The Origin of “Record of Modern Cause and Effect”

Origin

When the People’s Republic of China was born, I was only five years old. I received an atheistic education since I was a child and had no contact with Buddhism or any other religion. Although I went to temples when I grew up, it was only for traveling. Out of curiosity, I went to church with my classmates. However, in my mind, religion and superstition are confused.

So, how did I embark on the path of learning Buddhism?

This started from a trip to Mount Wutai in midsummer more than ten years ago.

     Mount Wutai is one of the four major Buddhist holy sites in my country and is the monastery of Manjushri Bodhisattva. In the meantime, I have already visited famous temples. The majestic ancient temple, the main hall filled with incense, and the sound of bells and chimes that make people feel tired after all, always make me feel like I have seen them before. That time I revisited my old place. I was so excited that I suddenly wanted to visit the little-known wild monks hidden in the mountains.



     I will always remember the dawn of that day, with the cold and purple mist rising in the east. Feeling refreshed and refreshed, I packed my bags, carried a map, and started my journey of searching for places. Who knew, this journey would change my future destiny and that of many others. To this day, I regard Mount Wutai as my place of rebirth.

After setting off, I deliberately avoided the smooth road and chose the winding path instead. Along the way, you can see towering mountain peaks, deep forest ravines, green smoke and shining snow. I just feel refreshed and my heart is open. The road became more and more rugged, so I simply walked along the meandering stream, where I was able to admire ancient trees, cold rocks, white clouds, green springs, exotic grasses and flowers, and I was lost in the mountains and rivers. As we climbed cliffs and waded into streams, it was almost noon before I knew it, but I didn’t even see the shadow of the hermit or idle monk, so I felt a little discouraged.

     While I was looking around at a loss, I suddenly heard the faint sound of wooden fish: duzao, duzao, duzao, the ethereal and clumsy lingering sound lingered in the mountains, just like the sky gate slowly opening. Based on my intuition, I determined that the sound came from the deep valley hidden by mist and trees in the west. I immediately cheered up and ran towards the valley, stepping on the gravel and grass.



      As soon as I stepped into the deep and beautiful valley, I saw purple air and dense woods, which seemed like a fairyland. At this time, the sound of the wooden fish had grown closer and closer, but suddenly stopped. I just followed the sound, but suddenly I found a clear stream sloping in front of me. She is like a fairy descended from the earth, spotless and spouting jade. Without thinking about it, I leaned over, took a sip of water and drank it. I suddenly felt the sweetness and coolness, and the fragrance lingered on my teeth and cheeks. After drinking freely, I washed my face with water again, which was very pleasant. Just as the beads were flying, I suddenly found a person standing on the other side. I raised my head in surprise.

I saw an old monk with draped beard and hair, a mandarin coat and mango shoes, standing upright with his hands folded. Wherever the pine breeze passes, the beard and hair are fluttering, and the clothes are fluttering. Looking at each other across the bank, I felt dazzled. His eyes were so compassionate, pure and peaceful. I don’t know how I got to the other side. I just feel that he is like my parents from another life, which makes me yearn for him physically and mentally.

“Donor, excuse me.” The old monk put his hands together and asked.

“No, I disturbed your Qingxiu.” I was at a loss and hurriedly returned the favor. God knows, this was my first time talking to a monk. I quickly pieced together appropriate language in my memory.

“Donor, do you like this quiet place?”

“I just want to avoid the busy attractions and take a walk in the mountains alone.” I was embarrassed to say the second part, “Actually, I just want to have an adventure.”

“Oh, it’s really disturbing to say that. The donor swam slowly, and I went first.”

While I was speechless, the old monk had already wandered westward. I quickly caught up a few steps and said with a blushing face, “Please stay. Actually, I am looking forward to meeting an eminent monk like you.”

“Sure, I’m not a ‘high monk’, I’m just a stubborn guide.”

“Were you knocking on the wooden fish just now?” I opened my mouth wide.

“The wooden fish wakes up the dreamer, and the clear stream washes away the dust and worries.”

I pondered the old monk’s words silently, and when I seemed to understand but not understand, I followed the old monk around the forest and came to a place where I suddenly understood. But you can see the green green floating in the sky and the sound of the spring. Pear trees are planted all around, with old trunks and tangled trunks, and luxuriant fruit and branches. The terrain in the north is slightly higher and flat, facing the spring, and there is a small thatched shed.

“I really met a distinguished monk!” I was so excited and had so many questions that I opened my mouth, but I was afraid that the vulgar voice would stain this place of purity, so I swallowed the words again.

