Dalai Lama is meat eater or not ?

[Vrindavan 0]

Dalai Lama is meat eater or not ?

http://www.veggieboards.com/boards/showthread.php?t=48298

 

 

 

i do not agree with the long postings by member zoebird

[Gauracandra 1]

Its my understanding that the Dalai Lama does eat meat. I've asked some Buddhists about this and they say that the Buddha gave restrictions on meat eating as follows: You can eat meat so long as the animal wasn't killed specifically for you. That is, a grocery store isn't killing a cow for John Doe, they just kill generically. So you can eat that. But if you go out and kill the animal or ask someone to go out and kill the animal then that is a sin.

 

I have also heard that pretty much all Buddhists eat meat except Taiwanese Buddhists are very strict. A friend of mine who is fluent in Chinese, travels to China & Taiwan, says that in Asia, only in Taiwan are there strict Buddhists. If you go into a Taiwanese Buddhist temple it will be pure vegetarian. But if you go to one in Korea, China, Japan, etc.... they will serve meat.

[Guest guest]

I and my godbrother once visited a Buddhist ashram in Alberta and while in discussions learned they ate fish - we were told by this 'monk' - that his eating them helps them [the fish] in their spiritual evolution - then he started asking odd questions - about masterbation and the like - so we very quickly headed for the door - we weren't impressed - I recall seeing the altar in their ashram and there was a bronze Vishnu and Nrisingha on it - with around fifty other statues - so we thought that He wa on thatb altar - to protect us on that visit from what was to be bad associations.

 

This string makes me think about C.C. Madhya Lila 9.52-55 and the well known encounter of the Lord - with the Buddhists and their foodstuff!

 

BDM

[akshar 1]

And buddha preached ahimsa? Yeah right, and i'm god.

[Guest guest]

I know for a fact Tibetan buddhists eat meat. They just do not hunt and kill the food themselves.

 

 

The Buddha ate meat and therefore was not a vegetarian. Indeed, it is thought that he died from food poisoning after eating contaminated pork. However, he advised that meat should only be eaten when it was not seen, heard or suspected that the animal had been specifically killed for the monk's consumption. In Buddhism, therefore, meat is not something that is forbidden. However, the circumstances which result in the meat being served for consumption is a crucial factor.

[Govardhan Giri Dasa 0]

Tell Dalai Lama to chant Hare Krishna and purify himself

[Guest guest]

 

Tell Dalai Lama to chant Hare Krishna and purify himself

 

I'm sure he would just chuckle if someone told him that. Remember, Buddhists are not theists. They do not believe in Brahman, personal or impersonal. Therefore their chants are not directed to a God or gods; only to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas (enlightened beings). The Buddhist's Dharma is not to serve or indentify with any deity; but to break free from the delusions of the 6 realms of sentient existence, and reach Nirvana. Deities are seen as beings still suffering within Samsara, therefore, there is no devotion toward them.

[mt_thejet 0]

i wasnt too sure on this either, i mean all the teachings lead to non-violence, o killing etc.

 

however what i did see in this documentary on someones visit to the himalayas and the tibetan Buddhist sides, is that the small population living on mountains survive on yak meat.

yet they are living in the midst of a spirtual site?!

[chandradas 0]

I must admit, I wouldnt beleive it if I didnt see for myself.

But, some years ago I came across a buddhist temple in wimbledon, and decided to walk in to see what it was like. To my amazement, they had a large buffet for the monks and guests, and there WAS meat stuff on it. I couldnt beleive my eyes!

I think the whole grounds were owned by the thai government.

It was a lovely place but to see the meet, I was quite shocked.

[Guest guest]

This is of course kali-yuga, the Dalai Lama advertising to eat cow meat. At least he should stick to fish or chicken, but no, it has to be veal.....

 

Dalai Lama digs into veal, pheasant

First Course

 

Nancy Stohs

 

It's a question most chefs never get the privilege of pondering:

 

What to serve the Dalai Lama?

