千百年来碗里羹，
冤深似海恨难平；
欲知世上刀兵劫，
试听屠门夜半声。

For hundreds of thousands of years,
the stew in the pot
Has boiled up a resentment
that is very hard to level.
If you want to know why there are
calamities and wars in the world,
Just listen to the sounds that come
from a slaughterhouse at midnight.

从古以来我们人都愿意牺牲他人，来利益自己；甘愿杀他人的生命，来滋补自己的生命。这样生生世世彼此互相残杀，互相食噉，所以这碗肉羹的冤恨深似海。因为一切众生都是好生恶死，可是人用强制的手段，残杀其它弱小的生命，所以牠们死前这个瞋恨心是很重的，在牠心意识里充满了瞋恨，而想要报复，这种仇恨的思想是没有法子填平的。

From ancient times until the present, people have enjoyed benefiting themselves and sustaining their own lives by taking the lives of others. In life after life, people have been slaughtering and devouring one another. The hatred in the resulting "meat stew" is as deep as the sea. Human beings have taken the lives of the smaller and weaker creatures by force, ignoring the fact that all beings wish to live and are afraid of dying. Before those creatures die, their minds are overwhelmed by hatred and thoughts of revenge. There is no way to quell the feelings of enmity.

你想知道世界上互相战争的劫运，试听一听半夜屠场里，猪嚎、羊哭、牛哭，求救命的声音，你就知道刀兵劫是从何处来的。好像以前南北越互相残杀，现在阿根廷与英国互相轰击，这就是因为杀生太重了，所以有这种用飞机、大炮、飞弹互相毁灭的情形。又说：

Do you want to know where war comes from? Stand outside a slaughterhouse at midnight and listen to the pigs, sheep, and cows bleating and wailing, begging for their lives, and you'll understand where war comes from. For example, take the past war between North and South Vietnam, and the current war between Argentina and England. These wars arise because people have done too much killing. That's why countries annihilate each other now with planes, cannons, and missiles. A saying goes:

肉字里边两个人，
里边罩着外边人；
众生还吃众生肉，
仔细思量人吃人。

In the Chinese character for "meat"
there are two people:
The one inside has been caught
by the one outside.
When beings eat the flesh
of other beings...
Why, if one really stops to think about it,
isn't that just people eating people?

中国这个“肉”字，是个口字张开，里边有一个人，外边又有一个人等着。外边的人想进去，但还没进去；里边的人想出来，但出不来，因为与上边这个人黏住了，所以不能跑出这个死框。这个“肉”字，就是一个被吃的人和一个吃肉的人。吃肉的人在外边，还是个人；被吃的人已经变成畜生了，而且又被卡住，不上不下，好像被困住了，虽然口是开着的，但有个人在外边堵住，所以出不去这个框框。这个框框或者是个羊圈，或者猪圈，或者牛圈。被吃的人就住在里头，外边有个人管着不准他出来。为什么不准他出来？就因为要吃他的肉。

The Chinese character for "meat" 肉 is a pictogram of an open mouth 口 (a box) with two people 人, one inside and one outside. The one outside is trying to get in, and the one inside is trying to get out. He is trapped inside this pen of death by the person outside.

This character depicts one person eating the flesh of another. The one eating the meat is on the outside, still in human form, while the one being eaten is trapped inside and has already turned into an animal. Even though the mouth is open, his escape is blocked by the person outside. The box could represent a sheep pen, a pig pen, or a cattle pen. The one about to be eaten lives inside, while the person outside stands guard, because he wants to eat the flesh of the one inside.

