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Once, there was a scholar riding a donkey, hurrying to reach the city. But three li* before the scholar reached his destination, the donkey stopped and refused to walk any further no matter how he urged it on. Pressed for time, he had no other choice but to continue the journey on foot.
That night, the scholar had a dream in which he saw a donkey apologizing to him. The donkey told him that in a previous life, he had stolen a pair of shoes from him, therefore, he was reborn as a donkey and had to transport the scholar for a distance of a hundred li to repay this “karmic debt”. Three li short of reaching the city this distance was fulfilled, so the donkey would not carry him any further.
From this story, we see how one who has only committed such a minor wrong as stealing a pair of shoes has to suffer the fate of being reborn in the animal realm, where as a donkey, he has to carry his “creditor” on his back for a hundred li to repay him. Therefore, imagine the amount of “karmic debt” we owe other living beings if we now consume their flesh!
To eliminate our negative karma, we have to truly follow the ideals of being content with our lot, reducing our desires, and consuming simple, vegetarian fare. If more people can adopt a vegetarian diet, there will be no need to raise so much livestock. Then, we can use the land that was previously used for livestock farming to grow food crops and also reduce the pollution caused by animals. This is one way we can demonstrate our love for Mother Earth, and in so doing, the earth will be able to provide sufficient food to feed the world’s population.
Hence, we must determine to make the change, starting with ourselves. We can show our love and respect for Mother Earth by practicing vegetarianism with a pure and sincere heart, and further influence others to do the same. In this way, we can help to mitigate natural disasters due to pollution and climate change.
*li (里): A traditional Chinese unit of distance about half a kilometre
Source: Tzu Chi Taiwan website
Excerpted from Master Cheng Yen’s speech on 23 June, 2008
Translated by the Tzu Chi Singapore translation team
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