From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=CgBx91_8JUs

Context: Throughout this transcript, Bhante Vimalaramsi is the speaker unless otherwise indicated.

student beings our owner of their

actions heirs of their actions they

originate from their actions are bound

to their actions have their actions as

their refuge it is action that

distinguishes beings as inferior or

superior the Buddha said this here

student some man or woman kills living

beings and his murder murderous bloody

handed given to blows and violence

merciless to living beings because of

performing and undertaking such action

on the dissolution of the body after

death he reappears in a state of

deprivation in an unhappy destination in

perdition even in hell but if on the

desolation of the body after death he

does not reappear in the state of

deprivation but instead comes back to

the human state then wherever he is

reborn he is short-lived this is the way

student that leads to short life namely

one kills living beings

his murderous bloody handed given to

blows and violence merciless to living

beings so a person that practices being

a butcher they generally are not very

healthy people and they generally do not

live very long but it's kind of an

interesting thing because sometimes

women can have a baby and the baby only

lives for a very short time and then

dies and they they wonder why why why

it's not the woman's fault that the baby

died to be very young it's that being in

their past life they they killed other

beings so they didn't live very long so

one of the things that I've taught

people for a long time is that when you

practice the meditation it's good to

practice your generosity and when you

practice your generosity there are

different kinds of generosity that you

can practice one of the things that is

very good to do is to go out and buy

some animal that is going to be killed

like lobster or crab or fish or chickens

and they're still alive and then you

take them and you let them go free when

you let them go free your mind becomes

very happy now giving life is a very

very important gift to give I know

people that are very sick

and they practice giving and giving life

and letting go of worrying about their

sickness when they let that that animal

go free they let go of the worry their

body becomes healthy again so when you

practice giving life it's one of the

most powerful gifts that you can give

now the animals let's say the lobsters

or crabs they're in a restaurant and

people go up and they say I want that

one where I want that one and then

somebody takes and kills them and

prepares them the meat when you ask for

this one or that one you are taking part

in that beings death and that is bad

karma for you but if you say I want this

one that I want you to keep him alive I

want to take him home and then you let

him go free what is happening in that

lobsters mind the lobster knows that

it's caught a lobster knows that it's

going to be killed why because he sees

other lobsters being put in the same

thing and they get taken away and

they're killed and they know that so the

lobster has a lot of fear and is very

much afraid and then somebody comes in

and they grab them oh they're very very

sad and then they come out and you let

me who's not killed right away but he

still has fear of death then you take

that lock lobster out to the ocean and

you let that Lobster go back in

oh [ __ ] what have you done that lobster

has gone from the worst day in their

life they knew they were going to be

killed they had a lot of fear they had a

lot of anxiety and now you let them go

free they went from the worst day in

their life to the best day now they can

continue living all beings want to

continue living so when you let them go

free in your mind you say I let go of

worry I let go of pain I let go of

whatever it is that you have an

attachment to fear of death I know some

people that that have cancer and they

want to let go of the cancer so it does

they want to be healthy they don't want

to die so they let these animals go and

let go of the worry about the cancer and

the merit that they make for giving life

comes back to them now there was one

lady in Malaysia I told this story a

couple days ago that she she came to me

and she told me that she was going to

die in about one month the doctor said

the cancer there was nothing they could

do the cancer was so bad that she was

going to die and she asked what she

could do so that she could be happy for

that one month so I told her to buy an

animal let it go free and focus on

happiness coming into our mind

she went out to the fishing boats and

they have little fish that they use as

bait

she bought 100 fish and then she would

take it out and let it go free in the

ocean and she became very happy she did

this every day after about six weeks she

went to the doctor because she felt good

she didn't feel sick and the doctor

examined her and the doctor said what

have you been doing what kind of

medicine are you taking I want to know

about this and she said I quit taking

medicine I went down and I bought fish

and I let them go free every day that's

all I've done different she didn't have

any cancer

my cancer went away the gift of life is

very very powerful anything that you're

very much worried about you buy some

animals that are going to be killed and

let them go free and let go of that

worry and then everything starts working