 

In Milwaukee chef Sandy D'Amato's case, the answer was veal.

 

Veal?

 

Despite expectations that a vegetarian feast would be in order, the team of chefs assembled to cook for His Holiness on his recent visit to Madison was given no such instruction, said Catherine McKiernan, executive chef at the Madison Club, where the elaborate luncheon was held.

84335Dalai Lama

 

 

The Dalai Lama got a wonderful meal; the chefs, including Sanford D'Amato (third from right, next to Dalai Lama), got the chance to meet one of the world's renowned religious leaders.

'Sandy' D'Amato

Sanford "Sandy" D'Amato, chef/co-owner of Sanford Restaurant, 1547 N. Jackson St., Coquette Cafe, 316 N. Milwaukee St., and Harlequin Bakery, is a James Beard Award winner. For more information, visit

 

The Dalai Lama is, it turns out, a meat lover.

 

And so the five-course menu, served to about 60 people on May 3, including the guest of honor, his entourage and assorted citizens, included a stuffed pheasant breast, D'Amato's slow-cooked veal roast with scalded morels and escarole, and an asparagus soup with a chicken stock base.

 

A cured fish appetizer, mixed green salad, eggplant-and-chickpea entrée, and three full-size chocolate desserts completed the menu.

 

Created and coordinated by Jim Walsh, a Wisconsin native who attended UW-Madison, the luncheon cost $500 to $1,000a head and was a fund-raiser for the Deer Park Buddhist Center and Monastery near Madison.

 

Walsh is the founder and CEO of Hawaiian Vintage Chocolate, a premium chocolate whose trees were blessed by the Dalai Lama and whose chocolate was the first ever eaten by the spiritual leader.

 

Fittingly, his latest product, Intentional Chocolate, is a dark chocolate that's engineered to promote "an increased sense of energy, vigor and well-being" in those who consume it.

 

Walsh told D'Amato he picked him to be on the chef team after eating at Sanford Restaurant in Milwaukee.

 

He was looking for restaurants that had a zen-like feel, where the service and food and ambience "all made sense together."

 

Sanford measured up, as a place where "nothing seemed forced," and it seemed as though "everything was meant to be there."

 

D'Amato may not have put "zen" and "Sanford" in the same sentence before, but he was duly flattered.

 

The other chefs were Shawn McClain from Chicago's Spring Restaurant, Green Zebra and Custom House and John Gadau and Phillip Hurley, co-owners and chefs of Sardine and Marigold Kitchen restaurants in Madison.

 

They weren't operating completely in the dark about their honored guest.

 

They knew the Dalai Lama eats only breakfast and lunch, and that his vows prohibit him from eating anything after 1 p.m.

 

"Everything had to be seasonal and local and Wisconsin-themed, as it were," McKiernan said, noting the presence on the menu of pea shoots, pheasant and "a lot of asparagus."

 

D'Amato's veal came from Strauss Veal in Franklin.

 

For security reasons, the chefs didn't know exactly when the exiled leader would show up. They were told it could be 11:15 or 11:45 a.m., 12:15 or 12:30 p.m.

 

The chefs also had been briefed on Dalai Lama protocol: Never turn your back on him. Don't touch him. Don't speak to him unless he speaks to you.

 

Right around noon, D'Amato was heading downstairs to the kitchen, one level below the dining area, to check on his food.

 

Halfway down, he met His Holiness heading up the stairs.

 

"So I did kind of a little moonwalk backward all the way up and smiled," D'Amato said.

 

The chefs had hoped it would be possible to get a photograph with him but were not planning to press the issue.

 

When the Dalai Lama saw them all standing behind the table of food, the Dalai Lama said, "Oh, the cooks! Picture! Picture!" D'Amato recalled.

 

"He grabbed my hand and another other fellow's . . . " and the proof is printed in this newspaper.

 

And how did His Radiance like the food?

 

With all due respect, "he chowed down," D'Amato said.

