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The Aura of Wisdom
- Book 154: The Aura of Wisdom
- Chapter 30: Refrain from Killing
- Written by Sheng-yen Lu
- Translated and edited by True Buddha Foundation
- Translation Team (Cheng Yew Chung, Victor Hazen, Dance Smith)
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A Tantric lineage guru was fishing by the riverside. A young boy approached him and asked, `The Buddhist precepts do not advocate killing. So why do you kill?`
The guru turned around and looked at the kid, started laughing, and said, `You were once fished by me.`
Padmasambhava once killed all the robbers, bandits and vicious villains living in Butcher City who had committed murder and arson, and then employed the most compassionate deliverance practice to purify their souls, and sent them to the Western Paradise of Ultimate Bliss instantaneously.
In these two examples, it would appear that the Tantric gurus were killing living beings. But in actual fact, they were exercising the most compassionate means of deliverance. Their intention was not to kill, but to deliver. Such is true salvation and deliverance for humankind.
My analysis of this situation is as follows:
The Sutra tradition teaches non-killing, and encourages the deliverance of life. Hence, the protection of animal life is in keeping with this sense of compassion, which grows with such acts of benevolence. However, the so-called killings performed by Tantric gurus are in reality the deliverance of sentient beings, touching the soul level with a deeper compassion, liberating and purifying them so that their souls may seek rebirth in the Buddha Pure Land.
In truth, all Tantric practitioners who have not reached the level of spirituality attained by the lineage gurus must abide by the Five Precepts and Ten Virtues set as the essential disciplinary codes of Buddhism. If one can perform the act of killing followed by deliverance, one? spiritual attainment is equal to the Tathagata Dharma Nature, whose ground of fruition is perfect and complete, and as such, can draw sentient beings to itself by incredible means!
Today`s Tantric practitioners barely scratch the surface of the Tantric doctrines. Far from reaching the stage of buddhahood, their behaviour shows great lack of discipline and displays unkindness towards others. Hence, it is harmless to learn of a practice such as deliverance through killing, but they should never perform it under any circumstances. Instead of helping to deliver any souls, they would bring harm to the Tantric School and its teachings. Be careful! Be careful!
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