Vegetarian Era
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Everyone
has wisdom, but not everyone can use it. At that time we say we have "obstacles"
or "karmas". What is karma? It is like an invisible thing in our way that
prevents us from passing through to our destination. That is why we call
it an obstacle. Similar things happen in our spiritual practice.
To attain
Buddhahood (complete enlightenment) is similar to climbing a mountain,
and we have to reach the top in order to become saints. However, there
are many logs and stones in our way so we cannot go up. We call them obstacles.
For instance, when we are young, we are controlled by our parents and
cannot observe a vegetarian diet; when we grow up, we are controlled by
our spouses and cannot observe a vegetarian diet. We may have wisdom,
but we cannot use it.
We should not beat or
kill other human beings even if they are as big and strong as we are.
How then could we possibly kill and eat animals that are very weak and
cannot protect themselves? Such actions are totally lacking in human feeling.
They are inhuman. We are not supposed to eat animals. However, we have
become barbarous through many lifetimes of transmigration and do not understand
that now. We think that eating meat is as normal as eating chocolate.
If we think it over, we will feel scared.
For instance, if our
family members die, we would not eat their corpses. How then could we
eat the corpses of animals? Animal corpses are dirtier than human corpses.
We should not eat meat, but we are eating it now and it is difficult for
us to change our habit. The entire society is eating meat. We will have
trouble if we want to change. This is the first obstacle.
What is the second obstacle?
It is that we cannot find an enlightened master. Many people claim to
be enlightened masters, but we do not know who is an enlightened master
and who is a dark one. Enlightened means being in the light, and dark
means being in the dark.
The third obstacle in
our way is that after we find an enlightened master, we do not easily
have faith in him.
The fourth obstacle
is that after initiation and despite having faith in an enlightened master,
we do not practice diligently. For example, we attend school and have
good teachers who give us many materials for reference, but we do not
like to study and do not do our homework after school. Then we cannot
graduate.
Similarly, few people
pursue spiritual practice because there are many obstacles, and few spiritual
practitioners attain God-realization because they do not practice diligently
and do not have enough faith. The reason that we do not practice diligently
enough is because we have many problems that trouble us when we practice,
so we cannot progress quickly. Throughout the ages and throughout the
world, people always have respected those who have attained the Truth
or God-realization. They have always admired those who have attained the
level of a saint, because ordinary people cannot easily become saints.
Even spiritual practitioners cannot easily attain that level or the level
of God-realization. However, this does not mean that no one can become
a God-realization and no one can become a saint. As long as we have a
good teacher and a good method, we have hope of becoming a saint and obtaining
the great power. From my personal experience, it is not difficult to gain
such power and to become God-realized.
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