Buddhist Teachings on Abstaining from Meat

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Buddhist Teachings on Abstaining from Meat

 

"Food of Bodhisattvas: Buddhist Teachings on Abstaining from Meat"

by Shabkar

Book Review from Amazon.com

 

Known simply as Shabkar (1781-1851), the author was a renowned

Tibetan Buddhist practitioner who spent most of his life in retreat

or wandering the Tibetan and Himalayan regions. His level of

compassion was truly inspiring, and it was said that he had "a

spiritual career that began with the first stirrings of renunciation

in his early childhood and culminated with perfect attainment."

 

The lengthy translator's introduction (it's nearly one-third of the

book) does an excellent job of profiling Shabkar's life and placing

the importance of his teachings into historical perspective. But the

introduction goes beyond that, discussing the many invalid reasons

Buddhists have for eating meat and delving into these excuses, with

particular attention paid to Tibetan Buddhism. It is pointed out that

while most Tibetans eat meat, a growing number of Tibetans in exile

are giving up the practice.

 

Being a vegetarian in Shabkar's time was truly heroic due to the

harsh living conditions, but his concern for animals was legendary

and inspiring.

This led Patrul Rinpoche, author of The Words of My Perfect Teacher,

to comment:

"Compassion and love are the roots of Dharma. I think that in the

whole world there is no one more compassionate than Lama Shabkar."

The aim of Shabkar's compassionate teachings, as clearly explained by

the translator's introduction, is "not to repress one's desire for

meat or to terminate one's use of animal products by a draconian act

of will. Instead, our task is to develop a heartfelt compassion and a

genuine sensitivity to the suffering of animals, such that the desire

to exploit and feed on them naturally dissolves. Shabkar's main

concern

is not to instill a sense of guilt or inadequacy; it is to elevate

the mind toward new and more noble objectives."

 

There are two of Shabkar's texts presented in Food of Bodhisattvas.

The first, "The Faults of Eating Meat," is a collection of quotes

from Mahayana scriptures and teachings of Tibetan masters. The second

part, "The Nectar of Immortality," is Shabkar's seminal discourse on

the topic of vegetarianism and is of particular interest since the

text was only recently found in 2001.

 

The first section contains lengthy selections from the Lankavatra,

Mahaparinirvana, and Angulimala Sutras, as well as excerpts from the

Sutra of Close Mindfulness and several commentaries and Tantras from

the likes of King Yeshe ?, Changkya, and the Ven. Milarepa. While

some readers may be familiar with a few of the selections in "The

Faults of Eating Meat," most of these texts are unknown in the West

and comprise a unique collection that is both inspiring and, well...

enlightening.

 

The first section is concluded with an original verse from Shabkar

which is both stunning and, at times, graphic:

 

All of you who eat this baneful food,

The flesh and blood of beings once your parents,

Will take rebirth in Screaming and the other burning hells,

There to bake and boil.

 

He goes on to describe the various hells that will be experienced by

those who kill animals or order others to kill animals, who eat

animals, including fish, who slaughter and sell animal meat, etc.

 

The second section, "The Nectar of Immorality," is just as stunning

and a wonderful representation of compassion towards all sentient

beings.

In this part Shabkar details the various negative consequences

associated with flesh foods, including the idea that any animal we

eat was at one time, because of samsara--the cycle of rebirths--our

mother or father. He delivers this message in his typically

straight-forward style: "We should look upon all beings as our kind

parents, and in order to repay the goodness they have shown us, we

must meditate daily on loving-kindness, compassion, and bodhichitta.

Let us not be stained by this evil food, the flesh and blood of our

very parents!"

 

Shabkar takes an in-depth look at the horrid consequences of monks

eating meat.

If you've heard of trickle-down economics, this could be called the

trickle-down evil of the monastic meat trade. Shabkar also speaks on

the many misrepresentations that the Buddha freely ate meat, he

exposes many of the misguided teachers of his day, and answers the

numerous excuses meat-eating Buddhists have for this bad habit-many

with a Tibetan bent - and he does not mince his words, saying that

those who use these alibis are "very far from compassion, the mental

soil in which the aspiration to supreme enlightenment in cultivated."

 

 

Buddhist Quotes on Vegetarianism

http://www.veggiedharma.org/wst_page3.html