I talked to two generals yesterday. I don't know whether these two generals had killed people before, but they had definitely killed many pigs and eaten a lot of pork. I told them, “There are two people in the Chinese character ‘meat’. The radical‘mouth’in that character is open, so both people go right in. One person digs into the mouth and can't get out while the other person is half-way in.” Look at that character “meat”, does it have a radical “person” halfway in the mouth and half out? The other person in the mouth escapes from the bottom, but it's difficult to escape. The one on top can't escape. What is this all about? The reason is that one “person” is the meat-eater, and the other “person” is the one being eaten.

Don't think that a pig is but a pig. That pig is reborn as a pig because it is always interested in getting the better end of the bargain. Being gluttonous and lazy, it eats then sleeps, doing nothing. When it was a human, it used to be gluttonous and lazy. So what happened? He was a con artist who cheated money out of people. When he had tricked people so much, he had to repay his debt with his flesh. That's why he became a pig. People will cut off his flesh slice by slice. That's why in the Chinese character “meat” there is a meat-eater and the one whose meat is being eaten. These two individuals had come into contact, become friends, and started a shareholding company.

The person inside is attached to the person outside. The person inside will grab the hand of the person outside. Hand in hand, they head to the hells. They will not be heading to the West, but to the hells. They think it's fun in the hells. “When we get there, we'll climb the mountain of knives for everyone to see! Let's see how the pot full of oil will fry too!” You say, “That sure is heroic!” They say, “I can be even more heroic. I dare to go anywhere. I dare to embrace blistering hot metal poles too.” They will even pretend to be strong and competitive. In short, the one inside is connected to the person outside.

Living beings eat the flesh of living beings. Humans are one type of living beings. Since we're more evolved and wiser than beasts, humans eat other beasts. Among animals, tigers eat humans too because they're powerful and dare to swallow people into their stomachs. This is a lesson on Dharma. If you eat animals, animals will eat you. Tigers manifest to speak Dharma.

If we think about it carefully, it's people eating people. Good Advisors who are senior, middle-aged, or junior. . .as I had said at the start, you are either a good advisor, a bad advisor, or a neither good nor bad advisor. The Good Advisor understands cause and effect fully, so he dares not borrow any more loans and dip into his account. That's why he is a vegetarian who recites the name of the Buddha. The neither good nor bad advisor doesn't know that he will have to undergo retribution in the future. You could consider them good advisors, but they would still have a bit of jealousy and obstructive tendencies. They're jealous, but not completely jealous, of those who are better than they. They're a bit good and a bit evil; they're neither completely good nor completely evil.

Some are bad advisors. He will not believe in anything you say. Out of compassion, you try your best to speak until your lips become parched and you become thirsty, but he still refuses to listen to you. He thinks, “You may trick others with that act of yours, but you can't fool me.” This is a bad advisor. He thinks that people are trying to deceive him when they tell him some true principles. When the bad advisor experiences retribution in the future, he still will not know to change or repent. He will see the pot of oil already prepared for him in the hells and with eyes wide open exclaim, “How come I had to come here?”

One could also say that the bad advisor didn't encounter a clear-eyed good advisor. The disciples that a clear-eyed good advisor accepts are afraid of cause and effect, so they will not plummet into the hells. They have deep faith in the moral law of cause and effect. They read and recite the Mahayana scriptures. Bad advisors also have some disciples and a following. Here's a few words describing such bad advisors. “The confused one teaches to the confused. / One propagates his teaching so that two end up ignorant.” The teacher is muddled and confused, but teaches his students anyway. His students don't know any better; they don't understand either. Why don't his students understand? It's because the teacher is ignorant. The teachers tells them: “Go think of a way to steal some money for us to use.” This disciple will listen to his teacher and try to steal at every place he can. When he has stolen lots of money, he and his teacher spend it for themselves as they wish. “One person propagates his teaching so that two end up ignorant.” Since this disciple has done bad deeds, the teacher has to be responsible, so the teacher will also fall into the hells. When the teacher falls into the hells, the disciple is nervous, “Teacher, teacher, don't go on ahead of me. Let me run after you.” Like a pig whose snout bumps against the ground, he refuses to give up and forces himself into the hells through the gate that is about to shut.

