而诸恶业中，唯杀最重。
And within all evil karma, killing alone [is the] most heavy.
普天之下，殆无不造杀业之人。
Universally under [the] sky, [is] nearly without persons [who do] not create [the] karma [of] killing.
即毕生不曾杀生，而日日食肉，即日日杀生。
Even if [for] all [of] one’s life not having killed lives, yet every day eating meat, is [to] every day kill lives [indirectly, due to demand for lives to be killed every day].
以非杀决无有肉故，以屠者猎者渔者，皆为供给食肉者之所需，而代为之杀。
With no killing, definitely [will one be] without meat thus, with butchers, hunters, fishers, all [of their efforts are] for supplying meat-eaters’ wants, then on their behalf killing.
然则食肉吃素一关，实为吾人升沉，天下治乱之本，非细故也。
That being the case, [to] eat meat [or to] eat [as] veg[etari]ans, [this] one test, truly [is] for our rising [or] falling, [as the] basis [of the] world’s stability [or] turmoil, not [a] small cause [at all].
其有自爱其身，兼爱普天人民。
You [who] have self-cherishing [for] your bodies, [should] simultaneously cherish [the] world’s people.
欲令长寿安乐，不罹意外灾祸者，当以戒杀吃素，为挽回天灾人祸之第一妙法。
Those [who] desire [to] enable [more to have] long lives, peace [and] bliss, [to] not suffer [from] accidents [and] disasters, should with abstaining [from] killing, eat [as] veg[etari]ans, for redemption [from] natural disasters [and] human disasters, [as the] foremost wonderful method.
净土宗十三祖印光大师
Pure Land Tradition’s 13th Patriarch Great Master Yìnguāng
(普劝爱惜物命同用清明素皂以减杀业说)
(Universal Encouragement [To] Cherish Sentient Beings’ Lives, Together Using Pure Vegan Soap [Free Of Animal Oils And Fats] For Reducing Karma [Of] Killing)
Namo Amituofo : Translation by Shen Shi’an
