“People think of animals as if they were vegetables, and that is not right. We have to change the way people think about animals. I encourage the Tibetan people and all people to move toward a vegetarian diet that doesn’t cause suffering.”
– H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet
Taking a look from a Buddhist perspective we might take note that Buddhists consider the time of death a particularly important moment in one's life. It is said that one's state of mind at the time of death is a major factor in determining one's next rebirth. When we kill an animal for food, we have no idea what state its mind is in, and if we were able to view its thoughts we would likely see fear or anger. Therefore by killing it at that moment we may be condemning the animal to a poor rebirth filled with intense suffering. We might also consider how our own karma might be affected by eating meat. A karmic result of killing or being involved in the killing of animals (even if it is an indirect action) may be a habituation to killing, leading to being one who easily kills in future lives. It may also lead to being killed oneself or may result in a rebirth filled with suffering. For these reasons it would be wise to refrain from killing animals. We may think that it doesn't matter because we don't actually kill the animals ourselves, but rather purchase animal products at the supermarket, but having others kill for us means we are condemning those people to the same karmic suffering. Further to the point, Buddha explained that all sentient beings have been reborn over and over again since beginningless time. If that is so, then we can infer that we have been every type of sentient being and have been in relationship with every sentient being in our previous lives. The Buddhist teachings encourage us to see every sentient being as our mother, since each has been our mother at some point in the past. Some of us have strained relationships with our parents but in general you see mothers providing tremendous love and care to their children, whether the mother is an elephant or a human. Remembering your appreciation for that motherly love and care and then imagining that the spider crawling across the floor once provided that for you, the cow in the burger you just ate gave that to you, the guy who cut you off on the highway provided that for you, even the grumpy teller at the bank once cared for you as a mother, can dramatically change your relationship with the beings around you.
All of these points lead us to think that a vegetarian diet is the most compassionate way to sustain ourselves. However I think it important to remember compassion for ourselves and those around us, remembering to "start where we are". If vegetarianism is not an easy option for you, you might like to try a day without animal products once per week. Any little bit helps. Check out Meatless Monday for more info on the one day a week idea. I was mostly vegan for 15 years, but then my Traditional Chinese Medicine Doctor suggested I eat meat due to an illness I was having trouble overcoming. At the time the hardest part was letting go of the identity of being a vegetarian and the experience gave me a new understanding of how I had been judgmental of others in the past and how attached I had become to a certain image of myself. I became more appreciative through the process of having to change my diet. More recently, I returned to a mostly vegetarian diet but this time I have found it much more difficult due to the complexities of my family situation. I started the family on Meatless Mondays a couple of years ago and soon enough my meat and potatoes partner was reading Dr. Esselstyn's book and was Gung Ho for a change to a vegan diet . We don't always adhere 100% (my son in particular is a big meat eater) but we do our best with a "middle way" sort of attitude and feel better about our relationship to the world around us for it.
The majority of Buddhist cultures prescribe a vegetarian diet. Often monks and nuns follow a vegetarian diet, even if lay people do not. In Tibet however, Buddhism encountered a strong meat eating culture and incorporated it. While I was living in a Tibetan refugee community in India I found that Tibetan Buddhists were often meat eaters and had various reasons for it. Some said that it was hard at a high altitude to find enough vegetarian foods for proper nutrition. Some said that they were not wealthy enough to purchase vitamins like we do in developed countries and felt a vegetarian diet without supplements would not keep them healthy. Others told me that they feel it is okay to eat meat because it is possible to purify actions after committing them ( Purification practices are something like the Buddhist equivalent of saying confession and doing a number of Hail Mary's) . There was also the argument I mentioned in the last post that at least if they eat a yak they can take one life and feed the whole village, whereas if they ate fish it would require taking a large number of lives to feed the same number of people. While spending time with Tibetans it became clear to me that they have a strong cultural attachment to eating meat and dairy products, after generations of reliance on animals as nomadic peoples. A long term Dharma friend, Zhiwa, recently pointed me in the direction of a Tibetan by the name of Geshe Phelgye who is trying to change that with his Universal Compassion Movement. Here is his website.
Please also take a look at Zhiwa's comments and website. After practicing law for many years he is very skillful with the written and spoken word. He shares his thoughts as a Buddhist environmental activist on the subject of eating meat here on his website. Scroll down to the section called Anti-Establishment Planetarianism! for the "meat" of it.
Practice: This week spend some time thinking about the love and care your mother provided for you. If you have a strained relationship with your mother you may want to choose another person in your life who has cared for you, such as a father, grandparent, guardian, carer, etc. Spend some time focusing on your feelings around that person and generate true appreciation for their care. Think about how you would like to repay their kindness. Then spend some time thinking about the concept of rebirth and the possibility of all sentient beings around you having been your mother at some point in the past. Try to generate a genuine feeling of love and compassion for all sentient beings.
Have a great week!
Metta,
Dharma Mama
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