佛教有正法、像法、末法，这都是众生的业报所感而现的。正法时代，古人的福报广大、深厚，智慧也高，地里的水好像牛奶那么有营养，每一处的水都是如此。等到像法时代，所喝的水就没有那么营养美味了。现在是末法时代，所喝的水，不单没有营养，还含藏着很多种的毒质。你说：“我们把水消毒过了。”虽然如此，但毒质还是存在，无法消去。
The existence of Buddhism in the world is divided into the Proper Dharma Age, the Dharma Image Age, and the Dharma-ending Age. These ages manifest in response to the karmic retributions of living beings. During the Proper Dharma Age, people had many blessings and their wisdom was great. Everywhere the water in the ground was as nutritious as milk. When the Dharma Image Age began, the water was not as nutritious and delicious as before. In the present Dharma-ending Age, not only does the water lack nutrients, it contains all sorts of toxins. Although we sterilize and treat our drinking water, the toxins cannot be completely eliminated.
在这个世界上，毒是一天比一天多，把空气也染污了，所以在空气中也弥漫着毒质。因为世间人用毒用得太多，把毒素吸进身体里边，经过一番化学作用，然后再反射出来，所以毒质就布满空气中。我们知道原子弹、氢气弹等，是最危险厉害的武器，但由每一个人口里所放出的毒，更是比什么毒都厉害，所以现在虚空里充满了种种毒气。这世界一天比一天坏，就因为受了毒气的熏染，人们每天醉生梦死，吃、喝、嫖、赌、蛊，横、崩、拐、骗、偷，无一不精，这种情形实在是太危险了！
This world is becoming increasingly toxic, and the air is very polluted. We use too many toxic things, and when the toxins enter our bodies, they undergo chemical changes and then pass out of the body to saturate the air. The atmosphere is permeated with various poisons. We know about the atomic bomb, hydrogen bomb, and so forth, which are the most deadly weapons. However, the poison that comes from people's mouths is most deadly of all. That is why the atmosphere is so polluted. Permeated by these poisonous vapors, the world degenerates day by day. People pass through their lives as if in a dream, specializing in eating, drinking, visiting prostitutes, gambling, black magic, oppression, destruction, kidnapping, fraud, and theft. This situation is just too dangerous!
所以若想把世界消毒，要怎么办呢？就要大家一起吃斋不吃肉；能吃斋，毒就会日日减少。若想这世界真正消毒，就要大家吃素不吃肉，因为众生肉都有毒，这种毒质是很微细微细的，当你吃的时候不会觉察，但慢慢地就中了这种毒质。而且这种毒质特别厉害，没有什么药品可以解，因为其中的冤业太深。所以古人说：
How can we purge the world of poisons? Everyone should become a vegetarian. If people stop eating meat, the poisons will decrease day by day. If we really want to neutralize the poisons in the world, every person must become a vegetarian, because the flesh of all creatures is poisoned. Although you cannot detect the poison when you ingest it, you gradually become poisoned. Moreover, the poison is extremely lethal. There is no antidote, because the karma of enmity involved is too deep. Thus, the ancients said,
千百年来碗里羹，
冤深似海恨难平；
欲知世上刀兵劫，
试听屠门夜半声。
For hundreds of thousands of years,
the stew in the pot
Has boiled up a resentment very hard
to dispel.
If you want to know why there
arecalamities and wars in the world,
Just listen to the sounds from a
slaughterhouse at midnight.
“千百年来碗里羹”，从千百年以来，我们所吃的一碗羹，一碗肉汤，看上去只是一碗汤，可是“冤深似海恨难平”，其中的冤仇犹如海一般深。“欲知世上刀兵劫”，要知道世上人与人战，家与家战，国与国战，星球与星球战，互相争战，都是由吃肉所造成的。所有一切刀兵、水、火、瘟疫流行的灾难，都是由吃肉所造成的。你若想了解其中的道理，“试听屠门夜半声”，半夜的时候到屠宰场去听一听，杀猪有猪哭、杀牛有牛哭、杀羊有羊哭，总之，杀什么就什么在哭。它们的哭就是在放毒呢！放一股毒气，一边哭一边说：“好！你现在杀了我，我将来也要杀你，我们两个绝没有完。你杀我，我就要杀你；你吃我，我就要吃你！”所以形成种种冤毒充塞在虚空中。因为虚空弥漫着一片冤毒气，才造成种种灾难祸患。若人人都能吃斋，这些冤孽就会平息，就可以化干戈为玉帛，化暴戾为祥和，如此才能挽回末劫之将临！
The bowls of meat stew we have consumed during hundreds of thousands of years appear to be bowls of stew and nothing more, but the hatred involved in them is as deep as the sea. We should realize that meat-eating is the cause of personal fights, family feuds, wars between countries, and even intergalactic battles. All wars, floods, fires, epidemic plagues, and catastrophes are consequences of eating meat.
If you want to understand the reason behind these events, go stand outside a slaughterhouse at midnight and listen. When pigs are slaughtered, you hear them wailing. When cows are killed, they also cry out. When sheep are butchered, they bleat as well. And when any animal cries out before it is slaughtered, it is in fact emanating poison! It is thinking, “Fine, kill me now, but I'll be back in the future to kill you! I'll never let you forget this. You kill me, and I'll kill you. You eat me, and I'll eat you!” As a result, the air is filled with poisonous hatred, and this hateful energy causes all the various disasters and sicknesses.
If everyone became a vegetarian, these calamities would certainly be averted. Swords and shields would be exchanged for jade and silk, and violence would be transformed into peace and harmony. Thus doomsday would be avoided!
一九八二年九月十九日开示
于万佛圣城
A talk given on September 19, 1982
at the City of the Ten Thousand Buddhas
