諸經要集 17.6

17.6

Alcohol is the gateway to negligence; the Great Sage knew it to be the root of suffering. Therefore, one should stay far away from heavy drinking and abandon conditions for alcohol, discard drunken companions and approach companions in the Dharma, exit the gate of darkness, and enter the realm of clarity. Meat cuts off the seed of great compassion; the Great Sage knew it to be the cause of killing. Therefore, one should cast away the fishy and rank and purify body and speech, consume vegetables and discipline mind and spirit, invite compassion, and resonate with prolonging life. Thus the secular Book of Rites says: 'Seeing them alive, one cannot bear to see them die; hearing their cries, one cannot bear to eat their meat.' This is also the principle of not killing. If one eats meat and drinks alcohol, one is no different from beasts, jackals, and wolves, birds and beasts; it is also tantamount to killing all of one's relatives, eating one's kinsmen, and retaliating against enemies, endlessly through kalpas and long nights without limit. As the Vibhāṣā-śāstra states: There was a woman who harmed a wolf's cub for five hundred lifetimes, and the wolf's cub also harmed her child for five hundred lifetimes. There was also a woman who severed a ghost's life-faculty for five hundred lifetimes, and the ghost also severed her life-faculty for five hundred lifetimes. Thus we know that wandering through the six realms, one undergoes all manner of enmity and retribution. They may have been one's teachers or elders, or parents, or brothers, or sisters, or children and grandchildren, or friends. Now, in ordinary mortal bodies, lacking the Dharma-eye, we cannot distinguish them, and we eat each other without realizing it. At the time of eating, this creature possesses consciousness; it immediately gives rise to anger and resentment, becoming an enemy again. Flesh-and-blood dearest kin conversely turn into foes. How could one not reflect on such matters? For a momentary quarrel on the tip of the tongue and a fleeting small taste, to become an adversary of enmity and kinship forever—this is truly heart-rending, difficult to express in words. Therefore, the Nirvāṇa-sūtra says: 'All meat must be abstained from; even [meat from animals] that died of themselves must still be abstained from, let alone that which did not die of itself.' Furthermore, the Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra states: 'Killing sentient beings for profit, netting various meats with wealth: both karmas are unwholesome, and at death, one falls into the Raurava Hell.' What does it mean to net meat for profit? Setting nets and snares on land and setting nets and traps in water—this is netting meat for profit. What does it mean to net meat with wealth? If one buys meat with money from a slaughterer—this is netting meat with wealth. If this person today did not net meat with wealth, [the slaughterer], practicing evil rules of conduct, capturing and harming sentient beings—would this person only provide for his own mouth, or would there also be other purposes? If there are other purposes, does the person who consumes meat earlier not have a share in the killing? How can one say, 'I do not kill living beings'? This clearly contradicts the sūtra texts, cuts off the seed of great compassion, and creates an obstacle to seeing the Buddha.