“People will arise with vice in their hearts, rebellion and violation will happen. Even father and son, and brothers will machinate against each other, leading both to perish. Murderers will be rampant and kill the innocent.”
As we saw in our last episode, it has become increasingly apparent that corruption has infiltrated the political leadership of institutions and countries throughout the world. Formal inquiries, news exposes, and whistle-blowers have increasingly brought attention to this. Such corruption is also rampant in various religious leaders and representatives. Unfortunately, the ripple effect of this consciousness also creates a downward spiral of destructive energy that expands outwards into the world and affects all people. This was clearly foretold in the Taoist scriptures.
“People will arise with vice in their hearts, rebellion and violation will happen. Even father and son, and brothers will machinate against each other, leading both to perish. Murderers will be rampant and kill the innocent.”
As mentioned in this scripture, we are witnessing more turbulence globally, with an increasing number of violent outbreaks.
“Media Report by The Telegraph – Jul. 16, 2022 Reporter (f): Violence is escalating with gangs dismembering bodies, beheading rivals, raping women, and killing minors accused of being informants.”
“Media Report by DW Documentary – Sep. 15, 2022 Man: They don’t discriminate. They kill everything that moves. ...”
“Media Report by ABC News - May 25, 2022 Anchor (m): Another mass shooting, this time Texas, at least 19 children murdered, shot dead with a high-powered rifle. 2 teachers also killed. An elementary school turned killing field...”
“Media Report by KPRC 2 Click2Houston – Aug. 30, 2022 Anchor (f): In North Harris County, a 75-year-old man says he killed his adult son when he started assaulting his mother with a liquor bottle. ...”
ETC...
In a broader sense, “brothers” could also mean neighboring countries, as we have seen with the most recent Russian invasion of Ukraine. This has also been the case in neighboring states where brethren from the same country engage in wars against each other, in a futile grasp for land, resources or ideological control.
“Media Report by PBS NewsHour - Aug. 25, 2022 Anchor (f): In Ethiopia, new fighting has erupted in the Tigray region after a month-long ceasefire...”
“Media Report by Sky News - Aug. 7, 2022 Reporter (m): Israeli airstrikes have continued on Gaza throughout the day. In response, more missiles have been fired from Gaza into Israel...”
“Media Report by i24NEWS English - Aug. 29, 2022 Reporter (f): Tripoli on Sunday rival militias battle across the Libyan capital in what might be the worst fighting the country has seen in two years.”
“Media Report by Al Jazeera English - Sep. 16, 2022 Reporter (m): Three days of fighting around the border region close to Nagorno-Karabakh has killed more than a hundred Armenian and 70 Azeri soldiers...”
ETC...
This scripture could also refer to the billions of members of our global family, the animal-people, who are killed each year.
“Report by Animal Outlook - April 14, 2022 Reporter (f): In 2016, researchers at North Carolina State University were paid by the poultry industry to test methods of killing called ventilation shutdown (VSD) and ventilation shutdown plus (VSD+). As temperatures rise and airflow is cut off, the animals die from overheating after extreme prolonged suffering. VSD+ adds heat and carbon dioxide to the suffering. VSD is already a widely-used practice.”
“Media Report by DW News - Nov. 6, 2020 Reporter (m): Denmark announced it will eliminate the country’s entire population of farmed minks after mutated coronavirus strains were reported among the animals. More than 15 million will be culled...”
“Media Report by WION - Jan. 15, 2021 Reporter (f): ... From Japan to India, the deadly virus is affecting birds across farms. Millions of chickens, ducks and turkeys have been culled.”
ETC...
The animal-people came here to remind us of love and are truly our brothers and sisters here on Earth. As part of the karmic retribution for these mass murders, some humans may even reincarnate as animal-people to experience the same suffering.
“(But from afar, I saw a plump farm lady. [...] I could recognize her as the reincarnation of the old lady I had killed, even though she already looked different. […] I understood that I was now a pig, looking at her from the level of a person’s knee. I kept crying out loud, apologizing, but all I heard was a pig’s cry from my mouth. She didn’t understand anything as I continued to wail… […])”
Another instance is described in the Chinese classic, “Notes from the ‘Thatched Cottage of Observing the Subtleties.’” These supernatural tales were collected and written by Ji Yun, also known as Ji Xiaolan, an influential philosopher, politician and writer of the Qing dynasty. The book contains intricate plots and fascinating characters that are vividly memorable, as they echo the underlying theme that karmic retribution comes to all evildoers, and it is thus best to be good.
