吃肉等于吃毒

　　Eating Meat Is Equivalent to Taking Poison

　　畜生被殺，臨死之前，從性情中湧出的怨恨、仇憤，生出一種毒。

　　When animals are killed, the hatred they feel produces a kind of poison.

　　一切衆生肉裏都有一種毒，這種毒不是一朝一夕積成的，也不是一生一世才有的，是生生世世累積而成的。

　　All animal flesh contains a kind of poison. This poison did not come into being in a single day, or even in one lifetime. It has been accumulating over many lifetimes.

　　人與人之間互相殘殺，醞釀出一種不能泯滅的怨毒。殺畜生時，畜生在心中也存一種怨毒。它臨死時，心裏就生出恐怖、仇恨、報複的心，這種從性情中湧出的怨恨、仇憤，就生出一種毒。

　　People have been murdering one another and brewing up a poisonous enmity which cannot be blotted out. When animals are killed, they harbor a deep grudge. Right before they die, their hearts are filled with terror, hatred, and vengefulness. The hatred they feel produces a kind of poison.

　　所以人吃衆生肉，就是在吃毒呢！吃的當時不覺得有害，但久而久之就無藥可醫，生出種種奇怪不治之症。在這個時代，世界上到處冤氣沖天，比原子彈還毒，這種毒是無形無相，可是會令人同歸于盡的。

　　When people eat animal flesh, they are really eating poison! Although they do not realize the harm at the time, eventually they develop all kinds of strange and incurable diseases. This hateful energy reaches to the heavens. It is a greater threat than the atomic bomb, for it cannot be seen, but it can wipe out the human race.

　　千百年來碗裏羹，

　　冤深似海恨難平；

　　欲知世上刀兵劫，

　　試聽屠門夜半聲。

　　For hundreds of thousands of years, the stew in the pot

　　Has boiled up a resentment very hard to dispel.

　　If you want to know why there are calamities and wars in the world,

　　Just listen to the sounds from a slaughterhouse at midnight.

　　古人說這首偈頌，是有因緣、有根據的，我們要徹底了解這種道理，才能把疾病治好。

　　This author from ancient times had a valid reason for writing the above verse. We must thoroughly understand the principle in it before we can cure our illnesses.

　　一九八二年十月七日開示

　　A talk given on October 7, 1982