 

In addition to the veal dish and a Warm Bittersweet Intentional Chocolate Tart with Coffee Ice Cream, D'Amato brought bread for the meal from his Harlequin Bakery.

 

"He ate nine pieces of bread," the chef said.

 

The Dalai Lama commented later that everything was really delicious, D'Amato said, asking how this dish and that were made. And, he noted approvingly, "it's good quantity."

 

Ashley Walsh of Los Angeles, Jim Walsh's daughter and co-coordinator of the luncheon, sat at the Dalai Lama's table.

 

"He pretty much lapped up every single plate that he had put in front of him," she recalled. "He loves food; he likes good food."

 

Before this, the biggest luminary D'Amato had cooked for was Julia Child, on her 80th birthday. For McKiernan, it was Al Gore.

 

By comparison, McKiernan said, "This was much more intense. It was nerve-wracking. There was more security here for the Dalai Lama than there was for Al Gore."

 

"This was the biggest thing I've ever been involved in," D'Amato echoed. "It was really exciting when he came in.

 

"You listen to him speak . . . he just transcends politics and religion. What he's saying is . . . all about compassion and love and getting rid of your anger. And everything that is bad in the world was created by man, so man can fix it all."

 

D'Amato had brought along a copy of the Dalai Lama's latest book, "How to See Yourself As You Really Are," hoping to get the author's signature.

 

The Dalai Lama obliged - but first he referenced the title and laughed.

 

"He has this real infectious giggle," D'Amato said. "He said, 'Look, there's no "self" in Buddhism, and this is my book.' "

 

Nevertheless, he signed it, addressing D'Amato and his wife, Angie, with a message in Tibetan. He translated it as: "I hope the two of you have wonderful success and wonderful happiness in all of your lifetimes."

 

Yes, that last word is plural.

 

D'Amato said he's always believed he'd come back in his next life as a food.

 

"Maybe a hot dog."

 

You can eat like the Dalai Lama by making this recipe served to the spiritual leader on his recent visit to Madison.

 

Sandy D'Amato adapted his slow-cooked veal recipe for faster home preparation.

Veal with Morels, Escarole and Rhubarb Essence

Makes 4 servings

 

Rhubarb essence (see recipe)

 

Marinated potatoes (see recipe)

 

2 tablespoons clarified butter

 

¼ pound fresh morels, cleaned and cut in half

 

1 large shallot, finely diced (about 2 tablespoons)

 

1 head escarole, cleaned and cut into 1-inch pieces, washed and dried

 

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

 

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

 

2 tablespoons olive oil for sautéing

 

4 medallions (6 ounces each) veal loin or veal strip loin (I prefer Strauss Veal)

Half-dried rhubarb slivers to garnish (see note)

 

Prepare rhubarb essence and marinated potatoes. Set aside.

 

Place a large sauté pan over high heat. When hot, add clarified butter. When butter is hot, add morels and sauté about 2 minutes. Add shallot and escarole that has been tossed with the extra-virgin olive oil. Cook 1½ minutes until escarole is wilted. Season with salt and pepper and immediately remove from heat.

 

To finish: Place a non-stick sauté pan over high heat. Add olive oil and season veal medallions with salt and pepper. When oil is hot, add meat and sauté about 2 minutes per side or until lightly golden. Remove from pan.

 

To assemble: Divide escarole, morels and marinated potatoes among 4 plates. Top each with a veal medallion and garnish with rhubarb essence and half-dried rhubarb slivers, if desired.

 

Note: To make half-dried rhubarb slivers, cut thin slices of rhubarb and toss with sugar. Bake in preheated 225-degree oven until-half dried.

Rhubarb essence:

 

2 cups rhubarb juice from juiced fresh rhubarb, cooked until reduced to ¼ cup

1/3 cup grape seed oil

 

2 teaspoons sugar or to taste

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

 

Mix together all ingredients.

Marinated potatoes:

 

1½ cups water

 

½ cup vinegar

 

Salt to taste

2 Idaho potatoes, peeled and diced small

 

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

 

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

 

¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes

 

20 grinds of black pepper

2 cloves garlic, chopped fine

 

In saucepan, bring water, vinegar and salt to a boil. Add potatoes and cook until tender. Drain well and place in a bowl. Sprinkle parsley over top of potatoes. In small skillet, heat oil with red pepper, black pepper and garlic until garlic turns light brown. Pour over potatoes and mix.

[Guest guest]

 

I must admit, I wouldnt beleive it if I didnt see for myself.

But, some years ago I came across a buddhist temple in wimbledon, and decided to walk in to see what it was like. To my amazement, they had a large buffet for the monks and guests, and there WAS meat stuff on it. I couldnt beleive my eyes!

I think the whole grounds were owned by the thai government.

It was a lovely place but to see the meet, I was quite shocked.

[Guest guest]

From Suchandra prabhu's post, it appears that Dalai Lama is indeed a meat eater.

 

For your reference, I produced that post in this forum.

 

 

I must admit, I wouldnt beleive it if I didnt see for myself.

But, some years ago I came across a buddhist temple in wimbledon, and decided to walk in to see what it was like. To my amazement, they had a large buffet for the monks and guests, and there WAS meat stuff on it. I couldnt beleive my eyes!

I think the whole grounds were owned by the thai government.

It was a lovely place but to see the meet, I was quite shocked.

[Guruvani 0]

I saw something on TV the other day and it showed some buddhist monks in their orange robes setting together smoking cigarettes.

 

It's obvious that the buddhist sect has undergone some serious deterioration over that few decades.

[Guest guest]

But since they did not make the cigarettes themselves, it's ok. Just as it's ok to eat meat since they did not kill the animal themselves ... all according to the Budhists philosophy! I don't accept that Lord Budha gave such a philosophy. These guys have just twisted it so they can eat meat.

 

 

I saw something on TV the other day and it showed some buddhist monks in their orange robes setting together smoking cigarettes.

 

It's obvious that the buddhist sect has undergone some serious deterioration over that few decades.

[Murali_Mohan_das 0]

When we take fruits and vegetables for our own enjoyment (i.e. without offering them to the Lord with love and devotion) then we accrue karma for those actions.

 

Can't you hear the carrots screaming?!?!?!

 

Gurudev couldn't bring himself to eat sprouts that the Vaishnavas served him the last time he visited California (or was it the time before). Not that he was unwilling, but, as he expressed it, "they are alive".

[theist 1]

Disgusting! Veal is the most despictable cruelty based item one can select from a menu even amongst other meat items.

 

The last Pope was also a big veal lover.

 

 

TRANSLATION Gita

The humble sages, by virtue of true knowledge, see with equal vision a learned and gentle brahmana, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater [outcaste].

PURPORT

A Krishna conscious person does not make any distinction between species or castes. The brahmana and the outcaste may be different from the social point of view, or a dog, a cow, and an elephant may be different from the point of view of species, but these differences of body are meaningless from the viewpoint of a learned transcendentalist. This is due to their relationship to the Supreme, for the Supreme Lord, by His plenary portion as Paramatma, is present in everyone's heart. Such an understanding of the Supreme is real knowledge. As far as the bodies are concerned in different castes or different species of life, the Lord is equally kind to everyone because He treats every living being as a friend yet maintains Himself as Paramatma regardless of the circumstances of the living entities. The Lord as Paramatma is present both in the outcaste and in the brahmana, although the body of a brahmana and that of an outcaste are not the same. The bodies are material productions of different modes of material nature, but the soul and the Supersoul within the body are of the same spiritual quality. The similarity in the quality of the soul and the Supersoul, however, does not make them equal in quantity, for the individual soul is present only in that particular body whereas the Paramatma is present in each and every body. A Krishna conscious person has full knowledge of this, and therefore he is truly learned and has equal vision. The similar characteristics of the soul and Supersoul are that they are both conscious, eternal and blissful. But the difference is that the individual soul is conscious within the limited jurisdiction of the body whereas the Supersoul is conscious of all bodies. The Supersoul is present in all bodies without distinction.

