Going Along with Afflictions Is Not the Conduct of Sages

Killing people with mantras and vetāla ghosts—such methods of killing are very secretive: others do not know that you have developed the motive to kill, do not know that you have killed, and do not know that you kill without shedding blood. If one follows along with such afflictions, one is an evil person; acting upon them constitutes the karmic offense of killing. To follow along with such afflictions makes one not merely a person lacking virtue, but one lacking great virtue—such a person cannot possibly be a person of great virtue or a bodhisattva. The ranks of bodhisattvas would never contain such evil-doers and criminals.

Some people, although they do not kill people and are unwilling to see others kill, nevertheless kill animals—and this too is the karma of killing. For example, when one craves meat and wants to eat fresh meat, instead of doing the killing oneself, one hints for others to kill on one's behalf: by muttering about wanting to eat meat, others will find a way to procure a living creature, slaughter it, cook it, and only then let him eat. Thus his hands remain clean, unstained by blood, but his mouth is no longer clean, and his mind is even less clean. Can such afflictions be followed along with? To follow along with them is killing, constituting an unpardonable offense; to incite others to kill carries an even heavier offense. Such a sinner could not possibly be a sage or a bodhisattva.

Some people make excuses, saying: "We bodhisattvas all know that animals are manifested from the tathāgatagarbha, and the matter of eating meat is also manifested by the tathāgatagarbha; therefore it is all illusory and false. As long as you know this clearly, then eating is equal to not eating, and killing is equal to not killing." What they mean is that if one knows all dharmas are manifested by the tathāgatagarbha, then one can do anything, or do nothing at all. Then let me ask: what is the purpose of studying and cultivating the Mahāyāna dharma of the tathāgatagarbha? Is it used to cover up evil karma and to cover up one's own afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion? Is the tathāgatagarbha a prop for committing evil deeds? The more one studies the dharma of the tathāgatagarbha and the longer one studies it, the more unscrupulously one commits evil deeds? Is this the ultimate state that studying the Buddha-dharma leads to?

Some people talk about the tathāgatagarbha every day, yet commit evil deeds every day, with boundless afflictions every day and no bottom line. Even ordinary worldlings are not like this. Would it not be good to be a good ordinary worldling with peace of mind, to be an honorable gentleman among the highest grade of worldlings, without studying Buddhism or the tathāgatagarbha? I have met quite a few people who have been indoctrinated with wrong notions. They say: "Don't look at these surface phenomena—these are all matters of conventional appearances. You should look at our dharma; our dharma is the most supreme and most precious Mahāyāna tathāgatagarbha dharma, rare and hard to obtain." I find this strange: having studied such a rare and precious Mahāyāna tathāgatagarbha dharma, yet being unable to resolve matters of conventional appearances, and the more one studies, the more chaotic and filthy these matters become, running directly counter to the Path—then what is this dharma for? Is it to endorse oneself and serve as a facade, or to eliminate ignorance and attain liberation?

Speaking of liberation, some people have more to say: "We Mahāyāna bodhisattvas do not seek liberation; only arhats go for liberation. Bodhisattvas do not attain liberation." What is hidden in this statement? It means that bodhisattvas are all bound by the worldly dharmas of the five aggregates, bound by afflictions, bound by ignorance; at death, because of these bondages, they are bound within the three evil destinies, bound within the cycle of the six destinies of rebirth, no different from ordinary worldlings—is that so? If that is the case, then such bodhisattvas are no different from ordinary worldlings, and there is no point in being one.