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**bp9QxekG** · 01-26-2011, 10:53 PM

I have been very surprised to read that meat-eating is not prohibited necessarily in all Buddhist traditions. Is this true? I always assumed all Buddhists must be vegetarian, indeed vegan.

So if various different schools of thought disagree on the necessity of avoiding eating the flesh of living things, how do those that do allow it square that with their basis of compassion and kindness to all sentient beings in Buddhism? What was Buddha's view of this matter?

I would eventually like to give up meat as it has long troubled me to think of the slaughter and cruelty of killing animals. I am aiming to gradually stop eating meat as I learn more about the philosophy of Buddhism. It is difficult to do this when I have been used to living a certain way all my life, but I think such a change would be beneficial to health and spirituality - but that is my very personal view.

Generally speaking, I'd say that vegetarianism is a more compassionate option that's in line with the Buddha's teachings on ahimsa or harmlessness, but the Buddha himself rejected his cousin Devadatta's demand to institute vegetarianism as a requirement. According to the discourses in the Pali Canon, the Buddha and his disciples ate meat as long as it was pure in three ways, but I sincerely doubt that he would've minded eating only vegetarian meals if that's what was offered. If you're interested, you can find some of my thoughts about this topic here and here. (But the short version is, more important than what you eat is how you eat.)

01-26-2011, 10:53 PM	#8
bp9QxekG Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 520 Senior Member	I have been very surprised to read that meat-eating is not prohibited necessarily in all Buddhist traditions. Is this true? I always assumed all Buddhists must be vegetarian, indeed vegan. So if various different schools of thought disagree on the necessity of avoiding eating the flesh of living things, how do those that do allow it square that with their basis of compassion and kindness to all sentient beings in Buddhism? What was Buddha's view of this matter? I would eventually like to give up meat as it has long troubled me to think of the slaughter and cruelty of killing animals. I am aiming to gradually stop eating meat as I learn more about the philosophy of Buddhism. It is difficult to do this when I have been used to living a certain way all my life, but I think such a change would be beneficial to health and spirituality - but that is my very personal view. Generally speaking, I'd say that vegetarianism is a more compassionate option that's in line with the Buddha's teachings on ahimsa or harmlessness, but the Buddha himself rejected his cousin Devadatta's demand to institute vegetarianism as a requirement. According to the discourses in the Pali Canon, the Buddha and his disciples ate meat as long as it was pure in three ways, but I sincerely doubt that he would've minded eating only vegetarian meals if that's what was offered. If you're interested, you can find some of my thoughts about this topic here and here. (But the short version is, more important than what you eat is how you eat.)
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