好生救劫编
杀生之罪。由于男子者居多。而本于妇女者。亦复不少。盖妇女职司中馈。刀七是供。
鳖脍鲤。多出其手。此为见生致死。闻声食肉。惨尤甚焉。世间闺阁。慈柔恻隐之性。
每胜于男。而于此溺于习俗。独有漫不知警者。抑思人生得女人身。五漏之体。劣于
男子。若复多害物命。夙愆未洗。恶业又加。则罪报尤重。尝观女流。易罹 瘕。痨瘵胎
产诸患。根寻其理。杀业与焉。昔 崛摩罗。巡乞至一人家。适妇以难产求救。摩罗归
问佛。佛曰。汝可于产母榻前抗声曰。我从贤圣法中来。未曾杀生。儿闻此言。无不产
者。摩罗如教。儿果诞生。又法师梵臻夜坐。见一妇人。哀恳曰。请师到家。师从至其门。
见数人舁此妇床上。大刀斫之如泥。少时复活。泣曰。外家生前善作 。今受此报。师为
授戒。遂得超脱。嗟乎。杀生还报。不杀度厄。罪福彰彰。秋毫弗爽矣。抑更有进者。兵革
之世。妇女罹殃。荼苦尤甚。或全城遇掠。或阖家系累。死别生离。谁非孽报耶。盖有情
之类。眷属无异。至于突遭屠割。俯就烹 。存雌去雄。弃子存母。衔冤蓄恨。饮泣吞声。
天道好还。出尔反尔。徒以信宿轮回。改易躯壳。倘令慧眼观之。正如投桃报李耳。夫
闺闱贤达。自能戒杀放生。造福无涯。允臻善果。倘在中庸以下。积习昏沉。吾愿慈母
贤姑。哲夫孝子。苦口缓颊。曲陈罪报。感触天性。庶几听从悔改。使门内杀业永消。冤
仇不立。凡诸疾苦夭横。殃祸流离。俱可禳解矣。岂不自他兼利也哉。
*Hao Sheng Jie Jie Bian* (Compilation on Preserving Life and Saving from Calamity)
The sin of killing living beings is committed mostly by men. However, those originating from women are also not few. Since women's duty lies in managing the household kitchen, handling knives and chopping boards is their work. Sliced turtle meat and carp sashimi often come from their hands. This constitutes watching living creatures die and eating meat while hearing their cries; the cruelty is particularly severe. Within households, women naturally possess a gentler, more compassionate nature than men. Yet, in this matter, they indulge in customs without any sense of alarm.
Consider that obtaining a female body is already considered a "Five-Leak Body" (a term indicating physiological or karmic inferiority compared to males), which is inferior to the male form. If one further harms many lives, failing to cleanse past sins while adding new evil karma, the retribution will be even heavier. It is observed that women are prone to various ailments such as *xia* (abdominal masses), *lao zhai* (consumptive diseases like tuberculosis), and difficulties in pregnancy and childbirth. Tracing the root cause, killing karma plays a role.
In the past, Ju Mo Luo (Kumaraloca?) went begging to a household and happened upon a woman suffering from difficult labor. He returned to ask the Buddha, who said, "You may stand before the parturient bed and loudly declare: 'I come from the Dharma of the Sages and have never killed.' The child, hearing these words, will surely be born." Kumaraloca followed this instruction, and the child was indeed born.
Another instance involves the monk Fan Zhen. While meditating at night, he saw a woman pleading, "Please, Master, come to my home." The monk followed her to the door and saw several people carrying the woman onto a bed, hacking at her with large knives as if cutting mud. After a short while, she revived and wept, saying, "My natal family was skilled in making [missing text/food items] in life, and now I suffer this retribution." The monk bestowed precepts upon her, and she attained liberation.
Alas! Killing brings retribution; refraining from killing helps one overcome calamities. The distinctions between sin and virtue are clear and precise, not missing by a hair's breadth.
Furthermore, in times of war and turmoil, women suffer calamities with exceptional bitterness. Some cities are plundered entirely; some families are bound and imprisoned. Death and separation—could these not be retributions for past misdeeds? Sentient beings regard their relatives as no different from themselves. To suddenly face slaughter, submitting to cooking, leaving females behind while taking males, abandoning children to save mothers, harboring grievances and hatred, weeping silently. The Heavenly Dao favors reciprocity; what you do to others returns to you. It is merely due to the cycle of reincarnation over brief periods that the shell changes. If viewed through the wisdom eye, it is just like giving a peach and receiving a plum in return.
Virtuous women within the inner quarters can naturally abstain from killing and release lives, creating boundless merit and surely attaining good fruits. For those of average capacity or below, weighed down by habitual obscurity, I wish that loving mothers, virtuous sisters-in-law, wise husbands, and filial sons would earnestly and gently explain the principles of retribution, touching their innate nature, so that they might listen and repent. Thus, the killing karma within the household will be forever eliminated, and grudges will not arise. All illnesses, premature deaths, disasters, and displacements can then be averted. Is this not benefiting both oneself and others?