The Buddha Speaks of :
The Cause And Effect Sutra.
Of The Myriad Dharmas ... ...
The Kindness Of Parents Is the Greatest !
The Verse of Maitreya's Advice on Filiality Says :
In The Family There Are Two Buddhas,
Regretfully, People In The World Do Not know ;
No Need To Use Gold And Colour To Adorn,
Also No need To Use Chandana To Carve ;
Just Look At Your Present Father And Mother,
They Are Shakyamuni And Maitreya ;
If You Can Mark Offerings To Them,
Where Is The Need To Do Other Merit And Virtue.
The Buddha Speaks of The Karma Sutra
* Cause And Effect *
Once upon a gathering at Lin-Shan Assembly,
where 1,250 followers attended, Ananda, one of the chief disciples, after
circling thrice with folded hands around Sakyamuni Buddha, bowing in respect,
humbly asked : "In the present dark age, where the majority of our people
are indulgent in unrighteousness, disrespectful to the Buddha's teaching,
unfilial to their parents, immoral, miserable and sordid, among them some
are deaf, some blind, some mute, some idiotic, some handicapped in other
aspects, the most people inured to killing... ...how could we understand
the cryptic and fundamental principle or what consequences each individual
is to suffer eventually for his deeds, My Lord, would you kindly explain
there to us ?"
Sakyamuni Buddha told Anada and the
rest of the disciples to listen carefully : I will now expound the law
of Karma. Because of Karmic effects inherited from previous lives, some
people are poor, some rich, and some miserable. There are four rules inseparable
in obtaining happiness and prosperity for your next life.
They are : to be filial to parents;
to be respectful to Buddha's teaching, and to Buddhist monks; to abstain
from killing and set free sentient beings ; and to abstain from eating
meat and be charitable.
Then the buddha proceeded on the Karma
Sutra :"Destiny is the aggregate Karmic effects from past life. Past Karma
determined your present destiny. Present Karmas are to mould your next
life. Learn the law of Karma expounded as follows. For Karmas are consequential
and my words truthful."
Having spoken the sutra to Ananda and
the other followers, Buddha added: "They are innumberable examples of the
Karmic law. But l have only mentioned them generally."
Then Ananda said :" Until the end of
the present dark age most human beings wound have, though successive live,
accumulated countless misdeeds because of their ignorance of the karmic
conse-quences. But thanks to our Load and the sutra he has so kindly given
us, whoever writes and reads, prints and distributes this sutra, upon venerating
the Buddha, will be blessed with eternal happiness and be able Amitabha
Buddha, Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva and all other Buddhas in the heavenly
realm."
*Whatever you do will come back to you.
*Dress-up neatly and pay respect to the Buddha.
*To protect the Tathagata Monastery is to protect
yourself.
*For building Buddha's image is mounlding yourself.
Effect : Why in this-life you
have cars and various transportation facilities?
Cause : Because you have repaired
broken bridges and paved roads for the benefit of other in your previous
life.
Effect : Why in this-life you
have clothing in great variety ?
Cause : Because you have donated
warm clothing to monks.
Effect : why in this-life you
have splendid food ?
Cause : Because you have donated
food to the poor in your previous life.
Effect : Why in this-life you
are starving and clothesless ?
Cause : Because you were too
stingy to donate to charity in your previous life.
Effect : Why in this-life you
have houses and building ?
Cause : Because you have donated
food to monasteries in your previous life.
Effect : Why in this-life you
are so prosperous and happy ?
Cause : Because you have donated
money to build temples and public shelters in your previous life.
Effect : Why in this-life you
are pretty and handsome ?
Cause : Because you respectfully
offered flowers to the Buddha's altar in your previous life.
Effect : Why in this-life you
are so intelligent and wise ?
Cause : Because you were a
devout Buddhist and a sober vegetarian in your previous life.
Effect : Why in this-life you
are liked by others ?
Cause : Because you have created
good relationship with people in your previous life.
Effect : Why in this-life husband
and wife are faithful to each other ?
Cause : Because you have decorated
the temple with scrolls and tapestries to Buddha in your previous life.
Effect : why in this-life you
have both parents ?
Cause : Because you have respected
and helped the lonely in your previous life.
Effect : Why in this-life you
are an orphan ?
Cause : Because you were a
bird-shooter in your previous life.
Effect : Why in this-life you
have many children ?
Cause : Because you have printed
and distributed sutras in your previous life.
Effect : Why in this-life a
son dies young ?
Cause : Because you have committed
killing by drowning a baby-girl in your previous life.
Effect : Why in this-life you
are heirless ?
Cause : Because you have destroyed
flowers habitually in your previous life.
Effect : Why in this-life you
enjoy longevity and good health ?
Cause : Because you set free
sentient-being in your previous life.
Effect : Why in this-life you
are short-lived ?
Cause :Because you have committed
too many killings in your previous life.
Effect : Why is this-life you
have no spouse ?
Cause : Because you have committed
adultery in your previous life.
Effect : Why in this-life you
are a widow ?
Cause : Because you have ill-treated
your husband in you previous life.
Effect : Why in this-life you
area serf ?
Cause : Because you were disloyal
and ungrateful in your previous life.
Effect : Why in this-life you
have clear and good sighted eyes ?
Cause : Because you have donated
oil to light up the Buddha's altar in your previous life.
