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Chapter 8: The Severing of Intestines After I finished the chapter "A Legend of an Artist", I thought of a story of another artist, whose name was T'ien Ning. T'ien Ning was handsome, graceful and charming. One time, T'ien Ning visited me for a divination. I told him, "You look very well." T'ien Ning was quite happy. According to my observation, T'ien Ning's background was quite good. He was born in Lin-pao County in Henan Province. Historically, this was the place where Mount Chung-ku was located, and where the Yellow Emperor offered sacrifices to hundreds of deities. T'ien Ning was benefited by his birthplace, and his previous life was among the deity class. What is the deity class? This indicates that he was a deity many lifetimes ago, and he was now an incarnation of that deity. This deity is called "the Deity of Yuan-chao", and this deity is a deity of nature, governing mountains, rivers, and earth. He often flies throughout space, touring about the world, and enjoying the grand scenery. When he is flying, he radiates bright light. This deity resides in mid-air clouds, and that area is named Yuan-p'u. That place, Yuan-p'u, is a god's garden, and is managed by this deity. I told T'ien Ning about these matters, and he thought that I was telling a myth. He just smiled at me when he heard what I said. It did sound like a myth. It's okay whether or not one believes me. With a smile, one doesn't need to care. Regardless whether or not T'ien Ning believed what I said, he decided to add two words under his name, T'ien Ning, when he had his business card printed out. These two words were Yuan-chao. He chose Yuan-chao as his courtesy name. In my view, the reason T'ien Chao could become an accomplished artist was probably due to his love of natural beauty, green-colored mountains, silver-white-colored water and light connected to the sky. After awhile, when I came across T'ien Ning again, I was stunned, for his complexion looked much worse than before. I asked, "Are you sick?" "No." "Has something bad happened?" "No." "You have lost your primal energy!" I told him honestly. T'ien Ning shrugged his shoulders and held out his hands in exclamation. He appeared to not care in the least. I was quite concerned about this artist friend of mine, and I inquired, "Would you like me to help you do a divination?" "It's not necessary." I warned T'ien Ning, "You should be careful, for your primal energy has been depleted, and you look like you're going to have bad luck." T'ien Ning said: "Thank you for your concern. I'm fine, and everything is going well." In fact, even though T'ien Ning didn't say anything, I already observed that something was wrong. Previously, a layer of white light enveloped his crown, but now that white light had disappeared. I was worried, because instead of white light on top of his crown, he was enveloped by a layer of unlucky mist. This unlucky mist was gradually covering all of his body. If his whole body was wrapped by this unlucky mist, then disaster would descend. I found T'ien Ning's best friend, and I asked him, "How has T'ien Ning been doing lately?" "He couldn't be better!" "How well is he doing?" "He's enjoying good luck with a woman." T'ien Ning's good friend told me the following story: T'ien Ning took the last train one night, and it was only himself and another woman sitting in the compartment. Coincidently, that woman sat directly across from him, and they looked into each other's eyes. T'ien Ning enjoyed that woman, for she was the most beautiful woman among all pretty women. She was not only beautiful, but she was elegant as well. She didn't wear make-up, but she was very charming. She wore plain and simple clothes, but her clothes were refined. Instead of avoiding T'ien Ning's stares, she continued to watch him seductively. T'ien Ning asked her, "Are you alone?" "Of course, do you see anyone else here?" The woman was amused. T'ien Ning laughed, for his question was indeed silly. "Where is your husband?" "My husband died recently!" Wa! A new widow! The expression of that woman was something between smiling and not smiling. When she looked at T'ien Ning, his heart couldn't help but flutter. Her hair was fair and smooth, her mouth was small like a cherry, her teeth were white like a seashell and her skin was so soft that a breath could break it. She was dressed in black, which enhanced her beautiful skin and her graceful body. T'ien Ning had a very nice talk with her. She claimed that her husband was dead, and she needed to make a living. T'ien Ning proposed immediately that he was willing to hire her as a model. The woman said, "A model