“The horror of slaughter happens daily to animals. Everyday, as soon as sunrise, knife wielding butchers loom over livestock while hunters prowl the land.”
FOREWORD BY UPASAKA ZHOU AN SHI:
Whenever slaughter and death comes calling, it is always a pitiful scene. A
human being may not meet violence or conflict for tens of years or even hundreds of years. However, the horror of slaughter happens daily to animals. Everyday, as soon as sunrise, knife wielding butchers loom over livestock while hunters prowl the land.Even though animals cry out for help, their efforts are always in vain. These rakshasas masked as humans repeatedly disembowel and boil, inflicting great pain and suffering on animals of all kinds. It takes only a short span of time for hundreds of millions of animals to lose their lives.
As animals have no recourse against the never-ending slaughter, they must silently swallow their grievances. This leads to a dismal atmosphere of mounting evil karma. Eventually, as the evil karma of killing accumulates to the limit, demon kings will descend into the human realm as a response.
The Zen Master Ci Shou once said: “As a result of the sin of animal slaughter, violence and wars will break out. Those who have taken life will in turn lose their lives. Those who have maliciously refused to repay their debts will lose their homes in the chaos. Furthermore, those who have destroyed burrows and nests will have their family members scattered. Each sin will result in the appropriate retribution. Thus, do not fail to heed the Buddha’s words.”
Therefore, violence and wars are caused by the evil karma of killing. If we are faced with impending violence or conflict, the only recourse is to abstain from killing. The merits from such abstinence is the most potent and materializes speedily. Other good deeds cannot match it.
Thus, I have composed this scroll of questions and answers regarding
non-violence. I wish to answer people’s doubts regarding this matter and convince everyone to abstain from killing animals. Furthermore, I hope everyone will recite Namo Amitabha and dedicate the resulting merits to the souls of the animals we have killed in the past. We should never again kill. Moreover, we should give rise to the heart of Great Compassion and vow to exercise great forbearance. Henceforth, we should not dare to kill even the smallest creature. I vow that if you do as instructed but are unable to avoid conflict and violence, the Celestial Dragons and Vajra Dharma Protectors may have my head !— Upasaka Zhou An Shi
VBS Magazine is also doing a series on my translation:
