[aAaBecker]

Then, I imagine, and now, Buddhist laypeople can come into possession of meat without killing it themselves, and then donate it to monks. They need not break the first precept in the process. The general idea in Thailand, in my experience, is that the better quality food you donate, the more merit you acquire. Thus, when I would go on pindabat in Thailand, the laypeople who could afford to do so would donate not just ordinary fare, but delicacies, which often included meat. The very poor would also donate when and what they could, and it was often nothing more than a few plastic bags of water. Clean, drinkable water is a valuable commodity there, also. I never heard anyone speak ill of getting either meat or water. We just ate and got on with our day.

As for laypeople, there is no expulsion from Buddhism for violating the first precept. The impression I got was that laypeople are free to follow the precepts to the best of their ability within the real-life limitations of their station in life. Economic and physical survival take priority over the precepts, I think. Vegetarianism is a luxury for many people in the world, I think.