VEGETARIANISM – FREE FROM THE TWO EXTREMES

- A View Free from the Two Extremes of Vegetarian and Non-Vegetarian

 I previously wrote an article on vegetarianism in 2005; however, my English vocabulary was quite limited at this time and I could only write with the assistance of someone else and guess how to express what I intended to say. Looking back at my article two years later, I found it lacked precision and failed to clearly convey the essential point. I therefore hope this new article will be more concise and easier to understand.

 
In the year 2000, when I had my first experience of foreign people in India, I was interested and also quite impressed that so many people I met had chosen to be vegetarian. In the region of Amdo and Kham where I was born and spent most of my life, vegetarianism was almost unheard of. However, over time as I investigated vegetarianism, I realised there were many reasons people chose to be vegetarian; some I admired, though others I felt were a little flawed.

As a Tibetan and as a Buddhist, I feel it is my duty to explain how I view the issue of vegetarianism, because almost everyone in Tibet eats meat regardless of whether they are ordained or not. As the essential point of Buddhism is non-violence and Tibetan Buddhism contains the most extensive teachings in the Buddhist tradition, it is very difficult to understand why meat is the predominant food eaten by Tibetans. Many times in the media and in general conversation at different events I have heard people question Buddhists about eating meat and their answers never seem to be clear or comprehensive enough.

I believe people have to consider that firstly most Tibetan people live at very high altitudes, making it very difficult to grow vegetables and in some areas impossible. Thus for centuries there has been no custom of eating vegetables; instead most people’s livelihood depended on livestock and their essential food has been meat for many centuries.  Buddhism was introduced to Tibet many centuries after this way of life evolved, and only then did the Tibetan people become aware that killing was wrong. Many individuals became concerned about this and stopped killing animals; however, in general their habituation was too strong and it was impossible for everyone to change their lifestyle.

I have seen the sadness and tears shed by people in Tibet who have to kill to feed their family but they have no choice; sometimes the whole family cries while the animal is being killed.  Many people didn’t know that there were other types of food that could be eaten due to the harsh climate and remoteness of the region in which they lived, as well as the lack of modern transportation.  For instance, about eighteen years ago, most of the people in my village didn’t even know that vegetables could be eaten by humans.

I remember at that time we had to journey for seven or eight days just to buy barley and tea.  Nowadays, the transportation has slowly improved and more and more Tibetans are eating vegetables, and meanwhile fewer animals are being killed. Unfortunately they don’t have greenhouse technology yet, so growing vegetables is still not possible in many regions of the Tibetan plateau.

As Tibetan Buddhism is very extensive, it is possible to practice it in many ways depending on the capacity of an individual.  With this in mind, there is no black and white emphasis on being vegetarian or non-vegetarian. Sometimes individuals wish to give up meat but their body is so habituated that they become sick or unhealthy without it, and then doctors advise them to eat meat.

Given all of the above issues, the question of vegetarianism is certainly not straight forward, and a thorough investigation is required to make a valid judgment. If you believe that Tibetan Buddhism allows meat or prohibits eating meat, both statements are not completely true and need to be analysed further.

Over time I found that people who chose to be vegetarian had many different reasons.  Most people chose to be vegetarian for their health while others thought it was a cool thing to do. I also found that others who were ordained had no choice to be vegetarian as it was part of the culture. Of course there are many people who are vegetarian because of their spiritual beliefs; however, after thorough investigation I found that some had very pure intentions while others’ motivations were not quite so pure.

I haven’t thoroughly investigated the health benefits of being vegetarian, as this type of knowledge isn’t my field of expertise. However, I would like to challenge some of the other reasons people choose to be vegetarian and whether they are legitimate or not.

Normally people that being vegetarian is important, especially for those who are ordained as a Buddhist monk or nun.  Many people, however, take this seriously and formulate rigid views that Buddhist or ordained people should always be vegetarian.  Generally, to be vegetarian is a good thing and could be seen as a way to avoid creating negative karma, whereas eating meat can be a cause for creating heavy negative karma.

If you don’t take a superficial view and instead analyse deeply, we cannot say for sure that eating meat is always bad and that vegetarianism is good.  People normally adhere to the view that eating meat is bad because in the Lankatishvara Sutra the Buddha criticised eating meat.  It is very clear in any Buddhist scripture that every individual values their own life and taking another being’s life is wrong, so killing is not acceptable from any reasonable point of view. However, if we investigate all the Buddha’s teachings, especially the Vinaya and the Sutras, Buddha states that accepting and rejecting meat for some beings at specific times was appropriate while at other times, or for different beings, it was not appropriate. Each circumstance depended on the situation, and for this reason we cannot formulate a black and white view.

Referring to the Buddhist Scriptures

 
According to the Vinaya, Buddha did not permit the consumption of some types of meat, including animals which have claws and beaks, but there are also many stories which give examples of occasions when these types of meat were eaten and the Buddha allowed this.

