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"杀生求生，去生远矣。"
sha sheng qiu sheng, qu sheng yuan yi.
"Kill lives get lives, near life far off."
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If we kill animals and eat them to nourish our own bodies, then we are actually further away from the righteous concept of 'life', and thus our health deteriorates and life gets shortened.
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In the preface of SUN Si Miao's book 《备急千金要方》 (Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold for Emergencies), he said:
"Many great ancient physicians used animals to treat acute and dangerous illnesses of emergency. Even though it's said that animals are inferior and human beings are superior; when it comes to appreciating lives, humans and animals are the same. Hurting others and benefiting oneself is commonly disgusted by all animals; let alone human beings. When we save ourselves by killing animals, we're really departing away from the definition of 'life'. This is the reason why I don't use animal products as herbs/medicine in my prescriptions."
In short,
eating animals to nourish our bodies will simply make our health worse and shorten our lives...
PS:
-- 孙思邈, SUN Si Miao, SUN SiMiao, 581-682, Tang dynasty, China. Renowned physician and Taoist. A great medical physician and herbalist. Well regarded as “药王” (Yao Wang, The king of medicines). Main achievement: Author of 《备急千金要方》 and 《千金翼方》.
-- The book 备急千金要方, Bei ji qian jin yao fang, Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold for Emergencies.
-- The book 千金翼方, Qian jin yi fang, Supplement to the Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold.
-- By the way, he spent 10 years on 《千金要方》, from age 60-70 years old. And he spent another 30 years finishing 《千金翼方》, at the age of about 100 years old...
-- Original explanation: (simplifled characters): “自古名贤治病，多用生命以济危急，虽曰贱畜贵人，至于爱命,人畜一也。损彼益己，物情同患，况于人呼!夫杀生求生，去生更远。吾今此方所以不用生命为药者，良由此也。”(《备急千金要方》)
-- Original explanation: (original characters): "自古名賢治病，多用生命以濟危急，雖曰賤畜貴人，至於愛命，人畜一也。損彼益己，物情同患，況於人乎！夫殺生求生，去生更遠。吾今此方所以不用生命為藥者，良由此也。"(《备急千金要方》)
