宣化上人開示錄(五)　Venerable Master Hua's Talks on Dharma Volume Five

	宣化上人開示錄(五) Venerable Master Hua's Talks on Dharma Volume Five
	^上宣^下化老和尚開示 Lectures by the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua	│上一頁│目錄│下一頁│

吃肉即是人吃人

Eating Meat Is Equivalent to Eating People

試聽夜半屠場裏，豬嚎、羊哭、牛哭，
求救命的聲音，你就知道戰爭的劫運是從何處來的了。

Stand outside a slaughterhouse at midnight. Listen to the pigs, sheep, and cows bleating and wailing,
begging for their lives. Then, you'll know where war comes from.

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 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.

從古以來我們人都願意犧牲他人，來利益自己；甘願殺他人的生命，來滋補自己的生命。這樣生生世世彼此互相殘殺，互相食噉，所以這碗肉羹的冤恨深似海。因為一切眾生都是好生惡死，可是人用強制的手段，殘殺其他弱小的生命，所以牠們死前這個瞋恨心是很重的，在牠心意識裏充滿了瞋恨，而想要報復，這種仇恨的思想是沒有法子填平的。		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戰爭的劫運，試聽一聽半夜屠場裏，豬嚎、羊哭、牛哭，求救命的聲音，你就知道刀兵劫是從何處來的。好像以前南北越互相殘殺，現在阿根廷與英國互相轟擊，這就是因為殺生太重了，所以有這種用飛機、大砲、飛彈互相毀滅的情形。又說：		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:

肉字裏邊兩個人，裏邊罩著外邊人；眾生還吃眾生肉，仔細思量人吃人。		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?

中國這個「肉」字，是個口字張開，裏邊有一個人，外邊又有一個人等著。外邊的人想進去，但還沒進去；裏邊的人想出來，但出不來，因為與上邊這個人黏住了，所以不能跑出這個死框。這個「肉」字，就是一個被吃的人和一個吃肉的人。吃肉的人在外邊，還是個人；被吃的人已經變成畜生了，而且又被卡住，不上不下，好像被困住了，雖然口是開著的，但有個人在外邊堵住，所以出不去這個框框。這個框框或者是個羊圈，或者豬圈，或者牛圈。被吃的人就住在裏頭，外邊有個人管著不准他出來。為什麼不准他出來？就因為要吃他的肉。		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.

所以這吃肉的人與被吃的人就有一種關係，互相罩著，解不開冤結了。我們人是眾生，所吃的肉也是眾生，無論什麼動物，牛、羊、馬、雞、犬、豬等，都是眾生之一。有人就說：「這些眾生是天生來給人吃的。」那麼如果說，動物是預備給人吃的，那人又是預備給誰吃的呢？所以天生的物質，不一定是給人吃的。只是人弱肉強食，人比其他動物高明，就想吃其他動物的肉。		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.

這種吃肉的關係，你想一想，這是人吃人啊！既然是人吃人，你應該想想這個被吃的人（已經變成牛、羊、馬、豬身）和我有沒有關係？在《楞嚴經》上說：「羊復為人。」既然羊又可以變還為人，其他的動物也可以復還為人，只是牠們換換衣服，改頭換面，我們人就不認識牠們了。你有沒有想到，這些豬牛羊就是自己的朋友、親戚、六親眷屬，這是往遠的來說。若再往更近的說，說不定牠們就是自己前生的父母，或者今生的父母，或者是無始劫至今的父母。你能這樣一想，吃自己父母親的肉，這多不孝啊！		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!

所以仔細思量是人吃人，人吃豬，豬變人；由豬變的人，復還吃由人變成的豬。就這樣輾轉互相還報食噉，所以仇恨越來越深；仇恨越深，就越要吃。好吃好東西，這裏頭都有一股冤業牽著，令你歡喜犧牲其他的生命，來滋補自己的生命。		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，我現在舉出一個公案：中國在梁武帝時，佛教非常興盛，當時如果誰家有紅白喜事，都請和尚來念吉祥經、吉祥咒。當時有位誌公祖師，有一次，有個富有的人家辦喜事，就請誌公祖師來為他們念經祈福。誌公祖師是明眼善知識，能知人的前因後果，他去到那裏一看，就說了：		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！孫子娶祖母；女食母之肉，子打父皮鼓；豬羊炕上坐，六親鍋裏煮；眾人來賀喜，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.

誌公祖師說，真是古怪得很啊！什麼事古怪呢？孫子娶祖母。當這孫子一出生的時候，他的祖母就有病了，一直到臨終時，她還掛念著孫子，恐怕沒有人照顧他，將來誰幫助他成家立業呢？因此當她嚥下最後一口氣時，手還拉著孫兒的手，戀戀不捨地死去了。		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.

到了陰間，見到閻羅王，她就痛哭流涕地哀求，說：「閻羅王啊！請你做一點好事啦！我世間的孫兒沒有人照顧，請你讓我回去照顧他好嗎？」閻羅王慈悲為懷，答應她的請求，說：「好的！妳可以回去照顧他。妳本來是他的祖母，現在妳就回去做他的太太吧！」祖母業不由己，就又投胎到陽世做個女孩子，長大後就和她的孫兒結婚。只是改頭換面，穿另一件衣服，大家就都不認識了。但是誌公祖師認識，所以說：「古古怪！怪怪古！孫子娶祖母。」		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."

誌公祖師又見到一個小女孩正啃著豬蹄，他就說：「女食母之肉。」這女孩的母親造了很重的罪業，所以托生變成豬了，現在被人屠宰做了美食，所以小女孩吃她母親的肉。又看見院子裏有個男孩子正高興地拍打驢皮鼓，誌公祖師就說了：「子打父皮鼓。」男孩的父親也因為造罪，托生為驢，死後被人剝了皮做鼓。可是這小男孩不知是他父親的皮做成的鼓，只會歡喜地玩耍打鼓。		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.

誌公祖師又往炕上一望，全都是往昔被吃的豬牛羊，而今轉變為人，互為親戚。在鍋裏所煮的肉類，卻是六親眷屬啊！所以誌公祖師說：「你們大家到這裏都說大喜大喜，恭喜主人娶媳婦，其實我看這真是苦啊！」人人在輪迴裏互相還報，互相殘殺，互相食噉，真是苦不可言！從古以來，你若不吃牠的肉，牠就不會吃你的肉。有人說：「法師你講的話，我怎麼樣也不相信。」你不相信，我也沒有辦法，那你就儘管去試一試囉！		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開示於萬佛聖城		A talk given on May 30, 1982 at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas

法界佛教總會 ‧ DRBA ／ BTTS ／ DRBU

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