has to have a nice figure. Would I qualify?" T'ien Ning said: "Your figure is very rare." "Really?" The woman's eyes became bright. T'ien Ning was excited, and he said: "We can see! I will know immediately as soon as I touch you." Unexpectedly, instead of avoiding him, she moved her body and sat in T'ien Ning's lap. At that moment, with a soft body in his arms, T'ien Ning's whole mind was trapped, and his hands became busy. Eventually, his mouth was also preoccupied. The train stopped. Two people got off the train, and walked towards a hotel in the night. Although that woman was a new widow, she was lustful. As long as she was excited sexually, she had to let her fire burn until the end, and she had to be completely satisfied as if no one else existed. That woman was like an octopus, with eight tentacles together in four pairs, she tightly held T'ien Ning. She seemed much more knowledgeable than T'ien Ning, and she was experienced and quite skillful at both offence and defense. T'ien Ning thus became a captive of her passion. I was worried about T'ien Ning. T'ien Ning brought with himself his "innate energy" from his previous life. He had a gift to become a practitioner. I intended to deliver and transform him to pursue practice, and I taught him about: "All my offences committed since time immemorial, originating in cyclical greed, hatred and stupidity, and manifest through my body, speech, and mind. I now fully confess and repent altogether all my karmic offences." The cultivation of practice is to obtain the pure light and dharma-transmission of the Bodhisattvas, in order to fully eliminate and purify one's karmic offences since time immemorial, and to attain a bright new rebirth. Starting from this point onward, one should not commit offences again. I even intended to persuade T'ien Ning to renounce the world, for he had the karmic conditions to become a monk. I thought to myself, how wonderful it would be for T'ien Ning to become a monk! "With the first cut, one vows to cut off all evils. With the second cut, one vows to cultivate all virtues. With the third cut, one vows to deliver all sentient beings." From this point onward, one realizes perfect fruition and attains enlightenment. One vows to protect the Buddha-dharma endlessly throughout infinite cyclic lifetimes, bringing forth bodhi-mind, and practicing the Bodhisattva path. Now, I woke up from my dream, and felt sad. What's the use to think so much in my quiescent meditation during the long night? T'ien Ning was corrupted! He was trapped in carnal pleasure. I could see. There was a ghost that was exhaling inside the layer of unlucky mist that enveloped T'ien Ning. That ghost was wearing a red shirt and shorts, was barefoot, and was holding a butcher's knife. In fury, he ran around T'ien Ning and yelled at him: "I want to take your intestines out! I want to cut out your intestines!" The layer of unlucky mist was gradually wrapping and covering all of T'ien Ning's body. I asked the ghost, "Who are you?" "A butcher!" (Evidence later showed that he was a manager of a slaughterhouse.) "What do you want to do?" "Kill this guy!" "Why" "He is having an affair with my wife, and I want him to pay for it!" Hearing this, I was even more worried and frightened for T'ien Ning. The husband of that lady was not beyond being offended. Do not think that it doesn't matter to have an affair with a widow because her husband is dead. In fact, he had become a furious ghost, guarding his wife, and intending to harm T'ien Ning. I hoped to rescue T'ien Ning. I formed the mudra of time with my left hand, and the mudra of order with my right hand. I recited a mantra: "Heaven is round and earth is square. There are nine items of decree that I have to order divine officials to quickly descend here." Thus, a deity descended from heaven, and he was the official on daily duty. The official on daily duty asked, "I come here to respectfully follow your order. Is there something I can do for you?" I replied, "It is concerned with T'ien Ning!" The official on daily duty replied, "What a pity! The moral degeneration of the world is getting worse and worse everyday. Morality is changing, carnality is becoming worse, and people are sinking deeper and deeper into it without having the ability to control themselves. When one's thoughts arise from the mind, though the mind is hidden within one's body and cannot be detected by others, the deities already know. Now, what has happened to T'ien Ning is already known by heaven, and he has lost his official registration. How sad it is that he cannot be salvaged!" I inquired, "Since he has been taken away his official registration, does that mean