VO: During a December 2018 lecture in Taiwan, also known as Formosa, Supreme Master Ching Hai read an excerpt from Lord Buddha’s Surangama Sutra about killing and meat-eating.
“Further, Ananda, if living beings in the six paths of any mundane world have no thoughts of killing, they would not have to follow a continuous succession of births and deaths.” If you don’t kill, you will not die or be reborn again and suffering old age, and sickness, and separation, and sorrow, and all kinds of pain.
“Your basic purpose of cultivating samadhi is to transcend the wearisome defilements. BUT IF YOU DO NOT RENOUNCE YOUR THOUGHTS OF KILLING, YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO GET OUT OF THE DUST.” Samsara, this world’s dust; meaning thrown in again and again in the dust and carrying this dusty body, which is made of dust. Buddha said it like that, meaning you can never get out of the physical existence.
So, “Even though one may have some wisdom and manifestation of Chan samadhi,” if you meditate, you have some wisdom come out of it and some samadhi. But, “IF ONE DOES NOT CEASE KILLING, ONE IS CERTAIN TO ENTER THE PATH OF SPIRITS,” meaning a kind of ghost, and deva, demon, low deva, not Buddha, not Bodhisattva, not Sainthood.
So, He said further, “AT BEST,” meaning the best for you even ever, that, “A PERSON WILL BECOME A MIGHTY GHOST.”
“If on the average, one will become a flying yaksa.” Meaning a ghost leader or a kind, just a ghost.
“At the lowest level, one will become an earth-bound raksasa (goblin).” There are different kinds of ghosts; they’re all ghosts. Now you know why the Buddha, the World Honored One, the Enlightened Master, He said that. If you don’t cease killing, meat-eating, blood-drinking, then you will become a ghost, mighty ghost even, but nothing else. Right. So, beware. Five Precepts, no lying, no killing.
“These ghosts and spirits have their groups of disciples. Each says of himself that he has accomplished the Unsurpassed Way. After my extinction,” meaning the Buddha’s nirvana, “in the Dharma-ending Age, these hordes of ghosts and spirits will abound, spreading like wildfire, as they argue that eating meat will bring one to the Bodhi Way.” They argue, these ghosts and spirits. They say if you eat meat, you will go on the Bodhi Way, meaning you will go in the Buddha’s direction, means, you will become the Buddha. My God, what nonsense. How can anybody believe that? But somebody does, obviously.
So, the Buddha said, “Therefore, Ananda, if cultivators of Chan samadhi,” means the meditation the way you do, “do not cut off killing, they are the ones who stuff up their ears and call out in a loud voice, expecting no one to hear them. It is to wish to hide what is completely evident.” To say it is very illogical that you eat meat and you will become Buddha. How can you kill someone and live, I mean, eternally? That’s what Buddha means. It’s not reasonable, not logical.
So, “Bodhisattvas and bhiksus,” meaning monks, “who practice purity will not even step on grass in the pathway; even less will they pull it up with their hand. HOW CAN ONE WITH GREAT COMPASSION PICK UP THE FLESH AND BLOOD OF LIVING, MOVING BEINGS AND PROCEED TO EAT IT TO HIS FILL?” Now, this is the part where I told you that Buddha was a vegan.
He said, “Bhiksus,” meaning monks, monks and nuns. “THE BHIKSUS WHO DO NOT WEAR SILK OR LEATHER BOOTS OR FURS OR DOWN FROM THIS COUNTRY OR CONSUME MILK, CREAM, OR BUTTER CAN TRULY TRANSCEND THIS WORLD.” Hear that? That is talk of the Buddha. He doesn’t even drink milk. He doesn’t wear silk.
“When they have paid back their past debts, they will not have to re-enter the Triple Realm ever again.” If you don’t wear silk, if you don’t drink milk, if you don’t take cream, if you don’t wear down, if you don’t take butter, leather boots. Then you never have to enter the circle of life and death again.
“Why?” the Buddha asked, “Why? It is because when one wears something taken from a living creature, one creates conditions with it, just as when people eat the hundred grains, their feet cannot leave the earth.” Cannot leave the ground.
“BOTH PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY, ONE MUST AVOID THE BODIES AND THE BY-PRODUCTS OF LIVING BEINGS, BY NEITHER WEARING THEM NOR EATING THEM. I SAY THAT SUCH PEOPLE HAVE TRUE LIBERATION. What I have said here is the Buddha’s teaching.” He doesn’t mean only His teaching, but He means the Saints’ teachings, the holy people’s teachings, past and present for Him.
“Any explanation counter to it is the teaching of Papiyan,” meaning evil (devil).
VO: Watch and download the full lecture “The Surangama Sutra: The Four Clear and Unalterable Instructions on Purity – Refrain from Lust and Killing” at SupremeMasterTV.com
Vegan, because we want Heaven.