[Murali_Mohan_das 0]

True about veal!! Interesting about the last Pope.

 

Of course, from an analytical perspective (and not one of compassion) can we not see the veal calves as experiencing the fruits of their karma?

 

After all, what punishment would be more fitting for ranchers like George Bush than to be born as a cow and slaughtered for veal? Maybe working for a lifetime in a McDonald's.

 

 

Disgusting! Veal is the most despictable cruelty based item one can select from a menu even amongst other meat items.

 

The last Pope was also a big veal lover.

[theist 1]

 

True about veal!! Interesting about the last Pope.

 

Of course, from an analytical perspective (and not one of compassion) can we not see the veal calves as experiencing the fruits of their karma?

 

After all, what punishment would be more fitting for ranchers like George Bush than to be born as a cow and slaughtered for veal? Maybe working for a lifetime in a McDonald's.

 

Yes, that is an important point. I see the same principle at work in human abortions. The aborted today were the aborters of yesterday. It's a vicious cycle.

 

So what we want to do is interuppt that cycle which is more like a spiral heading downward deeper into hell. We want to replace that spiral with one headed upward towards godly life.

 

Compassion and mercy overide karmic concerns. I may encounter someone dying of thirst. It is not my place to say "it's your karma" and walk away. That would then assure that I would be put in a similar situation as the one dying of thirst to learn the value of acting compassionate.

 

I do agree that a balanced perspective is necessary. Understand the truth of what is what can never be a bad thing. It is all about how we respond.

 

Devotees want to be tools of Guru/Krsna's mercy. Such devotees live in planes above karmic considerations.

[Murali_Mohan_das 0]

Very well said! I can only bow my head in reverence to mercy and compassion.

 

Let's turn that downward spiral around!!

 

 

Yes, that is an important point. I see the same principle at work in human abortions. The aborted today were the aborters of yesterday. It's a vicious cycle.

 

So what we want to do is interuppt that cycle which is more like a spiral heading downward deeper into hell. We want to replace that spiral with one headed upward towards godly life.

 

Compassion and mercy overide karmic concerns. I may encounter someone dying of thirst. It is not my place to say "it's your karma" and walk away. That would then assure that I would be put in a similar situation as the one dying of thirst to learn the value of acting compassionate.

 

I do agree that a balanced perspective is necessary. Understand the truth of what is what can never be a bad thing. It is all about how we respond.

 

Devotees want to be tools of Guru/Krsna's mercy. Such devotees live in planes above karmic considerations.

[meez 0]

Hello everyone. I don't eat meat myself, but understand what might have taken place here. One school of thought, often times found not only in Buddhism, but among many people of different religions, is that when someone cooks food for for you, you eat it. Especially in this case when the whole meal was planned for him. Lots of time and effort went into preparing this food. It would be considered by some people wrong, and maybe even carry and higher karmic burden, to turn it down as opposed to eating it.

 

I just thought I would mention that in case there was anyone unaware of this. Certainly not trying to argue with anyone, or say anyone is wrong, everyone is entitled to practice their beliefs how they see fit (whether its by eating meat or not). Thanks for listening my friends, be well.

[meez 0]

The teachings of anyone can be turned to justify or satify someone's wants or way of thinking. It is best to keep in mind what Buddha taught:

 

The Five Precepts

 

1. Abstain from killing or harming living beings

2. Not to steal or take something not given to you

3. Avoid sexual misconduct/sexual irresponsibility

4. Abstain from false or harmful speech

5. Avoid intoxicants

 

These can be interpreted by anyone in any manner they choose and during that interpretation, can be molded to fit someone's own persoanl beliefs. I don't know exactly what Buddha said about eating meat because I wasn't there (to my knowledge lol) to hear him. It seems that all we have to go by when trying to understand anyone's beliefs or teachings, are the things that we know they did teach (the 5 precepts being part of that in this particular case). Each individual's behavior is a reflection of themselves, not the teachings of someone, or some religion, so it may help, when seeing someone doing something that we would consider contradictory to ours or their beliefs, to keep that in mind. Be well my friends!

