(Minghui.org) I live near the ocean where various types of seafood are bountiful. For people growing up near the sea, seafood is a main part of their diet. Locals love fresh catch, especially shellfish, which should be cooked alive to retain its flavor.
Ordinary people eat whatever they wish. Many veteran practitioners who began cultivating before the persecution began in July 1999 are quite diligent, yet they still cannot put down the attachment of cooking and eating live seafood.
When monks enter monasteries, they immediately cut off their attachment to food by switching to a vegetarian diet. Master did not ask us to become vegetarians. There are many delicious foods for us to chose from, including frozen seafood. Why must we cook and eat live ones?
After clarifying the truth to people at markets, some practitioners buy live seafood to take home. Autumn is the season for shrimp, and their flesh is fat and sweet. When a practitioner bought a few pounds live shrimp, another practitioner asked, “You bought live shrimp?” The other one said, “Yes, lives ones taste best.” This practitioner lives with her son and she cooks for the family, but I’m not sure if she’s the one who cooks the shrimp. In fact, the dead shrimp at the market are also fresh, and are delicious with stir fried vegetables.
A practitioner likes to eat shellfish and talks about their meatiness. Some practitioners collect oysters at low tide because they are free. They even go so far to satisfy their attachment to food.
Practitioners who buy live seafood argue they are just trying to fit into ordinary people’s way of doing things, or else non-cultivators would not understand. They also interpret the Fa to suit their understanding. Some accused the practitioners who questioned them, and said they had attachments.
A local practitioner was cooking live seafood, and the boiling water splattered on her arm. She immediately understood that she should stop killing lives. If one drop of boiling water caused so much pain, then how much more pain do those sea creatures endure while being boiled alive! Since then, she stopped killing lives. Still, many practitioners in our area continue cooking live seafood due to their food attachment. Master cleansed our body, yet we continue accumulating karma by killing beings.
There are many attachments cultivators should eliminate, killing lives is one of them. After practicing Falun Dafa for so many years, I continue to see and hear that some practitioners kill lives by cooking live seafood. I wrote this sharing not to criticize them. Instead I hope they can improve their cultivation, and strive to be worthy of Master’s compassion.
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Category: Cultivation Insights
