一切众生肉里都有一种毒，这种毒不是一朝一夕积成的，也不是一生一世才有的，是生生世世累积而成的。
All animal flesh contains a kind of poison. This poison did not come into being in a single day, or even in one lifetime. It has been accumulating over many lifetimes.
人与人之间互相残杀，酝酿出一种不能泯灭的怨毒。杀畜生时，畜生在心中也存一种怨毒。它临死时，心里就生出恐怖、仇恨、报复的心，这种从性情中涌出的怨恨、仇愤，就生出一种毒。
People have been murdering one another and brewing up a poisonous enmity which cannot be blotted out. When animals are killed, they harbor a deep grudge. Right before they die, their hearts are filled with terror, hatred, and vengefulness. The hatred they feel produces a kind of poison.
所以人吃众生肉，就是在吃毒呢！吃的当时不觉得有害，但久而久之就无药可医，生出种种奇怪不治之症。在这个时代，世界上到处冤气冲天，比原子弹还毒，这种毒是无形无相，可是会令人同归于尽的。
When people eat animal flesh, they are really eating poison! Although they do not realize the harm at the time, eventually they develop all kinds of strange and incurable diseases. This hateful energy reaches to the heavens. It is a greater threat than the atomic bomb, for it cannot be seen, but it can wipe out the human race.
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 are calamities
and wars in the world,
Just listen to the sounds from a slaughterhouse
at midnight.
古人说这首偈颂，是有因缘、有根据的，我们要彻底了解这种道理，才能把疾病治好。
This author from ancient times had a valid reason for writing the above verse. We must thoroughly understand the principle in it before we can cure our illnesses.
一九八二年十月七日开示
A talk given on October 7, 1982