The confused one teaches to the confused:
One propagates his teaching so that two end up ignorant.
The teacher plunges into the hells
While the disciple follows right along.

Whose fault would you say this is? Who told them to go into the hells? “There may be excuses for gods who have committed offenses, but you will not live if you commit offenses!” You have made your own bed, and now you must lie in it.

When Tao Yuanming saw how government officials in his country also played politics and dreamt of fortune, and how much trouble it all was, he wrote an essay called, “The Return.” The essay says, “I am going home! My fields and gardens are choked with weeds. Why should I not return? My mind has been my body's slave. But why should I remain melancholy?”

He said, “I should go back and start anew. I will teach and transform living beings.” To return could be to return to the Land of Western Bliss and then back to the Saha World riding on compassion. You can explain it that way. He said that his fields and his garden have been neglected, which is referring to our practice on the mind's ground. The brightness of our wisdom has been covered by ignorance, like weeds in our mind. Why not return? What are you waiting for? Now that we have turned toward good and changed our evil ways, this is a good time to change and start anew. We should go to the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss. Why? He said that “My mind has been my body's slave”; it only slaves away for this stinking skin bag. “But why should I remain melancholy?” Don't have any more regrets and be sad on your own. Don't be like scholars who don’t work hard while young and robust, but can only be sorry in old age. What's the use of being depressed? Don't be sad. “I'm aware that in the past I did not rebuke myself for my mistakes. Yet, I know that in the future I can still redeem myself.” I have realized now that I didn't admonish myself well. However, I know that there’s still enough time for me to change and reform. I can still correct my mistakes and become good. I haven't lost the opportunity to return to the Land of Ultimate Bliss. “Although I've actually not been off the path of confusion very long, I've awakened to today's rights and yesterday's wrongs.” This is also what the ancients said, “At the age of 50, one recognizes that one has been wrong for 49 years.” The inscription on Tang's basin is, “Renew today, renew tomorrow, and renew again the day after.” Emperor Tang of the Shang Dynasty had these words on his bathtub. They said, “I will bathe every day. I make offerings to God only after having bathed, having maintained a vegetarian diet and the precepts for a while. I will bathe today, bathe tomorrow, and bathe the day after.” To bathe is not only about washing away the dirt outside, but in the mind too. He rinses the offenses of his mind clean. He further added that, “I, Lyu, am a lowly person who dares to offer a black bull and report to the Lord of Heaven. If I have faults, do not blame the people. If the people have faults, then I should bear the responsbility for them.”

During the Shang Dynasty, Emperor Tang said, “I alone am responsible for offenses. Don't place the blame on my citizens so that they suffer. If my citizens were to commit any offenses, then I am responsible. I didn't teach my people well. I should shoulder the consequences for their mistakes. They only erred because I didn't teach them well. I hope that God, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, Jesus, Mohammad, all sages, spirits of heaven and earth. . .may you not strike my countrymen with natural disaster and other accidents. Sage-rulers in the past all looked inward and reflected in this manner. That's why no one in the world fought during the eras of Emperors Yao and Shun. Everyone fulfilled his role and took care of his own duties. People nowadays should also follow the traditions and virtues of past sages.

We should also avoid contention. Anything you fight for isn't yours—that's equivalent to something you've robbed. Hence the ancient sages and national rulers only conceded rather than contended. If we ordinary citizens stop fighting and beat swords into ploughshares, then the nation will naturally be peaceful and happy. The country remains if virtue exists and perishes if no virtue exists. You may want to win a battle, but you will lose if you lack sufficient virtue.

That's why those of you who are learning Buddhism should encourage noncontention in this world. If you don't fight and everyone is friendly, then families will help each other rather than contend, nations will be each other's perspicacious leaders. Once you want to fight and battle, you will want to prepare missiles, silos, etc.

To be continued