so that you don't have that where he

come up anymore so this is a very good

thing to do

student beings our owner of their

actions heirs of their actions they

originate from their actions are bound

to their actions have their actions as

their refuge it is action that

distinguishes beings as inferior or

superior the Buddha said this here

student some man or woman kills living

beings and his murder murderous bloody

handed given to blows and violence

merciless to living beings because of

performing and undertaking such action

on the dissolution of the body after

death he reappears in a state of

deprivation in an unhappy destination in

perdition even in hell but if on the

desolation of the body after death he

does not reappear in the state of

deprivation but instead comes back to

the human state then wherever he is

reborn he is short-lived this is the way

student that leads to short life namely

one kills living beings

his murderous bloody handed given to

blows and violence merciless to living

beings so a person that practices being

a butcher they generally are not very

healthy people and they generally do not

live very long but it's kind of an

interesting thing because sometimes

women can have a baby and the baby only

lives for a very short time and then

dies and they they wonder why why why

it's not the woman's fault that the baby

died to be very young it's that being in

their past life they they killed other

beings so they didn't live very long so

one of the things that I've taught

people for a long time is that when you

practice the meditation it's good to

practice your generosity and when you

practice your generosity there are

different kinds of generosity that you

can practice one of the things that is

very good to do is to go out and buy

some animal that is going to be killed

like lobster or crab or fish or chickens

and they're still alive and then you

take them and you let them go free when

you let them go free your mind becomes

very happy now giving life is a very

very important gift to give I know

people that are very sick

and they practice giving and giving life

and letting go of worrying about their

sickness when they let that that animal

go free they let go of the worry their

body becomes healthy again so when you

practice giving life it's one of the

most powerful gifts that you can give

now the animals let's say the lobsters

or crabs they're in a restaurant and

people go up and they say I want that

one where I want that one and then

somebody takes and kills them and

prepares them the meat when you ask for

this one or that one you are taking part

in that beings death and that is bad

karma for you but if you say I want this

one that I want you to keep him alive I

want to take him home and then you let

him go free what is happening in that

lobsters mind the lobster knows that

it's caught a lobster knows that it's

going to be killed why because he sees

other lobsters being put in the same

thing and they get taken away and

they're killed and they know that so the

lobster has a lot of fear and is very

much afraid and then somebody comes in

and they grab them oh they're very very

sad and then they come out and you let

me who's not killed right away but he

still has fear of death then you take

that lock lobster out to the ocean and

you let that Lobster go back in

oh [ __ ] what have you done that lobster

has gone from the worst day in their

life they knew they were going to be

killed they had a lot of fear they had a

lot of anxiety and now you let them go

free they went from the worst day in

their life to the best day now they can

continue living all beings want to

continue living so when you let them go

free in your mind you say I let go of

worry I let go of pain I let go of

whatever it is that you have an

attachment to fear of death I know some

people that that have cancer and they

want to let go of the cancer so it does

they want to be healthy they don't want

to die so they let these animals go and

let go of the worry about the cancer and

the merit that they make for giving life

comes back to them now there was one

lady in Malaysia I told this story a

couple days ago that she she came to me

and she told me that she was going to

die in about one month the doctor said

the cancer there was nothing they could

do the cancer was so bad that she was

going to die and she asked what she

could do so that she could be happy for

that one month so I told her to buy an

animal let it go free and focus on

happiness coming into our mind

she went out to the fishing boats and

they have little fish that they use as

bait

she bought 100 fish and then she would

take it out and let it go free in the

ocean and she became very happy she did

this every day after about six weeks she

went to the doctor because she felt good

she didn't feel sick and the doctor

examined her and the doctor said what

have you been doing what kind of

medicine are you taking I want to know

about this and she said I quit taking

medicine I went down and I bought fish

and I let them go free every day that's

all I've done different she didn't have

any cancer

my cancer went away the gift of life is

very very powerful anything that you're

very much worried about you buy some

animals that are going to be killed and

let them go free and let go of that

worry and then everything starts working

so that you don't have that where he

come up anymore so this is a very good

thing to do