The following is a story told by Master Sheng Yen about his time in the military. Read on to see what important lessons Master Sheng Yen learned, plus commentary from Venerable Chang Yuan.
Vegetarianism is important to me because of my monastic vows. Even when I was in the army, I tried to uphold the monastic precepts in my behavior and mind. Chinese monastics are vegetarians because eating meat is not compassionate. Food nourishes the body so that we can cultivate the Path. Since it is possible to nourish the body with vegetarian food, why is it necessary to eat meat? Eating meat involves killing animals, which is contrary to one of the five basic precepts taken by all Buddhists, lay and monastic, to not kill.
It was often a struggle to persuade the chefs to cook something for me before they cooked the meal with meat. Some chefs were nice enough to do that, some weren’t. I tried not to eat the meat dishes they cooked. But sometimes when they cooked a dish with pork, I would eat the vegetable in the dish and avoid the pork. When the chefs rationed meat to one piece per person, everybody wanted to be friends with me. They would say, “Monk, if you give me your piece of meat, I will give you my vegetables.”
I was sometimes bullied. Soldiers loved to push each other around. The treasurer in our company, who was responsible for distributing our monthly salary, was like that. I asked him to hold my salary for me because I didn’t need to spend it right away. He was happy to oblige and said he could even give me interest. But, after several months, when I asked him for some of the money, he dug in his heels.
“It’s not time for your monthly salary,” he said, “But you’ve kept my salary for the last three months,” I replied. “I’m only responsible for the public fund,” he said, “not your personal money. I don’t have it.” It was clear that he was bullying me. I let him keep my money and learned my lesson. From then on, whenever something involved money, I made sure that there was a receipt.
Soon, after this incident, the treasurer was stabbed three times by another soldier with whom he disagreed over money. The treasurer ended up in the army hospital, and the culprit was sent to jail.
I made it a point never to lose my temper. This was not just because I renounced violence after I entered monastic life. When I was in elementary school, I was in fights all the time, and I lost every time. When people poked fun at me in the army, I tried to tolerate them. I knew that I should not lose my temper. But I also dared not to.
COMMENTARY FROM VENERABLE CHANG YUAN
In this story, Shifu remained committed to vegetarianism while in the military due to his monastic vows. He faced challenges in maintaining a vegetarian diet in the army but persisted in avoiding meat. He also accepted various torments in military life. Through these experiences, he emphasized the Buddhist principles of compassion and non-violence, particularly by learning to tolerate bullying.
Tolerance means the capacity to put up with most circumstances, facing any challenge with equanimity. Further, Chan practitioners have to use the methods to cultivate inner merits of forbearance. This involves accepting and understanding the experience of enduring hardships, happiness, and afflictions, as integral to ongoing practice. By cultivating forbearance, one’s willpower and determination naturally strengthen, fostering the growth of self-confidence.
Throughout our spiritual journey, different environments will trigger different reactions within us. When we face challenges, both physical and mental, it’s important not to be surprised or resentful. Even though environments may stir up your mind, these experiences are part of life’s practice and don’t warrant excessive analysis or complaints. The key practice is to handle these mind and body phenomena rather than merely repressing, escaping, or ignoring them. Essentially, it’s about accepting them, which is what we mean by “Tolerate.” Again, forbearance doesn’t mean swallowing bitterness. Rather, it involves training yourself to accept what usually you cannot accept, and to be able to do what you usually are not willing to do. For example, we face pain in the legs and mental agitation during meditation. To work with these experiences skillfully, you could say: “this leg’s pain is not mine; it’s not related to me,” and then return to your method. Or you can directly experience the leg pain, allowing it to hurt, observing it, without connecting with your mind, regarding the leg pain as having nothing to do with cultivating the mind. In fact, we should consider it a meritorious deed to practice with difficulties. If we cannot be forbearing in sitting practice, then elsewhere in our lives, we might give up halfway and abandon something meaningful that we’re doing.
Recognizing this, encountering difficulties along the spiritual path is expected. It’s all part of the nature of practice. Even great masters continue to face challenges after attaining enlightenment. Sometimes, these hurdles can be even tougher before reaching enlightenment. Therefore, on the journey of practice, it’s essential to cultivate patience and resilience to handle whatever comes your way. Embracing this mindset sets you up for smooth sailing in daily life, fostering a calmer and more steadfast inner self.