According to the Lankatishvara Sutra, Buddha criticised and prevented eating meat at specific times for specific beings.  For instance, in this sutra the Buddha especially condemned eating meat for those Rakshas who wished to become Bodhisattvas and would relentlessly devour any type of meat. 

Buddha always taught that eating meat depended on the time and the individual, so you have to logically investigate each situation rather than become obsessed with the Buddha’s words.  As an analogy, when an illness strikes we take different types of medicine depending on our illness; furthermore, we cannot always take the same medicine because over time our illness changes and the doctor then has to prescribe a different medicine.

Different beings have individual requirements for food and medicine.  If a fox drank the milk from a cow it would become very sick, though for others this milk is great nutrient. Similarly, some substances considered to be very poisonous when eaten by a peacock give them great strength and beauty. 

Investigation from a Logical Point of View

 
If you are thinking that vegetarianism is good and that to eat meat is bad, we need to analyse whether this is true or not. If you are choosing to be vegetarian out of compassion for animals and your motivation is pure then regardless of the reality, I completely support this view. Some people have limited wisdom but they are kind hearted and don’t feel comfortable eating certain animals. I also praise this intention even if the view is not based so much on wisdom, as the intention behind it is kind. 

Sometimes it is hard to distinguish the difference between a kind heart and aversion for certain animals.  Some people don’t like to eat lamb or beef but they eat fish and chicken, others love animals like dogs and cats but they kill flies and mosquitoes, whereas in China they like to eat cats and dogs.  Some pretend to be kind hearted and don’t eat meat but the truth is they are more concerned about their own health and well being.  Certain religious people have a natural aversion to meat or are concerned about their own health and pretend to have concern for other beings, becoming vegetarian for this reason. Some traditional Buddhists, meanwhile, have very little choice in the matter and have to be vegetarian because of their culture. If you choose to be vegetarian for any of these reasons, you are not doing it out of compassion and shouldn’t be proud and feel superior to those who eat meat. This is because the consequences of vegetarianism depend on your intention, not on the type of food that you put into your body.

If your reason for being vegetarian is to be kind to animals, you shouldn’t have any bias towards certain animals; from a Buddhist perspective they have all once been our loved ones at some time or another in our previous lives.  Even if you don’t believe this concept, whether you find an animal pleasant or unpleasant, there is no doubt they all wish to be happy, enjoy a long life and avoid death and suffering.

If you are a Buddhist and believe in the law of karma, this karma is made by your motivation, not the physical act of eating.  The most important thing to understand is that good or bad karma isn’t dependent on how much meat you have eaten, but rather it depends on how much you cherish and respect the life of an animal.  For instance, if there are two people stranded on an island, one vegetarian and the other non-vegetarian, and the only way to survive was to catch fish or to kill an animal, it is difficult to predict which one would prefer to preserve their own life or kill another’s life to survive, or which one would have the greatest hesitation in taking another being’s life. Merely by speculating it is impossible to judge which of the two people has greater compassion, and the true qualities of each person would only become evident if this situation actually took place. 

Creating good or bad karma depends on how much you care about the life of others, and therefore eating the flesh of animals who are already dead does not necessarily cause bad karma.  Buddha’s scriptures stated three pure conditions under which meat could be eaten:

1. The meat was not killed specifically for you to eat
2. You had no knowledge that the meat was killed for you
3. You had no suspicion that the meat was killed for you

Many people have the idea that as long as you eat meat, you support the killing of animals, which is necessarily bad. However, this isn’t a relevant issue from a Buddhist perspective as it is ultimately based on faulty logic. You cannot find anything in the world that doesn’t depend on something else. For instance, people who make shoes and clothing depend on the skin of dead animals for leather. As long as you buy grain and vegetables you are also supporting killing, as farmers kill millions of insects in order to grow crops.  You cannot find anything that exists independently of killing something.  For this reason the logic of this argument is faulty and it is not accepted in the Buddhist logic system. Instead, whether you create good or bad karma depends on your motivation or the direct connection you have to another living being with your body, speech and mind.  If you develop an understanding along these lines you will avoid adopting an extreme view and remain within the realm of logic.

Whether you eat meat or not is not the essential issue.  Rather, the important point is whether you eat meat to benefit yourself and others instead of choosing only to care for yourself.  If your intention is pure and unselfish then eating meat could actually be beneficial for the animal that has been killed.  This is because if you dedicate your merits and prayers to the being whose flesh you have eaten, it is more powerful that just a simple prayer because of the physical connection you have made.

 
In conclusion, being vegetarian is an excellent way of maintaining a good outward appearance or a good example for others, and it is also a good habit to adopt for those with a simple understanding.  I completely support being vegetarian but I am not impressed by the arrogant attitude of some vegetarians and the lack of awareness of a broader view.  Eating meat can sometimes be dangerous but there is certainly a way to transform this action into an act of benefit to self and others without harmful consequences.