Dear fellow practitioners, greetings to all!
The world is impermanent, bound by the cycle of cause and effect—do you yearn to discern the truth, escape suffering, and attain boundless peace? Today, guided by the profound wisdom of the Sutra of the Ten Virtuous Deeds, we explore the law of cause and effect in abstaining from killing: using right view to sever the karma of killing, cultivating virtue to establish peace, and achieving the ten freedoms from affliction. Let us awaken wisdom together and illuminate the true path!
1. Right View Dispels Delusion: The Gate of Abstaining from Killing
Right View Manifests: Ending Illness, Gaining Health
Practice begins with right view. When tainted by erroneous views, craving favorite foods leads to overeating, malnutrition, and physical and mental ailments. With right view and correct understanding, fulfilling the body’s needs brings well-being. Simply by learning, we can see the truth: killing stems from greed and anger, inviting suffering; abstaining from killing cuts off the cause, yielding a fruit of peace.
The Harm of Killing: The Source of Viral Corruption
Clinging to greed, anger, pride, and doubt, giving rise to killing intent, is a viral program that disorders body and mind, disrupting peace. Killing has two causes: greed for meat invites pathogenic invasion; anger-driven slaughter draws vengeful demons. Realizing this harm and resolving to abandon killing achieves ten aspects of worry-free happiness.
2. The Law of Cause and Effect: The Path of Abstaining from Killing
The Principle of Thought Waves: Frequency Determines Outcome
All phenomena arise from thought; a single thought wave resonates with like frequencies. The principle is this: different frequencies produce different effects—killing’s frequency summons suffering, while abstaining builds peace. Following this law, abstaining from killing severs evil causes and yields virtuous fruits, precisely shaping future destinies.
Formula and Law: Breaking Down Cause and Effect
The cause and effect of abstaining from killing can be grasped through formula and law:
- Formula:
- Seeds mirror their fruits—killing begets suffering, abstaining begets joy.
- Sow one seed, reap a multitude—few causes yield many fruits, amplified through accumulation.
- Sow now, reap later—abstaining today brings peace tomorrow.
- Law: Per the Sutra of the Ten Virtuous Deeds: “If one abstains from killing, one achieves the ten freedoms from affliction.” What are these ten?
- Granting Fearlessness to All Beings: By not killing, cultivating a habit of reassuring beings, the fruit is a dignified presence.
- Great Compassion: By abstaining to give joy, this habit spreads, yielding ceaseless compassion.
- Ending Anger Habits: By avoiding vengeful killing, breaking its habit, anger is forever severed.
- A Body Free of Illness: By not killing for greed or anger, free of germs and vengeful demons, the body remains healthy.
- A Long Life: By not killing, preserving others’ lives, one’s own life extends.
- Guarded by Non-Human Beings: By protecting life through non-killing, protective deities and dragons guard us.
- Peaceful Sleep and Joy: By not causing fear through killing, we enjoy dreamless, joyful rest.
- Resolving Enmity Naturally: By releasing grudges through non-killing, enmity dissolves on its own.
- Freedom from Fear of Evil Realms: By abandoning killing’s frequency, we diverge from evil realms, free of their terror.
- Rebirth in Heavenly Realms: By resonating with the frequency of non-killing, we ascend to the heavens.
These ten laws, easy to remember and apply, rely on the principle of thought waves to sever killing and plant virtue, step-by-step leading to peace.
3. Boundless Peace: The Fruit of Abstaining from Killing
Virtuous Fruits Fulfilled: Freedom of Body and Mind
Abstaining from killing eradicates viral corruption, achieving the ten freedoms from affliction—health and longevity, divine protection, resolved enmity, and heavenly rebirth free of fear. Dedicating this merit to supreme enlightenment yields, upon Buddhahood, a lifespan freely wielded as desired. Right view guides us: killing invites suffering, abstaining brings peace—fruits pure and undefiled.
The Peace of the Ten Virtues: Inevitable Cause and Effect
The path of abstaining from killing, built through mindful accumulation, yields boundless fruits. From granting fearlessness to rebirth in heavens, all arise from non-killing. The fruit of practice is peace without worry, freedom across lifetimes.
Conclusion: Right View Navigates, Abstaining Brings Peace
Dear fellow practitioners, the gate of practice is right view shattering delusion, recognizing the harm of killing; the path is following the law of cause and effect, abstaining to build virtue; the fruit is the ten freedoms of peace. May we take right view as our guide, sever the virus of killing, amass merit through virtuous deeds, achieve boundless peace and freedom, and step onto the path of purity! Thank you all!
