度衆生勿吃肉

　　To Save Living Beings, Stop Eating Meat

　　人若禁食哪一類衆生，就是度那一類衆生。

　　When you refrain from eating a certain species of living being, you are taking that species across.

　　衆生乃衆緣和合而成，從十二因緣演變而成人。螞蟻乃至細菌皆是衆生，我們不用往外找衆生，人自性中已有無量衆生。現在科學發達，已經證明人體內有很多細菌和微生物，我們的五髒六腑中都有無量的衆生。人吃的食物也是衆生，譬如豬肉、牛肉、魚類等，這些肉類中有很多細菌，人吃這些肉類，肚子裏就有了這些細菌的種子。

　　Living beings are born under a combination of conditions. When the cycle of twelve conditioned causes runs its course, people come into being. Ants and microbes are also living beings. We don”t need to look outside, for there are innumerable living beings right within our own natures. Modern science has confirmed the existence of countless germs and microorganisms in the human body. The pork, beef, and fish that people eat also comes from living beings. Meat contains many germs, and the seeds of these germs remain in the stomachs of people who eat meat.

　　吃哪一類衆生較多，就和它成爲眷屬，與它的因緣就加深，乃至糾纏不清不能分離。豬肉吃多了，就有機會生爲豬；牛肉吃多了，就生爲牛。那多吃米，是否也會變米呢？米是無情，而衆生是有情。如果啖食有情衆生，就會生爲有情衆生。人若禁食哪一類衆生，就是度那一類衆生。「度」，就是度過苦海，登涅槃彼岸。人如果明白這個道理，就不應該吃衆生肉。

　　When you eat a lot of the flesh of a particular kind of living being, you deepen your affinities with it and become inextricably related to it. If you eat a lot of pork and ham, you may be reborn as a pig. If you eat a lot of beef, you may be reborn as a cow. But if you eat a lot of rice, will you turn into rice

　　 No, since rice is insentient. If you eat sentient beings, you will be reborn among them. But if you eat insentient things, you can nurture your Dharma-body and wisdom-life. When you refrain from eating a certain species of living being, you are taking that species across. That is, you are taking them across the sea of suffering to reach the other shore of Nirvana. People who understand this should not eat the flesh of living beings.

　　從前有一個吃肉的人，死後到閻羅王那裏，他生前吃過的肉類衆生，都要來跟他算賬，這個吃肉的人還自我辯護：「我雖然吃肉，但罪不應該歸我，應歸咎于賣肉的人。」于是閻羅王傳召肉販，這肉販也自辯：「我所以賣肉，都是因爲有人買肉。如果沒人買肉，我又何必賣肉呢？」肉販和吃肉的就互相爭論，後來兩個人把責任推在屠夫身上。

　　Once upon a time, a man who ate meat went before King Yama after he died. All the living beings whose flesh he had eaten in his life went to settle their accounts with him. The meat-eater defended himself. “Although I was the one who ate the meat, I”m not to blame. The meat-vendor is the guilty one.” King Yama sent for the meat-vendor, who argued, “I sell meat only because people want to buy it. If there was no demand for it, there would be no reason for me to sell it.” And so the meat-vendor and the meat-eater quarrelled with each other, and they ended up blaming the butcher.

　　于是閻羅王又召見屠夫，屠夫也自辯說：「我確實是宰豬，但是因爲有人買，有人吃肉，我才會屠宰；如果無人買，無人吃，我也不會宰了！」就這麼各說各的道理，所說的盡是造罪業的道理。結果，閻羅王仍然判吃肉的人償還血債。

　　When King Yama called in the butcher, he said, “I slaughter pigs, it”s true, but I do it only because people buy it and eat it. If no one bought or ate meat, I would never kill them.” Each of them presented their own arguments to justify their offenses. In the end, King Yama still judged that the meat-eater should pay his debt of blood.

　　可見我們吃哪那一類衆生，就與那一類衆生結下不解之冤，所謂

　　From this story, we can see that whenever we consume the flesh of any species of living being, we create a bond of enmity with that species which cannot be dissolved.

　　肉字裏邊兩個人，

　　裏邊罩著外邊人；

　　衆生還吃衆生肉，

　　仔細思量人吃人。

　　In the Chinese character for “meat”(肉)，

　　there are two people(人)；

　　The one inside has been caught by the one outside.

　　So when living beings eat the flesh of other living beings,

　　Stop to think about it: Aren”t they just people eating people

　　《楞嚴經》中也說：「羊死爲人」，羊既然可以爲人，豬牛也可爲人，可是未得天眼通，不能觀察其因緣，就以爲豬是豬，羊是羊。人多吃衆生肉，把本有的自性都埋沒了，失去了靈性，變得更愚癡。所以想要度衆生，先應戒食衆生肉。欲度衆生，先度自性衆生，但是度生還要離相，無所執著，方爲真度。

　　A passage in the Shurangama Sutra explains how sheep can be reborn as people. If sheep can become people, so can pigs and cows. If you haven”t opened the Celestial Eye, you cannot see these things and you think pigs are just pigs and sheep are just sheep. People who eat a lot of meat are really smothering their own natures, losing their souls, and making themselves stupid. If you want to save living beings, you must first stop eating their flesh. Start by saving the living beings within your own nature. To truly save beings, you must be detached from appearances and free of attachments.

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