【你問我答Round 1】Part 2/3
Me leading my mum to recite the Deliverance Mantra before our lunch.
Once a serial entrepreneur, my mum is an extremely smart woman, but likes to play dumb when it comes to mantra recitation.
I say I will only come out for meals with her, if she recites the mantra.
She says she can only do it when I recite with her. (I have been doing that with her for years, and she still says she can't remember, but has no problem recalling the top 3 prizes for 4D in the last month... #facepalm)
#sillytrivia
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Answering the second question from my AMA, Ask Me Anything, in my Saturday's post.
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【我們的身體是祭壇】
QUESTION 2: from Tay Yeng Hwee
"Morning Ji Qian, does eating meat gives us more sin? What do you recommend meat eaters to do (other than giving up meat)?"
My answer:
往生淨土、超生出苦
南無阿彌陀佛
南無阿彌陀佛
南無阿彌陀佛
This is the 往生短咒, Short Mantra for Rebirth to Pureland.
Recite it for 7 times before every meal and dedicate the merits to the animals killed for your meal. This enables the animals to break free from the animal realm and eventually be reborn in the Pureland.
At the same times, this cultivates compassion, gratitude and patience in us before every meal.
Did I mention it's free too? 😁
I practise not eating 3 types of meat: 不見殺、不聞殺、不為己殺.
I abstain from consuming animals that are killed within my sight, whose dying sounds are heard by me and killed specifically for me (e.g. live seafood). Such meats are considered impure. I also do not do fishing or prawning.
Shakyamuni Buddha wasn't a vegetarian. Buddha's top 10 disciples who attained the state of Arahants weren't either. They had to eat what they are given during their alms.
Way before microscopes were invented, Buddha had said these famous words:
一杯清淨水，
八萬四千蟲，
如果不持咒，
如同殺眾生。
A glass of clean water comprises 84,000 living organisms. If a mantra isn't recited before consuming it, it carries the same sin of killing.
The practice of vegetarianism started from the Liang Dynasty, when 梁武帝 Emperor Wu passed a decree stating all members of the Sangha must practised vegetarianism. Hence, Buddhists in Chinese countries adopt the practice of vegetarianism.
Humans get to live at the expense of other beings. Otherwise, we will all die.
We eat the cells of animals, the cells of plants, the offspring of animals, the offspring of plants, as well as the milk of other animals meant for their offspring.
They perish to feed the life force in us.
When we talk about eating meat, it should not be limited to only animals we see with our naked eyes, like ducks, pigs, cows and fishes.
That would be too narrow-minded and simplistic.
As we expand our view of the universe, we will see that anything that can grow and has life is a living thing. Taking away its ability to live is killing. Why shouldn't that include vegetables and tiny-weeny bacteria too?
Should one life be more valued than another, based on size?
Yet, no matter how minuscule a life is, every life has a Buddha nature in it.
When we fall sick, we consume medication to kill the bad bacteria in us.
When we bath, we wash away bacteria with anti-bacterial soap.
When we plough the soil to grow our crops, we trample on worms and bugs, and use pesticides to kill anything that threaten our harvest.
Man injects hormones into animals and modifies the genetics of plants to have them grow in a manner we fancy. That is manipulative killing.
Countless animal testing are done to invent new medication and formulate the daily products we used.
Can we eat less medication? (More hospitals are being built.)
Can we buy less products? (More malls are opening in the real world and virtual world.)
Even plastic straws kill lives.
From a universe's viewpoint, nothing is truly meat-free and sin-free.
When a vegetarian consumes vegetables and gluten deliberately made in the form and texture of animal meat, the thought of eating animals is still prevalent. That does not mean less killing.
Our bodies is a sacrificial altar, a collective life force built from all these animals, plants and micro-organisms that died.
Hence, when we do not use our bodies for the collective good of all living beings, but only living for ourselves, that is the greatest sin of all.
The cells of the food we consume continue to grow inside us. When we recite Buddhist mantras/sutras, we are nourishing the cells with powerful positive energies, and transforming the "meat" (葷) nature into a "vegetarian" （素) nature.
(Ever heard of the Hidden Messages in Water by Dr Masaru Emoto?)
As we eradicate our negative karma with every recitation, the animals and organisms also get their negative karma purified.
冥陽兩利、利己利他、共同成就。
One can definitely opt to be a vegetarian, if he believes that means less suffering for the animals. Some Bazi are also more inclined to be vegetarians. Excessive consumption of meat can also lead to health issues.
But like what Buddha expounded, if a deliverance mantra isn't recited before the meal, that does not negate the sin of killing.
Yeng Hwee's religious affinity definitely lies in Buddhism, and not Western religions.
Don't be like my mum. I hope Yeng Hwee gets to start early, so that the merits he accumulated will not only help him and his ancestors, but also be passed on to his children (if there is enough...).
#BESTinheritanceEVER #祖先有德 #後代昌盛
Thank you for your belief in me to ask this question, Yeng Hwee. 🙏
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