Effect : Why is this-life you
suffer from blindness ?
Cause : Because you have distorted-
truths and misled others in your previous life.
Effect : Why in this-life you
have wry mouth ?
Cause : Because you have intentionally
blown out candles before the Buddha's altar in your previous life.
Effect : Why in this-life you
are dumb and deaf ?
Cause : Because you have vituperated
you parent in your previous life.
Effect : Why in this-life you
are hunch back ?
Cause : Because you jeered
at Buddha's followers in your previous life.
Effect : Why in this-life you
have disabled hands ?
Cause : Because You have
committed evils with your hands in your previous life.
Effect : Why in this-life you
have lame-legs ?
Cause : Because you were a
robber in you previous life.
Effect : Why in this-life you
are born as a horse or an ox ?
Cause : Because you have never
paid your debts in your previous life.
Effect : Why in this-life you
are born as a pig or dog ?
Cause : Because you have deceived
and harmed others in your previous life.
Effect : Why in this-life you
suffer from constant illness ?
Cause : Because you have offered
flesh (meat) to monks in you previous life.
Effect : Why in this-life you
are healthy ?
Cause : Because you have offered
medicine to cure the sick people in your previous life.
Effect : Why in this-life you
are imprisoned ?
Cause : Because you have relentlessly
committed evils in your previous life.
Effect : Why in this-life you
are starved to death ?
Cause : Because you have plugged
snake-pits and mouse-holes in your previous life.
Effect : Why in this-life you
die of poison ?
Cause : Because you intentionally
poisoned a river or water-source in your previous life.
Effect : Why in this-life you
are forlorn and friendless ?
Cause : Because you were unfaithful
and deceitful to others in your previous life.
Effect : Why in this-life you
are born as a dwarf ?
Cause : Because you have read
and written sutra on the floor in your previous life.
Effect : Why in this-life you
spew blood ?
Cause : Because you have eaten
meat while praying in you previous life.
Effect : Why in this-life you
are deaf ?
Cause : Because you have attended
Buddhist instructions with levity in you previous life.
Effect : Why in this-life you
are afflicted with ulcers ?
Cause : Because you have offered
meat before the Buddha's altar in your previous life.
Effect : Why in this-life you
have bad bodily odor ?
Cause : Because you have sold
incense with dishonesty in your previous life.
Effect : Why in this-life you
die by hanging yourself ?
Cause : Because you hunted
animals by using ropes and nets in your previous life.
Effect : Why in this-life you
are bereft of a spouse ?
Cause : Because you have been
unduly envious and jealous in your previous life.
Effect : Why in this-life you
are struck by lightning or burnt by fire ?
Cause : Because you have committed
dishonest trading with customers in your previous life.
Effect : Why in this-life you
are wounded by beasts or snakes ?
Cause : Because you have created
enemies in your previous life.
Whether you reaped or you sowed
......
Effect : If you suffer in hell,
blame yourself for what you did in your previous life.
Cause : If you in this-life
recite the cause and effect sutra.
Effect : You will be respected
by many people in your next life.
Cause : If you in this-life
print and distribute the Cause and Effect Sutra free to all ......
Effect : You will become a
leader to humanity in your next life.
Cause : If you doubt that eating
vegetarian is cultivating charity.
Effect : Witness the happy
and prosperous people around you.
Cause : It is good to cultivate
giving to the Triple Gems.
Effect : You will be rewarded
in return ......
Cause : If you carry the Cause
and Effect Sutra ......
Effect : You will be free from
disaster and calamity.
Cause : Do not think that the
Cause and Effect is fallacious.
Effect : It will manifest either
immediately of later in your life ......
Cause : If you spread the truth
of the Cause and Effect Sutra ......
Effect : You will be wise and
intelligent in life-after-life.
Cause : You are a Minister
or an Officer in this-life ......
Effect : You gain the fruits
because you cultivated with pains in your previous life.
Cause : If you in this-life
insult the Cause and Effect Sutra ......
Effect : You are no longer
a human being in your next life.
Cause : If in this-life you
transcribe the Cause and Effect Sutra ......
Effect : The generations will
be smart scholars and lived happily.
Cause : If you recite and act
according to the Cause and Effect Sutra ......
Effect : Whatever you do will
be witnessed by the Buddhas and Bodhisattva.
Cause : It is impossible to
exhaust the speaking of the Law of Cause and Effect.
Effect : The fruit of a good
deed will come in due course ......
Cause and Effect : The good
cause you have accomplished in you previous life will be the foundation
of your good fortune.
Cause and Effect : The good
seeds you have planted in this-life will give you good fruits in your next-life.
Cause : If you doubt the efficacy
of Cause and Effect ......
Effect : See how Maugalyayana
could save his mother from suffering.
The Cause and Effect must not
be treated as a small matter.
The Buddha's words are truth,
you must not slight.
Cause : If people deeply believe
in the Cause and Effect Sutra ......
Effect : this will bring them
together to the land of Ultimate Bliss.
The Buddha Says :
Verse Of Transference
May the merit and virtue accrued from this work,
Adorn the Buddhas' Pure Lands,
Repaying four kinds of kindness about,
And aiding those suffering in the paths below.
May those who see and hear of this,
All bring forth the resolve for Bodhi,
And when this retribution body is over,
Be born together in the Land of Ultimate Bliss.