廬山蓮宗寶鑑 1.69

1.69

卵胎濕化、飛走蟲魚，皆未來諸佛之流。或過去多生父母，至於顒顒怖死、汲汲貧生，避苦而樂其身，此情一等；求安而養其命，斯理萬均，何乃聲哀哀而牽上刀砧、眼盻盻而驅就死地？或張羅亘野、布網連山，火逐嶺以高低、煙隨處而疎密，疾電之鷹爭舉、追風之馬競前，猿覩箭以魂飛、雁看弓而膽落，解頭陷腦之酸難抵、洞胸徹骨之痛奚禁。況斯等共稟五行、俱含四象，同沾佛性、共有神明，何乃陳此肉山、樹茲炮烙，充其口腹、美彼心肝？殊不知斷其命者是出佛身之血，食其肉者寧非父母之身？造殺害之深尤、斷慈悲之種性，生前福壽暗裏消磨、死後沈淪刀山劍樹，還作雞猪魚兔，次第填償；至於宰割烹炮，因果相似。諦觀食肉，可謂寒心，縱售易於屠門，亦難逃於重罪，菩薩寧當破骨，終不食噉眾生，是以白兔焚身而仙人不顧也。草尚不拔，肉豈容甞？還彼庖厨，有聞聲不忍之訓。養他出賣，同口殺心食之尤。大聖垂慈，所以制戒永斷殺生，其德大也。修淨土人故當持守，可謂不貪香餌味，始是碧潭龍。

Those born from eggs, from wombs, from moisture, and by transformation—birds, beasts, insects, and fish—are all the future peers of Buddhas, or parents from many past lives. In looking up in terror at death and anxiously grasping for life, in avoiding suffering and delighting their bodies, this sentiment is identical; in seeking ease and sustaining their lives, this principle weighs ten thousand catties. Why then, amid their mournful cries, are they dragged onto the knife and chopping block, and with eyes staring in dread, driven to the place of death? Or nets are spread across the wilderness, and snares connected over mountains; fire pursues the ridges high and low, and smoke follows every place dense and sparse; hawks fast as lightning vie to rise, and horses chasing the wind race ahead; apes see the arrow and their spirits fly, while wild geese look at the bow and their courage collapses; the bitterness of severing heads and breaking skulls is hard to endure, and the pain of piercing the chest through to the bone—how could it be borne? Moreover, these creatures together receive the five elements and equally contain the four symbols; they partake in the Buddha-nature alike and share in spiritual illumination. Why then pile up these mountains of meat, or erect these roasting irons, merely to satisfy the gullet and belly, and delight the palate? Little do people know that severing their lives is shedding the blood of a Buddha's body, and eating their flesh—is that not the body of one's parents? Committing the deep transgression of slaughter cuts off the lineage of compassion: in life, one's fortune and longevity are secretly eroded away; after death, one sinks onto the mountain of knives and tree of swords, turning back into chickens, pigs, fish, and hares to repay the debts in turn. As for being butchered, boiled, and roasted, cause and effect mirror one another. Looking carefully upon the eating of meat, it may indeed make the heart run cold: even if purchased at the butcher's stall, one can hardly escape grave guilt. Bodhisattvas would rather break their bones than ever eat living beings; thus the white hare burnt its body while the rishi did not turn to look. If one does not even pull up blade of grass, how could meat be tasted? In returning to the kitchen, there is the teaching of not bearing to hear their cries. Raising them to sell is identical to the fault of killing with the mouth and eating with the heart. The Great Sage bestowed his compassion, which is why he established the precept to sever killing forever; its virtue is great indeed. Those who cultivate the Pure Land must certainly uphold it. It may indeed be said: 'Not coveting the taste of fragrant bait— / Only then is it a dragon of the emerald deep.'