所以这吃肉的人与被吃的人就有一种关系，互相罩着，解不开冤结了。我们人是众生，所吃的肉也是众生，无论什么动物，牛、羊、马、鸡、犬、猪等，都是众生之一。有人就说：“这些众生是天生来给人吃的。”那么如果说，动物是预备给人吃的，那人又是预备给谁吃的呢？所以天生的物质，不一定是给人吃的。只是人弱肉强食，人比其它动物高明，就想吃其它动物的肉。

Unable to extricate themselves from the bonds of enmity, the meat eater and the one being eaten follow each other like shadows. We are beings, and yet we eat the flesh of other beings, such as cows, sheep, horses, chickens, dogs, and pigs. Some people say God put these animals here for us to eat. If people are supposed to eat animals, who is supposed to eat people? Creatures, whether or not put here by God, aren't necessarily meant for human consumption. Since humans are slightly more intelligent than other animals, they prey on and devour the flesh of their weaker fellow creatures.

这种吃肉的关系，你想一想，这是人吃人啊！既然是人吃人，你应该想想这个被吃的人（已经变成牛、羊、马、猪身）和我有没有关系？在《楞严经》上说：“羊复为人。”既然羊又可以变还为人，其它的动物也可以复还为人，只是牠们换换衣服，改头换面，我们人就不认识牠们了。你有没有想到，这些猪牛羊就是自己的朋友、亲戚、六亲眷属，这是往远的来说。若再往更近的说，说不定牠们就是自己前生的父母，或者今生的父母，或者是无始劫至今的父母。你能这样一想，吃自己父母亲的肉，这多不孝啊！

If you think about what is actually happening when people eat meat, you'll see that it's really people eating people. In light of this, you ought to consider whether the person being eaten (who has already taken the form of a cow, sheep, horse, or pig) might have been related to you.

The Shurangama Sutra says, "Sheep can become people again." If sheep can turn back into people, other animals should be able to do so as well. We fail to recognize them because they have changed costumes and faces. Has it ever occurred to you that these pigs, cows, and sheep could be your old friends and relatives? In fact, they may very well have been your parents from last life, from this life, or from some life beginningless eons ago. How unfilial it would be to eat the flesh of your own parents!

所以仔细思量是人吃人，人吃猪，猪变人；由猪变的人，复还吃由人变成的猪。就这样辗转互相还报食噉，所以仇恨越来越深；仇恨越深，就越要吃。好吃好东西，这里头都有一股冤业牵着，令你欢喜牺牲其它的生命，来滋补自己的生命。

You should realize that meat-eating is really people eating people. People eat pigs, and then the people and pigs trade places and the eaters get eaten. As the cycle of vengeful devouring continues, enmity deepens and people become ever more greedy. This karmic enmity causes people to crave delicious food and drives them on to nourish themselves with the flesh of others.

你若不相信，我现在举出一个公案：中国在梁武帝时，佛教非常兴盛，当时如果谁家有红白喜事，都请和尚来念吉祥经、吉祥咒。当时有位志公祖师，有一次，有个富有的人家办喜事，就请志公祖师来为他们念经祈福。志公祖师是明眼善知识，能知人的前因后果，他去到那里一看，就说了：

If you are skeptical, let me give you an example. During the time of Emperor Wu of the Liang Dynasty, when Buddhism flourished, it was a custom for families to invite monks to recite Sutras and mantras on the occasion of weddings and funerals. One time a wealthy family asked Venerable Patriarch Zhi to recite Sutras for a wedding. Venerable Patriarch Zhi was an enlightened master who could see into the past and future. When he arrived, he looked around and said,

古古怪！怪怪古！孙子娶祖母；
女食母之肉，子打父皮鼓；
猪羊炕上坐，六亲锅里煮；
众人来贺喜，我看真是苦！

Strange indeed! Strange indeed!
The grandson marries the grandmother.
The daughter eats the mother's flesh;
The son beats a drum made with
his father's skin.
Pigs and sheep are sitting on the couch,
And the six types of relatives
are cooking in the pot.
Everyone has come to celebrate,
but I see it as real suffering.

