Buddhism and Vegetarianism Today

[vajrastorm]

I agree that if we wish to tread the path of a Bodhisattva to full Enlightenment,  then we will think of every sentient being as precious. This is what is stated in the first verse of the Eight Verses of Thought Transformation that contains a powerful practice to develop bodhicitta.

"With the thought of attaining enlightenment
For the welfare of all beings,
Who are more precious than a wish-fulfilling jewel,
We will constantly practice holding them dear."

If all beings, including animals are precious to us, then we would not even think of killing them just to eat their flesh, which are only made tasty by the seasoning and the sauces. We would not pander to our gross craving of meat which is , in actual fact, the carcass of  a being that had been alive and full of zest for living, just like us humans. 

[apprenticehealer]

If one sees how an animal is being slaughtered - the utter fear and pain the animal goes through before it is being killed - could we consume the flesh of this once alive , breathing and conscious being ?
We should be vegetarian , not just because our religion says so, but because of the compassion we have in us for all sentient beings.

[Positive Change]

There was an exception to the meat for alms rule, however. If monks knew or suspected that an animal had been slaughtered specifically to feed monks, they were to refuse to take the meat.

I had some feedback from a friend regarding this statement. It goes as such. Can someone clarify this?:

I am a little perplexed! When I was in Thailand a couple of years back, I participated in the early morning Dana offerings to the monks on this particular street where there were street food vendors aplenty... all seemed to me were set up to sell food to those who wanted to make offerings to the monks. And the food sold had meat in it and was clearly not vegetarian.

Does this not contradict the rule whereby the monks are NOT allowed to eat the food specifically slaughtered to feed them. It seemed to me at the time normal but having read this, I am actually quite confused at what seems to be an industry targeted at tourist dollars and have no concern for the monks in general. I am aghast at this as I may have partook in an act that may have caused a monk to go against his vows... Help!

[Klein]

I think we can always find something from a scripture somewhere to justify our own attachments. People have been doing that ever since religion began - to justify wars, prejudice, discrimination, murder. In Buddhism, we always say we are the middle way, so why be so fanatical about vegetarianism. The funny thing is that i don't think vegetarianism should be considered extreme! What is so extreme over NOT eating a dead carcass?

If we are Buddhist, and we think that all sentient beings have been our mothers, why would we want to eat an animal? For those who do not know or believe this, then okay, how about seeing how animals suffer in abattoirs and farms? What gives a human being the right to kill another animal just to eat them when there are so many alternatives around?

I know that in Tibet, the monks do eat meat because of the scarcity of vegetables, so it is an environmental issue rather than attachment. Also the Theravadan monks who receive dana will just eat whatever they are given (and perhaps the buddhists who give the dana should also think what are they offering? Perhaps they can offer vegetarian food instead).

Most of us have the luxury of choosing what we wish to eat on a daily basis. If we have that luxury, let us give our animal friends the luxury of living also, and not ending up on our dinner plates just to satisfy our craving for taste. The funny thing is - if you just take the meat and do not add seasoning and just cook it, it actually tastes pretty awful. It's only the addition of seasoning and sauces that makes the dish more palatable - so try making delicious vegetarian food instead. That would be living with compassion.

I agree with what WisdomBeing wrote. We do have a choice of not killing to feed ourselves. Our body can still be healthy if we don't eat meat. In actual fact, there are vegetarian diets to heal cancer patients because certain vegetables detoxify the body that's causing the cancer.

If we want to practice compassion, then we can't support the killing of animals. It's contradictory.