“In the Saha world, you cannot hide for long. Time is limited. Don’t wait until death is imminent. Fame and wealth are always in vain, worldly love will eventually break up, and retribution of grievances will never end.” The old monk’s seemingly unintentional chanting made me feel like thunder when I heard it.

“People in the world only know how to commit sins and don’t know how to repent. They only seek to enjoy blessings and are unwilling to cherish blessings. Little do they know that ‘if you chant the name of the Buddha, your blessings will increase immeasurably; if you bow to the Buddha, your sins will be wiped out by the sand in the river.'”

I involuntarily took two steps forward and knelt down in front of the old monk: “Master, please accept me as your disciple. I want to learn Buddhism from you.”

“The Dharma is like an ocean, and only faith can enter it. Do you ‘believe’?” The old monk deliberately emphasized the word “faith”.

This question made me speechless. Yes, I have always thought that Buddhism is superstitious, and I am even more disdainful of worshiping gods and Buddhas. Why did I kneel devoutly at the feet of an old monk I had never met today? For a moment, I couldn’t answer. However, words such as “emptiness”, “dusty labor”, “repentance”, etc. have been burned into my mind, and they continue to arouse some emotions in my heart that seem to have been lost for a long time.

     Just when I felt helpless, I noticed that the old monk was looking at me compassionately. I had mixed feelings for a moment, and huge teardrops fell on the old monk's white socks. Although I felt that I had lost my composure, tears of dissatisfaction still burst out from my eyes, and I sobbed silently like a child who had made a mistake.

“Faith is the mother of merits and virtues, but faith is divided into righteous faith and superstition. The so-called righteous faith means righteousness but not evil, awareness but not confusion. Those who convert to Buddhism must first establish correct knowledge…

“Those who pay homage to the Buddha show respect for the Buddha, those who recite the Buddha’s name appreciate the kindness of the Buddha, those who read the sutras understand the principles of the sutras, those who sit in meditation reach the realm of the Buddha, and those who gain enlightenment realize the way to the Buddha. …”

I listened eagerly to the old monk’s detailed teachings. I felt that every grass in front of me was shining with golden light, and every green leaf had the face of the Buddha. Before I knew it, the sun was setting in the west, and the old monk wanted to get up and see me out of the mountain. Suddenly, like magic, he took out a pear from the stone recess of the spring and handed it to me. Looking at this bright yellow fruit, I remembered that I had neither breakfast nor lunch. I thanked the old monk, took the pear and took a bite. The fragrance filled my teeth, refreshed my lungs and moisturized my lungs. I was surprised to find it was a fairy fruit. The old monk looked at the funny expression on my half-open mouth and smiled brightly like a child, with waves of joy surging in every wrinkle of his face. His smile touched me deeply and made me feel as if we were old friends who had known each other for many years.

“This pear is originally bitter and difficult to swallow. But as long as you soak it in this spring water, it will become sweet in just three months. This spring is moist in winter and cool in summer, and the pears can be stored in the running water for a year.”

“So, you can practice here all year round?” I was full of curiosity and fascination.

The old monk smiled and did not comment.

The ancient moon is like frost, the breeze is like water, and the creek is gurgling. I talked with the old monk all the way, and returned to the main road of Taihuai Town without feeling the chill or difficulty. The old monk took out a carefully folded piece of paper from his sleeve and handed it to me. He clasped his hands together and was about to say goodbye. I really don’t want to give up, and I know it’s useless to talk too much.

“We will meet each other if we are destined.” The old monk’s figure disappeared into the pine forest like the ancient moon.

Facing the lights of thousands of houses pouring down like the Milky Way, I was actually a little moved and sad. “The day has passed, and my life has also been reduced. I am like a fish in the water, so what joy can I have?” My heart has never been as clear and peaceful as it is today. . When I thought about the old monk saying that he would soon end his retreat, join the world to save people, and teach sermons as circumstances dictated, I quickened my pace and returned to my residence, as if I could see him sooner if I walked a few steps quickly.

Sitting quietly at the table in the guest room, recalling my dream-like experience, I realized that all of it had a profound meaning. Suddenly, I remembered that I forgot to ask the old monk his name, and I couldn’t help but feel annoyed. At this moment, I suddenly remembered the paper the old monk left for me, and hurriedly opened it:

Sunset thatched cottage with deep Buddhist meaning

Sitting alone on the Qing steps grinding the jade wheel

It is difficult to lose the original intention if the circle is missing

Plain eyes and kind heart separated by Jian Chen

Lan Ninglu Bird’s Soul

Wanlai Sanskrit music blends into the cloud

Shu Lang dances with the pine wind

Don’t pretend to be true if you don’t show off.

