Dear Dharma Friends,
Welcome to this episode of the podcast provided by the Buddhas’ Practice Incorporated of Australia.
Today, I want to talk about a common phenomenon we see in our daily lives.
We often see people who enjoy eating the corpses of animals, whether they are fish, birds, or various beasts. They seem to treat this behavior as a form of pleasure, a habitual “vice.” However, let’s take a moment to calmly reflect: Is there any animal more noble than a human being?
If we agree that humans are noble, then I ask, would we enjoy eating a human corpse? Could we cut a piece of a human body, boil it in a pot, and then chew on it? The mere thought of this is enough to make us feel uncomfortable. In fact, this is a form of delusion shared by many sentient beings. We can’t even eat the corpses of humans, whom we consider noble, let alone the corpses of animals and beasts.
We all know that humans get sick, so why wouldn’t those animals as well? We humans have karmic retribution, so why wouldn’t they? Their karmic obstacles are even heavier!
Although we can’t change everyone’s eating habits overnight and stop them from eating the corpses of sentient beings, we can learn from this, reflect, and increase our wisdom. When we see those beings, immersed in their delusion, putting those boiled animal corpses into their mouths, they think it’s good and delicious.
However, when we have wisdom, we will understand that if we can’t eat the corpses of noble human beings, how can we eat the corpses of animals?
Therefore, when we see these scenes, we should not feel anger or contempt. Instead, we should feel compassion. These beings are so pitiful; they are deeply trapped by their ignorance. May we use our wisdom to guide them and our compassion to treat them, to understand the suffering of sentient beings, and to develop a strong sense of pity. Thank you for listening.