that he will be okay?" The official on daily duty answered, "T'ien Ning originally belonged to the deity class. But he used trickery to seduce the woman and took the opportunity to have sex with her. He deserves fifteen punishments. Besides his deity registration being taken away, his soul is also destined to degenerate. When he dies, he will degenerate to the diamond hell and slaughter hell. When he is reborn, he will be reborn as an animal. When he is again reborn, he will be reborn as an aquatic animal." "This is too horrible. Is there any other chance for him?" The official on daily duty answered again, "T'ien Ning has to realize his fault and quickly repent. He should cultivate virtue every day. He has to confess to the lifespan official, the star official, the sun and the moon officials, the deities of mountains and rivers, and the deities of wells, springs, houses, and roads." "Why does he have to confess so much?" The official on daily duty answered, "Although he belongs to the deity class, he does not understand restrictions concerning sex. His innate nature of virtue is not manifest, and his inferior nature of evil continuously arises. He is lost and is sinking deeper and deeper in the sea of suffering. By having casual sex out in the open, he has offended the three lights of the sun, the moon, and the stars, and he has also offended officials of big mountains and rivers!" I was extremely shocked when I heard this! "If T'ien Ning does not confess, what will happen to him?" "His intestines will be severed piece by piece." Having said all this, the official on daily duty flew away like a fragrant wind. As the matter was urgent, I was very nervous, and hurried to find T'ien Ning. I informed him of everything I knew. T'ien Ning wasn't effected, and he behaved indifferently. He said, "It's true that her ex-husband was a butcher. So, what then!" T'ien Ning went on, "As long as I can be with that woman, I only admire mandarin ducks, and do not care about immortality. This is the greatest pleasure in the mundane world. I don't care about the sun, the moon, mountains, rivers, and seas..." I advised T'ien Ning, "Disasters and blessings do not come out of the blue, but are caused by humans themselves. A sage does not have sexual desire, and this asexuality is the true and greatest bliss. With great bliss, a sage roams freely and is free from restraint, of others and of self." "I don't understand what you say. I'm not a sage at all." "Repent quickly." "I do not have any grudge or any regret!" "Your intestines will be severed." "I'd rather become a ghost than give up carnal pleasure!" T'ien Ning did not want to listen to me. I sent him a letter, saying: "Carnality is originally empty, and this pleasure is also empty. The indulgence in such pleasure as if one possesses something real is in fact empty. Why are we harmed by sexual desire? It is only because we pursue this one momentary pleasure. If we want to know what pleasure is, it really doesn't exist. This carnal pleasure does not exist before sex and after sex. All is empty and illusory after sex, and nothing is left that can be possessed." "Morality between men and women should be upheld. The reason humans are different from animals is because humans have morality. If one is depraved and has casual sex, this is like acting as an animal with a human body. Although one is human, one is really worse than a beast." "Nevertheless, all sentient beings are reproduced due to sexual desire. Therefore, sentient beings are inherently sexual, and must guard against sinking into the trap of carnality and being unable to extricate oneself from it. One should practice the contemplation of impurity, the contemplation of a skeleton, and the contemplation of rejoicing emptiness, by which one is able to extinguish the thought of sexual lust, and arouse the correct thought of purity." I sent the letter and did not hear anything from him. There was not a single word from him. T'ien Ning was hopeless! Some people think, "In this age, it is too trite of Sheng-yen Lu to advise people against committing adultery. This is an age of freedom, and men and women are free. In this age of free love, people may do whatever they please." People in general argue, "As long as one wishes to, why can't one do whatever one wishes?" People in general say, "We don't care about infinite love, as long as we have once enjoyed each other!" Among popular objects of contemporary society are viagra, condoms, sex games of sexual perversion, the enjoyment of sex parties and orgies, obscene sexual acts and gestures, male strippers, gigolos, masturbation.. It is obvious that this world is obsessed with sex, and