Meat eating in Buddhism
"For the sake of love of purity,
let the Bodhisattva refrain from eating flesh,
which is born of semen, blood etc. To
avoid causing terror to living beings, let
the disciple, who is disciplining
himself to attain compassion, refrain from
eating meat... It is not true that meat
is proper food and permissible when the
animal was not killed by himself, when
he did not order to kill it, when it was
not especially meant for him.
There may be some people in the future
who, being under the influence of taste
for meat will string together in various
ways sophistic arguments to defend meat
eating.
But meat-eating in any form, in any
manner and in any place is unconditionally
and once and for all prohibited.
"Meat eating I have not permitted
to anyone, I do not permit and will not
permit..."
- Lord Buddha, (Lanka vatara Sutra ) 1
"The reason for practicing dhyana
and seeking to attain samadhi is to escape
from the suffering of life, but in
seeking to escape from suffering ourselves
why should we inflict it upon others?
Unless you can so control your minds that
even the thought of brutal unkindness
and killing is abhorred, you will never be
able to escape from the bondage of the
world's life...
After my paranirvana in the last kalpa
different ghosts will be encountered
everywhere deceiving people and teaching
them that they can eat meat and still
attain enlightenment.. .How can a
bhikshu, who hopes to become a deliverer of
others, himself be living on the flesh
of other sentient beings?"
- Lord Buddha, (Surangama Sutra) 2
"All tremble at violence; all fear
death. Putting oneself in the place of
another, one should not kill nor cause
another to kill."- Lord Buddha,
Dhammapada, 129
"One who, while seeking happiness,
oppresses with violence other living beings
who also desire happinesss, will not
find happiness hereafter."- Lord Buddha,
Dhammapada, 131
"He who has renounced all violence
towards all living beings, weak or strong,
who neither kills nor causes others to
kill - him I do call a holy man." - Lord
Buddha, Dhammapada, 405 3
"Anyone familiar with the numerous
accounts of the Buddha's extraordinary
compassion and reverence for living
beings - for example his insistence that his
monks strain the water they drink lest
they inadvertently cause the death of any
micro-organisms 4 - could never believe
that he would be indifferent to the
sufferings of domestic animals caused by
their slaughter of food"
Roshi Philip Kapleau, in To Cherish All
Life 5
"The inhabitants are numerous and
happy... Throuhout the country the people do
not kill any living creature, nor drink
intoxicating liquor.. .they do not keep
pigs and foul, and do not sell live
cattle; in the markets there are no butcher
shops and no dealers in intoxicating
drink... Only the Chandalas (lowest cast)
are fisherman and hunters and sell flesh
meat." 6
- famous 4th century Chines Buddhist
traveller Fa-hsien
"I have enforced the laws against
killing certain animals and many others. But
the greatest progress of Righteousness
among men comes from the exhortation in
favour of non-injury to life and
abstention from killing living things. " 7 -
Pillar Edict of King Ashoka (268-233 BC)
"The eating of meat extinguishes
the seed of great compassion"
- Mahaparinirvana (Mahayana Version)
The 13th Century Zen Master Doyen, while
visiting China, asked this question:
"What must the mental attitude and
daily activities of a student be when he is
engaged in Buddhist Meditation and
practice? Ju-Ching answered that one of the
things he should avoid is eating meat. 8
"The salvation of birds and beasts,
oneself included -this is the object of
Shakyamuni's religious
austerities." - Zen Master Ikkyu
"In China and Japan the eating of
meat was looked upon as an evil and was
ostracised.. .The eating of meat
gradually ceased (around 517) and the tended to
become general. In became a matter of
course not to use any kind of meat in the
meals of temples and monasteries."
9 - Encyclopaedia of Buddhism
"There is just no reason why
animals should be slaughtered to serve as human
diet when there are so many substitutes.
Man can live without meat." - The Dalai
Lama
The 14 th century Saint Srila Jayadeva
Gosvami in his Dasavatara-stotra sings:
nindasi yajna-vidher ahaha sruti jatam
sadaya-hrdaya- darsita-pasu-ghatam
kesava dhrta-buddha-sarira jaya
jagad-isa hare
"It is said about Lord Buddha here:
sadaya-hrdaya darsita-pasu-qhatam.
He saw the whole human race going to
hell by this animal killing. So he appeared
to teach ahimsa, non-violence, being
compassionate on the animals and human
beings.
Actually animal-killing, no religion
sanctions. In Christian religion also, it
is clearly stated, 'Thou shall not
kill'. Everywhere animal killing is
restricted. In no religion unnecessary
killing of animals is actually allowed or
supported. But for this nobody cares
nowadays.
The killing of animals is increasing,
and so are the reactions. Every ten years
you will find a war. These are the
reactions." - His Divine Grace A.C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada,
Founder-Acarya of ISKCON, the Hare Krishna
Movement.
1The Lankavatara Sutra, / Daisez Susuki,
London: Routiedge 1932
2A Buddhist Bible, ed. Dwight Godard,
New York:Dutton 1952
3Dhammapada by Ven.Sri Acarya
Duddharakkhita,Budha Vacana Trust,Bangalore
4 for detailed explanation of this Rule
see: A Record of Buddhist Religion,
I.Tsing, trans. J. Takakusu
(Delhi:Munsriram Manoharlal, 1966 pp.30-33
5
6A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms,
trans.l. James Legge, NY: Dover 195 p 43
7 The Seventh Pillar Edict, in Sources
of Indian Tradition, NY: ColumbiaUniv.
'Press 1958
8Eihel Dogen, Hokyo-ki:Zen Master,Zen
Disciple, Udumbara, A Journal ofZen Master
Doyen (1980)
9Encyclopaedia of Buddhism, Govt. of
Cylon Press (1963)