志公祖师说，真是古怪得很啊！什么事古怪呢？孙子娶祖母。当这孙子一出生的时候，他的祖母就有病了，一直到临终时，她还挂念着孙子，恐怕没有人照顾他，将来谁帮助他成家立业呢？因此当她咽下最后一口气时，手还拉着孙儿的手，恋恋不舍地死去了。

What was so strange? The grandson was marrying the grandmother. Right before the grandmother died, she worried that no one would take care of her young grandson. Who would help him raise a family and establish his career in the future? She died holding onto her little grandson's hand.

到了阴间，见到阎罗王，她就痛哭流涕地哀求，说：“阎罗王啊！请你做一点好事啦！我世间的孙儿没有人照顾，请你让我回去照顾他好吗？”阎罗王慈悲为怀，答应她的请求，说：“好的！ 你可以回去照顾他。你本来是他的祖母，现在你就回去做他的太太吧！”祖母业不由己，就又投胎到阳世做个女孩子，长大后就和她的孙儿结婚。只是改头换面，穿另一件衣服，大家就都不认识了。但是志公祖师认识，所以说：“古古怪！怪怪古！孙子娶祖母。”

When she went before King Yama, she wept and said, "King Yama, please do me this one favor. My grandson is all alone. Won't you please let me go back to look after him?"

King Yama, who had a soft heart, said, "Okay, you can go back and be his wife!" And so the grandmother was reborn into the world as a girl, and when she grew up she married her former grandson. She had merely changed her appearance, putting on a different costume, but no one recognized whom she was. Only Venerable Patriarch Zhi recognized her, and so he said, "Strange indeed! Strange indeed! The grandson marries the grandmother."

志公祖师又见到一个小女孩正啃着猪蹄，他就说：“女食母之肉。”这女孩的母亲造了很重的罪业，所以托生变成猪了，现在被人屠宰做了美食，所以小女孩吃她母亲的肉。又看见院子里有个男孩子正高兴地拍打驴皮鼓，志公祖师就说了：“子打父皮鼓。”男孩的父亲也因为造罪，托生为驴，死后被人剥了皮做鼓。可是这小男孩不知是他父亲的皮做成的鼓，只会欢喜地玩耍打鼓。

Noticing a little girl chewing on a pig's foot, he remarked, "The daughter eats her mother's flesh." The girl's mother had been reborn as a pig because of the grave offenses she had committed. The pig had been slaughtered and used in preparing a gourmet dish, and now the little girl was eating her own mother's flesh.

Patriarch Zhi then looked in the courtyard and saw a boy happily beating on a drum stretched with mule hide. He said, "The son beats on his father's skin." The boy's father had committed offenses and had been reborn as a mule. After the mule had died, its hide had been used to make the drum. Not knowing that the drum was made from his father's skin, the boy was merrily beating on it.

志公祖师又往炕上一望，全都是往昔被吃的猪牛羊，而今转变为人，互为亲戚。在锅里所煮的肉类，却是六亲眷属啊！所以志公祖师说：“你们大家到这里都说大喜大喜，恭喜主人娶媳妇，其实我看这真是苦啊！”人人在轮回里互相还报，互相残杀，互相食噉，真是苦不可言！从古以来，你若不吃牠的肉，牠就不会吃你的肉。有人说：“法师你讲的话，我怎么样也不相信。”你不相信，我也没有办法，那你就尽管去试一试啰！

Then the Patriarch glanced over at the couch and saw that the relatives sitting there were pigs, cows, and sheep that had been eaten in the past. And the meat cooking in the pot had been the six types of close relatives in the past. And so, Patriarch Zhi said, "Everyone here thinks this is a joyous occasion and congratulates the host on getting a new daughter-in-law. But from my point of view, this is true suffering!" Everyone is caught in the cycle of birth and death, paying off debts by killing and eating one another. This is indescribable suffering. If you don't eat the flesh of others, you yourself will not be eaten. "Dharma Master," you say, "I simply can't believe you!" If you don't believe me, that's OK! Go ahead and try it out yourself !

一九八二年五月三十日开示于万佛圣城