the sex industry is flourishing. People are no longer alert to the harmful effects of carnality. They are no longer aware of the seduction of sensuality and the disaster it can create. The trend has been changing from the enjoyment of material items gradually moving towards the enjoyment of having casual sex, the exultation of the "Friday bar", the "One night stand", "Casual love", "sex companions", "web-dating". I am a practitioner who has witnessed this new age. I, Living Buddha Sheng-yen Lu, am a person who can endure loneliness, who sits at a desk writing, and enters into deep samadhi. Because of my psychic communication abilities, I know the Dharma-realms, and I'm truly aware of the disasters that derive from sexual desire. I'm filled with concern about people! Nevertheless, while promulgating the keeping of the five precepts regarding non-adultery, I have come to a profound realization that I have indeed suffered great difficulties and set backs, for even I myself have been dragged through cases of scandal by others, that I find so complicated to defend myself. I am absolutely against adultery, for if a practitioner is involved in adultery, he or she cannot ever expect to accomplish anything. It is said in the Leng-yen Sutra, "It is like endeavoring to cook grains of sand into rice." If everyone contemplates this phrase, an understanding should result. I communicate psychically in the Ten Dharma-realms, and I understand that sexual desire is closely related to the disasters and blessings of sentient beings. Not only should a practitioner uphold precepts, but also ordinary people should uphold the precepts concerning sexual desire. It is not realistic that only Buddhists should uphold precepts while others are not required to do so, for others are not beyond cause and effect. I can claim that the issue of sexual desire concerns the blessings and well being of all sentient beings, and no one can escape from this law without any exceptions. Sadly enough, contemporary people claim to be modern, and think that my teaching of eliminating debauchery is too pedantic, too conservative, too prudent, and too feudal, lacking bravery and courage. I profoundly realize that contemporary beings have lost all rationality, and they only pursue pleasure and entertainment. They place the pleasure of sex in top priority, and principles, such as morality, have long been forgotten. I have been witnessing fathers having sex with their children, brothers and sisters having sex with each other, humans having sex with dogs, and adults raping children. I cannot stand seeing the degeneration of sentient beings, and the decline of sacred and profound teachings. As a practitioner who can communicate psychically, and who is regarded by the Buddhist world as a heretic, I must write books such as Living this Moment of Purity and Living this Moment of Illumination. I am an enlightened one, and I'm also an understanding person. I want to write of the disaster caused by carnality. These days, with the strong public trend of giving sex top priority, one really requires great courage in order to write and publish such books. If one really looks deeply into the pleasure and entertainment of sex, it endures only for one moment, and its cause and effect are all of suffering, emptiness, and impermanence. People only grasp temporary pleasure, and do not realize its infinite grief. Enjoying sex without restraint will result in many illnesses, such as aging quickly and having a short life span. One will lose status, one's reputation will be ruined, one's fortune will be exhausted, and one will have enemies. From the point of view of cause and condition, cause and effect, the person who commits the offence of carnality, will no longer be reborn as a human, and will degenerate to the level of an animal. One's sexual desire is indeed a great cause for disaster! I explain it so clearly. How can anyone not understand it? With regard to the precept of non-adultery that must be upheld by Buddhists, it can be divided into two aspects: psychological and physical. In terms of the physical aspect, it should be practiced according to esoteric Buddhism. We know that someone can be a born as a sage, but there are too few cases of being born a sage. Most people are ordinary beings. Why do people indulge in carnality? This is because the seed of sexual desire is embedded inside everyone's physical body. People are born from the semen of their father and the menstruation blood of their mother, and thus they contain an innate seed of sexual desire. Sexual desire inside one's body may grow subtly and gradually, or fiercely and intensively, but when a karmic affinity arrives, it will cause one to fall head over heels in love. A legitimate sexual desire of a Buddhist layman that is in accordance with the Buddha-dharma should not be forbidden. However, for an illegitimate sexual desire, one should keep a distance, and make sure to not indulge in one's sexual desire. For monks and nuns, it is absolutely necessary for them to avoid having sexual desire. One not only needs to rely on the cultivation of one's mind and spirit, but also on actual practice. I am a practitioner who actually practiced the esoteric dharma of the True Buddha School. There are three practices that can eliminate one's sexual desire:
