南无本师释迦牟尼佛（三称） Namo Shakyamuni Buddha !(three times)
南无大愿地藏王菩萨（三称） Namo Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva! (three times）
Chapter 5: The Names of the Hells (地狱名号) English sound recording with captions, Bilingual Chinese-English version recording with opening and dedications. online Chinese Earth Store Sutra text; English Earth Store Sutra text; A commentary by Master Hsuan Hua at City of Ten Thousand Buddhas;
As the title indicated, this chapter Earth Store Bodhisattva gave a general list of the names of the various kind of hell where people who have committed sins by killing, theft, adultery, lying, slandering, abusing, gossiping, craving and anger have to be cast into for punishment without any chance of escape…. Therefore, living beings must not underestimate small wrongs and consider them harmless, for after death there will be ripened effects to be experienced to the most exact detail.
Scientists have confirms there are many different dimensions exist in the universe, although the technology can not define clearly. What caused these different dimensions? Dimensions/realms satient being can be born in are not only just physical or spiritual realms, they also correspondence to psychological realms. The cosmological world reflects the psychological world, and psychological world is reflected in the cosmological world. 《华严经》里面，释迦牟尼佛初成道的时候，就很感慨的说：一切众生皆有如来智慧德相，但以妄想执着而不能证得。
Though commonly referred to as poisons, the Buddha first introduced these mental attitudes as fires in the Fire Sermon (Adittapariyaya Sutta): “Monks, all is burning . . . Burning with what? Burning with the fire of lust, with the fire of hate, with the fire of delusion.” The three poisons are depicted at the center of the Wheel of Life (bhavachakra), a visual representation of the sorrows of samsara. Greed is depicted as a rooster, hatred as a snake, and delusion as a pig. Importantly, they literally feed off one another; each animal consuming the tail end of the other in a vicious cycle of delusion. The centrality of the three poisons demonstrates their role in powering the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth, the escape from which is nirvana.
A person should always perform good actions and restrain himself from doing evil actions. There are three bodily actions which are kammically unwholesome. They are:
- (1) Killing of living beings,
- (2) Stealing, and
- (3) Unlawful sexual intercourse. These bodily deeds correspond to the first three of the Five Precepts for people to follow.
Four verbal actions are kammically unwholesome, and they are as follows:
- (1) Lying,
- (2) Slander and tale-bearing,
- (3) Harsh speech, and
- (4) Frivolous and meaningless talk.
Except for lying, the other unwholesome deeds performed by speech may be viewed as extensions of the Fourth Precept.
The three other demeritorious deeds are performed by the mind, and they are as follows:
- (1) Covetousness, or eagerly desirous especially of things belonging to others,
- (2) Ill-will, and
- (3) Wrong view.
These three deeds correspond to the three evil roots of greed, hatred and delusion. The non-observance of the Fifth Precept of abstention from intoxicants can not only lead to the performance of these three demeritorious mental actions after the mind is intoxicated, but also the other demeritorious deeds performed by body and speech.
The performance of good actions gives rise to merit (punna), a quality which purifies and cleanses the mind. If the mind is unchecked, it has the tendency to be ruled by evil tendencies, leading one to perform bad deeds and getting into trouble. Merit purifies the mind of the evil tendencies of greed, hatred and delusion. The greedy mind encourages a person to desire, accumulate and hoard; the hating mind drags him to dislike and anger; and the deluded mind makes one become entangled in greed and hatred, thinking that these evil roots are right and worthy. Demeritorious deeds give rise to more suffering and reduce the opportunities for a person to know and practise the Dhamma.
Merit is a great facilitator: It opens the doors of opportunity everywhere. While the material wealth a person gathers can be lost by theft, flood, fire, confiscation, etc., the benefit of merits follows him from life to life and cannot be lost, although it can be exhausted if no attempts are made to perform more merits. A person will experience happiness here and now as well as hereafter through the performance of merit.
Just as some soil can yield a better harvest (say black fertile soil compared to stony soil), a good deed performed to some persons can give rise to more merits than to others. The rich fields of merits include the Sangha or holy people, mother, father and needy. Good deeds performed to these persons will manifest in many ways and be the fountainhead of many wondrous results.
In The Discourse On The Ten Wholesome Ways Of Action (佛说十善业道经) Chinese-English bilingual translation told us the ten wholesome attainments and the benefits of keep up these good deeds in detail: “Speaking about wholesome dharmas, the bodies of men and devas, the Illumination of the Sravakas, the Illumination of the Pratyekas, and the Highest Illumination, they are all accomplished depending on these dharmas which are to be considered as fundamental. Therefore they are called wholesome dharmas. These dharmas are the ten wholesome ways of actions. What are these ten? They are the ability to give up forever killing, stealing, wrong conduct, lying, slandering, harsh language, frivolous speech, lust, hate, and wrong views.” (十善业道。何等为十？谓能永离杀生、偷盗、邪行、妄语、两舌、恶口、绮语、贪欲、瞋恚、邪见。) Master JingKong talked about the ten wholesome ways of action is the basis of Buddhism practices.《佛说十善业道经》: 十善业是修行根本.
To be continued ….
Dedicate Merits:
May the precious bodhicitta That has not yet arisen, arise and grow, And may that which has already arisen not diminish, But increase more and more. 回向偈： 愿以此功德，庄严佛净土。 上报四重恩，下济三涂苦。 若有见闻者，悉发菩提心。 尽此一报身，同生极乐国。