Once, a wealthy donor named Jivaka came to the Buddha to check out a nasty rumor. The Buddha said he had been misrepresented—he did not eat meat from animals specifically killed for him. What do you think, Jivaka? The Buddha goes on to describe his own mind, in which cruelty of any kind was no longer a possibility. From this story, it seems that the Buddha must have eaten meat. He did so without cruelty toward animals, without anger and judgment toward those who offered the meat to him.
Additionally, monks should wear only rags from garbage heaps, rather than donated robes; they should live only in forests, not in buildings or pleasant groves offered by wealthy supporters. Though the new rules all seemed blameless in themselves, perhaps even more pure than the existing ones, all of them would restrict relationships between Buddhists and laypeople.
Compassion and ethics can rarely be reduced to black and white absolutes. Thank you for subscribing to Tricycle! As a nonprofit, we depend on readers like you to keep Buddhist teachings and practices widely available.
However, as we spread awareness, more and more younger generations are moving towards a compassionate lifestyle, which is marvelous to see. Eating meat to me is out of the question. I have never approved, I am not, and I will never approve that — I have strictly condemned eating meat in every way.
Buddhists know that all animals land and sea , insects even those pesky mosquitos , including all those of the six realms, want to live and avoid suffering by any means possible. Doing them harm directly or indirectly creates negative karma collectively and independently. Why then do so many Buddhists still eat meat? The three conditions are: first, you have not witnessed that killing for consumption. Next, you have not heard anyone killed the animal for consumption.
Lastly, you do not doubt if someone killed it for consumption. People often misinterpret this as approval of meat-eating. Some even misinterpret the precious alms tradition of the monks and nuns in justifying meat-eating by saying you respectfully eat what a devoted follower has offered. The unfortunate truth is common to all cultures and faiths, which is a lot of misinterpretation of the teaching of holy religions worldwide. Buddhism has also gone through that a lot and maybe more today following the modern race of selling and marketing.
Therefore, as we move towards awareness and a more compassionate lifestyle with plant-based foods, people will reduce raising animals for their meat. It is even generally agreed that the Buddha himself and his monks ate meat. But that just raises further questions. Buddhism is widely known for its teachings of non-violence, even towards animals. So how is it possible that such a religion would not require vegetarianism?
To see why this is the case let's start with the monastics. Excluding most schools of Mahayana Buddhism, Buddhist monastics will usually eat meat.
A part of this has to do with the Buddha's requirement that the Sangha, or monastic community, live off the generosity of the laypeople. It is obviously more convenient and conducive to mental cultivation for a monk to simply live off the food given by others than it is for them to cook their own food. Not only does it save time, it frees the mind from the worry of having to prepare or choose what to make. The other reason is compassion.
The Law of Karma is a huge part of Buddhism, and finding stories in the Pali Canon of compassionate monks looking for people in need to accept food from is not uncommon. Providing the laypeople with a source of merit, or good karma, is a major reason the Buddha had this requirement for the Sangha. So requiring the Sangha to live off the generosity of others was the best way to make use of this detail. Image Source: dnymc. This requirement did change in some later sects of Buddhism however, mostly due to cultural differences.
In many schools of Mahayana Buddhism for instance, the Sangha is encouraged to be self-sufficient, a bit of a degree turn from what the Buddha requested, but makes sense considering begging wasn't considered a very noble livelihood in ancient China. The reason for this is has to do with convenience for the laypeople. The Sangha is supposed to make themselves easy to support, and that includes not being picky about food, although monastics are to refuse accepting certain foods for a variety of reasons.
A few examples of such are meat; if they see, hear, or suspect the animal was killed specifically for them or if it is a type of meat the Buddha forbade monks to accept, such as human or tiger meat to name a few. Also, just keep in mind; it would be awfully rude if a faithful but poor family saved up to buy meat at the market to offer to a monk, only to get rejected because the monk doesn't want to eat meat.
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