If one reaches accomplishment in these three practices, one can reach the following:
(In Esoteric Buddhism, this state is considered to be the accomplishment of great bliss and clear light.) As a cultivator in the practice of the esoteric dharma of the True Buddha School, I truly realized and accomplished the practice of coarse fire, the practice of non-outflow, and the practice of light drops. I know and understand that it is not likely that humans can completely transcend their sexual desires. However, through my own actual practice, without only relying upon the cultivation of mind and spirit, I truly and inconceivably have demonstrated and proven the efficacy of non-outflow, purity, light, and true great bliss. I am an authentic and pure practitioner. I have realized non-outflow. I have accomplished the Great Perfection that is actually practiced in esoteric Buddhism. Of course, I know that a person like myself is very rare to find in this world. In my wish, how wonderful it would be if all sentient beings could practice the esoteric dharma of the True Buddha School, from which the dream of the Pure Land in the mundane world could actually become a reality! At the conclusion of this chapter, I would like to finish the story of T'ien Ning. The God Wen-ch'ang said: "According to nature's course, the retribution for committing the offence of debauchery comes very quickly. People do not fear any retribution and they continue to live in their dreams. They do not realize that if they do not restrain themselves from carnal pleasure, disaster will arrive immediately. You ignorant sentient beings must listen to my instruction! Since ancient times, it has always been true that only one who upholds morality can receive blessings. Non-virtuous behavior attracts misfortune. People of ancient time understood the moral principle from the lessons of the past. During ancient times, in the period of Spring and Autumn, people indulged in debauchery, and as a result, states were destroyed, and families were ruined. The Book of Songs ridicules the corrupt degeneration of adultery, elopement and debauchery, which are against the moral principle and are abusive of self-nature. One destroys one's own reputation by indulging in carnality. As one contradicts morality, Heaven becomes furious. How can one obtain fortune if one neglects morality? How can one receive blessings if one creates a bad reputation? What a shame that one does not realize that one will suffer retribution through being a victim of carnality if one does not care about one's whole life's reputation, and indulges in carnal pleasure. It is natural that what goes around will come around. By realizing severe karmic retribution, who will purify his or her mind?" Because of his carnality, T'ien Ning suffered a miserable retribution! One night during a typhoon, T'ien Ning was walking down the street. Trees and branches were wildly blowing in the wind, waving, and crying. There were only a few pedestrians. A sign was blown down by the wind, and this sign was made out of a thin sheet of iron which was very sharp. The sign was swirling and flying through the air. In a sudden instant, it sliced through T'ien Ning's belly. It would have been alright if only his clothes were torn, but his belly was injured as well. The sheet of iron sliced his belly so severely that his intestines spilled out. His intestines were severed, and blood was all over the ground. T'ien Ning flailed on the ground, wailing in agony! The ambulance arrived! Unfortunately, T'ien Ning lost too much blood and died! T'ien Ning's offence was having sex with a widow and ruining another's chastity. He has degenerated into hell, and he won't be free from hell until he suffers for eight hundred kalpas. Then, he will be reborn as a sheep and a pig, and he will be slaughtered by people for another eight hundred kalpas. Afterwards, he will be reborn as a human, but he will be blind and dumb. In regard to this event, I write a poem:
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