“([...] I can remember two of my previous lives. During the first one, I was a butcher and made my living by slaughtering animals. I died in my thirties. My soul was taken by several messengers of death and put into hell. The judge reproached me for my heavy killing sins and escorted my soul to the turning wheel in hell to suffer retribution. I was in a trance and was unconscious as if I were drunk or in a dream. I could only feel that my head was unbearably hot. At the moment that I felt a little cooler, I was actually in a pigsty and was reborn as a pig. [...]
Gradually, I learnt the pig's language and could talk with my pig friends. Actually, many pigs could remember that they were human beings in their previous lives. [...]
When I was going to be Slaughtered, I felt frightened and dizzy as soon as I was grabbed by a butcher. My four legs were weak, my heart thundered, and my soul felt as if it were flying out from the top of my head. When I was put on the chopping block, I simply couldn't face the bright knife upon seeing it. So I just closed my eyes and waited for my neck to be slit. The butcher slit my neck first and tilted the edge of the knife to let my blood flow down into a pot. The suffering was really beyond description! Since I couldn't die quickly, the only thing that I could do was to howl loudly. After my blood was drained, the butcher stabbed my heart with the knife, which made me feel the pain through my bones, but I couldn't shout out anymore. Gradually, I fell into a trance and felt like I was drunk or in a dream, which was the same feeling as when I was reborn. [...]
In this lifetime, when I saw that pigs that are about to be slaughtered are so grief stricken, I thought about the fact that the person who slaughters the pigs will suffer the same fate in the future. Then I thought of myself. The three thoughts intertwined in my mind, and I cried uncontrollably. [...])”
Just as we would not kill and eat our human relatives, we should not slaughter and consume innocent animal-people. This is truly killing our family, our kin. History has also shown that such actions bring only further torment as the cycle continues: “All living beings harm and kill each other, make troubles for themselves, and die one after another. They embrace and suffer from ignorance, and do not know how to get out of it.”
How can humankind escape such ignorance and suffering? When will the merciless violence and killing stop? The “Precious Scrolls of Avoiding Calamities” by Pan Gong outlines the nature of humanity’s sins and describes the necessary actions to make amends. “If people amend wrongdoings immediately, make vows, eat vegetarian, keep precepts and pray sincerely, we might be able to reverse the wrath of Heaven. If the people are still presumptuous without any taboo, indulge in pleasures, eat fish and meat day and night…. They should amend and reflect on themselves. However, they instead ridicule it as pedantic. Such people think themselves smart. However, there may be no way for them to escape from calamities. How miserable they are.”
ETC...
And all these lists go on...
We sincerely thank you, courageous vegan leaders, for all your loving care for our world. Your noble choices and passionately caring lives are lighting the way to the planetary transformation of our prayers: a vegan Heaven on Earth.
The solution, then, is to live a peaceful life, meaning a vegan lifestyle that avoids killing and actions that cause suffering to animal-people. This way of love and mercy echoes through all spiritual teachings since time immemorial. Supreme Master Ching Hai has also offered compassionate counsel to humanity many times on the importance of this valuable message.
“Please pray to God. Please ask humbly for forgiveness in true, sincere repentance. And please turn vegan. People have to turn around and continue that benevolent way of life, and be morally aware. (Yes.) Just read the Bible. Very simple, the Ten Commandments. Read Buddhist sutras, also the Five or Ten Commandments. Five is the shortest, but it also comprises together the Ten Commandments. […] But it’s all similar. I mean, if you keep the Five Commandments from Buddhism, that should be OK. And you have to truly be vigilant. Otherwise, the mind always wanders or tells you to do this, do that. And the negative power is surrounding, always whispering in your ear, tempting you to do wrong. You always have to keep God in your heart.”
“It’s terrible everywhere. I told you, I told people, ‘Please be careful now. You have to turn vegan now to protect yourself.’ And I want to say to everybody, this is my last offer, last call. If you turn vegan and repent sincerely, I will really take you to Heaven. Guaranteed. Within six months from today. (Oh.) It’s the last call. (Wow.)”