Several lines of simple and clumsy words jumped into my eyes.

There is a line of small characters written neatly on the bottom: Explain the magic method

What a “truth will not be disguised if it is not true”! I am very happy to have the permanent residence address of the old monk Miaofa, and I look forward to receiving the Dharma rain again one day soon. Soon, I got in touch with him, and from then on our indissoluble bond as master and disciple began.

Time flies, ten years pass in a blink of an eye.

Now that I am nearly sixty years old, I have witnessed with my own eyes that the old monk worked hard, sacrificed his body for the Dharma, and taught countless sentient beings. However, I have wasted my time and have not let go of all the karma. It is rare for me to truly benefit from it. I am extremely ashamed! But I really don’t want to take these vivid and conclusive examples of cause and effect to the grave, so I hesitated before picking up this blunt pen. It is very possible that there are inappropriate words and omissions in the book, and I only hope that all the virtuous Buddhist friends will correct them. Finally, I would like to encourage all fellow practitioners with a verse:

If you are greedy and angry and refuse to give up, read Buddhist scriptures in vain, and do not take medicine according to the prescription, how can your disease be relieved?

At the beginning of the new millennium, I wish that we can cultivate the three universal faculties, cultivate both sharp and blunt faculties, increase our blessings and wisdom, and achieve Buddhism early! (In view of the inconvenience, I have concealed the real names and locations of the characters involved in the book, and I hope you will forgive me.)

Namo Amitabha, a disciple of the Three Jewels who is ashamed: Guo Qing

Warnings about diseases coming from the mouth
Stewing meat and frying fish is to satisfy the craving, but I wonder if the animals are unwilling to do so. The kitchen turned into a slaughterhouse, and people were disemboweled and went to the mountain of knives.
Frying, frying, frying, and frying are all punishments, but eating them alive and chewing them is a delicious meal. If your spiritual consciousness resides in you, sooner or later you will have to take your life back.
Good and evil will be rewarded in the end, and diseases come from the mouth, so don’t wait. Soon he became full of evil and was hospitalized due to illness.
The scene of disembowelment, disembowelment, and knife and scissors is reproduced in the kitchen. If I had known that I would go to hell today, why would I have been so greedy in the first place? ​

Introduction
Everyone will be plagued by various diseases more or less throughout their lives, causing great physical and mental pain to themselves and their families. Regardless of whether they are poor or rich, powerful or powerless, few people can escape the entanglement of disease, and even their lives are wasted away bit by bit, and money and power cannot help.

So why do people get sick?

In addition to normal aging and decline in human body functions, people generally believe that many diseases are “entered through the mouth.” Most people think that eating unclean food will make you sick. If this statement is correct, then we have all seen people living on the streets for many years, not washing their hands, not taking a shower, and looking for food in garbage cans. No matter whether it’s winter or summer, no clothes covering the body, hot summer and cold winter, mosquito bites, who has ever seen people with diarrhea or colds and fevers after eating a few dirty things? But look at us so-called civilized people, who pay attention to hygiene everywhere and take supplements in every meal, but we are often inseparable from medicines and hospitals. So what exactly does “disease enters through the mouth” mean?

I remember that in the 1950s, pneumonia was a serious illness. Later, with the birth of tetracycline, pneumonia could be cured. Later, the terrible tuberculosis appeared, and was finally defeated by streptomycin. As cancer, AIDS, and diseases that cannot even be named or represented by codes appear in the world one by one, medical scientists around the world cannot find a solution. Moreover, some unexplained strange diseases are common in newspapers, and they appear one after another. Science is developing at a rapid pace, medical equipment is becoming more and more advanced, and all kinds of new expensive drugs cannot make these diseases disappear. It seems that God is deliberately against mankind. There is a saying that “the devil is as high as the Tao” momentum. Don’t you see that it is difficult to see a doctor in today’s hospitals, the fees are expensive, and it is even more difficult to find a good doctor?

The real reason why people get sick was discovered after I read the scriptures, and was later verified countless times in practice. Simply put, “greed, anger, and ignorance” are the root causes of disease. To be more specific, the “ten evil karmas” are the birthplaces of various diseases. “Disease comes from the mouth” means eating something you shouldn’t eat, saying things you shouldn’t say, and doing things you shouldn’t do. Here, I will tell you a few stories about the cause and effect of killing animals and eating meat, for the reference of fellow practitioners.