies.

This sentence is not wrong. The rival restaurants tried to find out the secret to cooking the broth that couldn't be, so they spread malicious news that:

- That shop's broth has drugs in it, making you addicted to it, you have to eat it every day because you're addicted.

Someone crueler, secretly went to the Department of Sanitation, insisting that this broth contains drugs. Drugs are banned poisons, the Sanitation Department immediately sent people to the shop to check and test. The final conclusion is:

- No drugs or harmful chemicals. The broth is cooked perfectly as the owner reported, using vegetable juice in combination with chicken and pork bones. The small fire pit is available for a day and a night, with satisfactory standards.

Checked by the Department of Sanitation and confirmed that there is no violation. This makes the shop more famous, more and more admired, because accidentally they are advertised for free, the reputation of the restaurant's broth is increasingly flying far and wide...

One day, a prince of the Thai royal family, a famous culinary expert, drove to the restaurant to enjoy. After that, he awarded medals and special commendations for the shop to hang in front of the shop for everyone to see.

Having the gold board given by the prince, the shop's noodle dish is, therefore, more valuable. Each bowl of noodles used to be only 15 Thai dollars, now it has been increased to 20-25 Thai dollars, and the business of the Lien family is more and more profitable.

Nothing in the world is a secret forever, the hegemony of the Lien family's broth was finally revealed. The person who let the veil of secrecy lifted was Mr. Lien, the owner of the shop, this strange and thrilling news has shaken the whole northeast of Thailand.

The first person to discover the secret was Mr. Tung, a tricycle driver. Because that day, when he had lunch because Mr. Tung drank too much, his face was pale, so he could not carry passengers, because he did not have money to give to his wife, so he did not dare to go home. That night, hungry, he sneaked into the back door of Mr. Lien's restaurant, thinking that he would steal something to eat.

When he was able to pry open the back door, as soon as he entered the kitchen, the light from afar was dim enough for him to see a person sitting with his back facing the door, which was also Tung's side.

If you look closely, it turns out that the owner of the restaurant is working hard, and Tung boldly steps forward to peek, clearly seeing that the owner is killing frogs. The method of dissecting the abdomen to remove the frog's organs, Mr. Lien did it very skillfully. The things were divided by Mr. Lien and put in plastic bins and plastic bags. In a plastic container full of frogs.

At that moment, Mr. Lien seemed to notice that someone was there, so he suddenly turned his head to look at the door. Tung promptly hid, fortunately, thanks to the dim light, so he was not detected. Although Mr. Lien could not see Mr. Tung, because Mr. Tung was hiding in the dark, Mr. Tung could clearly see Mr. Lien's face under the lights.

Immediately he was scared to the point of fainting. Because Mr. Lien's face is not a human face, but a big frog face. The mouth is like a frog's mouth, the eyes are bulging, and there is a strange tickling sound in the mouth. Suddenly, Mr. Tung saw Mr. Lien sticking out his long tongue and then retracting it, just like the scene of a frog eating its prey. Then he quickly went inside the restaurant.

Mr. Tung was so scared that he wanted to scream loudly, he wanted to run away, but his legs kept shaking, not doing what he wanted. It was very difficult for Mr. Tung to regain his composure and crawl out the door. That night, he was too scared to have a severe fever. A few days later, after recovering from his illness, he told everyone about the situation he witnessed that night.

But because he normally drank alcohol, no one would believe what he said. In fact, for people in the northeast of Thailand, it's normal to eat frogs, mice, and cats, nothing strange. But the strange thing about the rumor is the face of the shop owner. In the past few months, guests who have come to eat have not seen Mr. Lien appear anymore. Normally, Mr. Lien always sits in front of the restaurant chopping chicken.

Heard that he was sick and had to go to the hospital, but no one knew when he was discharged from the hospital. After that, people occasionally met him, but only briefly without seeing him clearly. Lately, he rarely goes to restaurants.

By chance, someone met him, and they said:

- Mr. Lien's face looks exactly like a frog, but it's much bigger, and his legs are curved like a frog's. The mouth is the same, the eyes are protruding, and the more you look, the more like a giant frog.

At this point, people believe that Tung's words are true. Without an appointment, everyone stalked together, sneaking a peek to turn people into frogs like the owner of Lien. And finally, everyone knows that the other attractive pot of broth is frog cooking water. Surprisingly, it tasted so sweet.

