[alex_loudermilk]

babiesgame, your concept of morality is based on behavior, not intent. That is characteristic of the teachings of the brahmins that the Buddha opposed. He placed morality firmly in intent, a mental function, rather than in behavior, a merely physical one.

A person with a defiled mind can go through the right motions for the wrong reasons and end up with the same defilements they started with. It is said that Napoleon's donkey accompanied him on every campaign, but in the end still knew nothing of military strategy.

We should first sincerely set out to cultivate right intent through an exacting examination of experience, particularly that of suffering, both our own and that of others. Compassion naturally follows. Merely obeying dogma such as a prohibition against eating the bodies of once-living beings does not in itself lead to compassion, nor is it reliable evidence of compassion.