Previously, Mr. Lien was afraid of revealing secrets, so he did not dare to hire workers, nor did he want to borrow anyone's hands, so he had to personally kill each frog. In total, Mr. Lien has killed countless lives of frogs, it must be said innumerable. Every day he always faced the face of a frog, every move he made, and everything he did was related to the frog. General according to the mind of birth, the shape of his mind changed, and gradually his face also changed into the shape of a frog.

At first, people living together didn't notice, until discovered, he was completely disfigured. Later, someone heard Mr. Lien's relatives recount that:

- Lately, when Lien is sleeping, he often screams and roars. Lamented that frogs came to fill his body and bite him. Every time he took a nap, he was constantly harassed like that, unable to sleep.

From then on, for several months, Mr. Lien was tormented by frogs every night. Finally, old Lien became mad, cried like a frog, and died.

After Mr. Lien died, the whole family of the famous brothel owner did not know where to move, only saving this story, the title that made people talk forever.

- Causality and retribution are not wrong

Even a feather and a speck of dust can't escape

Good or evil karma, cause, and effect follow you like a shadow with a picture

Understanding killing and its consequences, as a child of a Buddha, a child of great kindness, and immeasurable compassion, you must uphold the spirit of not killing. And try to be vegetarian to be good for health, good for the environment, and especially good for the spirit, to help practice more diligently and soon achieve certain achievements. Therefore, lay Buddhists should be wise, and choose the right career so as not to harm all animals. The first is not to kill people, then to minimize the killing of animals, until it is completely preserved. If it is because of your living situation, you have to raise animals to sell to earn money to support your family and relatives. If you only raise animals for sale and do not directly kill animals, although you are guilty, this crime is lighter than directly killing animals, so you can repent, and do meritorious deeds, and you can transfer your sins. If you raise them for sale and kill them directly, this crime is very serious, and you will have to suffer retribution according to the law of cause and effect. As for feeding and buying food, not directly killing with the condition that the killer is not seen, does not hear the animal cry when it is killed, the animal is already made, it's okay. If there is a slight sin, repent and do good deeds, and it will gradually end.

Reluctant case because you were born in a river and sea area, so you have to work as a fisherman and aquatic species. You should only catch species that meet the standards issued by the law, do not catch species that are too young. Buddha's precept for lay people is not to kill people, and to minimize the killing of animals, until you keep them completely, you won't suffer retribution from illness or premature death.

In life, it is inevitable to accidentally kill, such as farming, growing crops to provide and serve people, you have to use pesticides, and cleaning must harm ants, so Buddhists must do to avoid the crime of murder. From humans to all animals in this world, which exists in a relative cause-and-effect bridge, the wise person will minimize killing and live a peaceful and happy life.

In short, killing and its consequences were included in the first of the five precepts by the Buddha. That is, the Buddha once saw the immeasurable consequences of killing living beings. And today too, scientists prove the health effects of eating animal meat as well as environmental pollution from slaughterhouses.

With Buddhism always attaching importance to the lives of all beings as equal, including humans or animals, the angle of killing is cruel. Each of you, and all sentient beings with feelings and sensations, are greedy for life, afraid of death, afraid of pain, afraid of suffering. They also feel fear, pain, and anger when their lives are taken. But due to the need to eat, to eat delicious food, to eat strangely, it has covered up intelligence, making you cruel.

Therefore, being aware of the suffering caused by killing, you should learn to follow great compassion to protect the lives of everyone and all species, so as not to suffer the retribution of premature death. Parents should advise their children not to intentionally kill, and when grown up to know how to choose the right profession so as not to harm people and animals.

On the contrary, you should not kill but also release life to help people and save things. Expanding kindness, encouraging and admonishing each other to limit killing and harming animals, and calling on everyone to fast for at least a few days a month. By doing so, the world will be less war and terrorism will not happen, and everyone will live happily and peacefully.

When you kill a life, it is the person who is killed that hatred increases, hatred accumulates forever, until there is an opportunity to take revenge immediately. The Buddha in the past saw that this world was a long chain of interdependence, so with infinite compassion, the Buddha established the precepts not to allow cultivators to kill even in their minds. Household people minimize the killing of animals until they fully keep the precept not to kill.

- All sentient beings do not commit the karma of killing

The world's ten directions end the war

People who follow Buddhism practice benevolence

Enjoy the peace together.

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