[Guest guest]

 

And buddha preached ahimsa? Yeah right, and i'm god.

You silly fool. Yes Buddha did preach ahimsa. You bring shame to the Swaminarayan name.

[theist 1]

 

 

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An Open Letter from Norm Phelps to the Dalai Lama - 15 Jun 2007

 

An Open Letter to the Dalai Lama

June 15, 2007

The Dalai Lama

Thekchen Choeling

P.O. McLeod Ganj

Dharamsala H.P. 176219

India

By mail and email to: ohhdl@gov.tibet.net

Dear Sir: I am writing to you with great sadness.

By way of introduction, or actually re-introduction, I am the author of The Great Compassion: Buddhism and Animal Rights, a copy of which I sent you soon after it came out in 2004, and an additional copy of which I am enclosing with the hard copy of this letter. I have been a practicing Tibetan Buddhist for more than twenty years.

You may also recall that in November 1998 you generously granted me a private audience in Washington, D.C. for the purpose of discussing a vegetarian diet as Buddhist practice. You were very gracious in providing me an opportunity to urge you to adopt a vegetarian diet on full-time basis. You told me that because of liver damage resulting from hepatitis B, your doctors had instructed you to eat meat, and that for some years you had compromised by eating vegetarian every other day. You spoke movingly of your deep compassion for animals and your desire that as many people as possible, including Tibetans and Buddhists, adopt a vegetarian diet as an expression of Buddhist compassion for all sentient beings.

Less than three weeks after this interview, Agence France Presse (AFP) reported that at a dinner at the Elysee Palace for Nobel Peace Prize laureates, you refused the vegetarian meal that you had been served with the comment, “I’m a Tibetan monk, not a vegetarian,” and insisted on being served the same entrée that the other guests were having, which was reported to be braised calf’s cheek and vol-au-vent stuffed with shrimp. I understood that the dinner might have been held on a meat-eating day of your one-day-meat, one-day-veggies regime, but I could not understand why you would publicly go out of your way to dissociate yourself from a compassionate vegetarian diet when just days earlier you had spoken to me with such apparent conviction about the need for “everyone who can” to become vegetarian. There were no reporters present at the dinner; the AFP reporter heard the story from you the next day, which suggests that you wanted the world to know that you were not vegetarian. In other words, quite inexplicably, you apparently wanted to promote meat eating as consistent with Buddhist practice. I wrote you asking about this, but received no response.

In light of this background, I was overjoyed to read in April 2005 that you had announced to a wildlife conference in New Delhi that you had lately adopted a vegetarian diet on a full-time basis. On February 16, 2007, Rinchen Dhondrup wrote a thank-you letter on your official letterhead to Ms. Dulce Clements of La Verne, California, who had sent you a copy of a wonderful book on vegetarianism as spiritual practice, The World Peace Diet by Will Tuttle, Ph.D. In this letter, Dhondrup-la said that “His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s kitchen here in Dharamsala is now vegetarian.”

Thus, as you may imagine, I was greatly dismayed to read an article from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel dated May 15, 2007, reporting that you had attended a fund-raising luncheon on May 3, in Madison, Wisconsin for the Deer Park Buddhist Center and Monastery. According to the article, the food served included veal roast, stuffed pheasant breast, and soup made with chicken stock. The chef told the reporter that you “chowed down” on everything you were served, including the veal. Veal calves are separated from their mothers just hours after birth, confined in tiny crates too small for them to turn around in, fed an iron deficient diet that gives them severe, painful, chronic anemia, and killed while they are still small children. When you ate the veal, you lent your public support to some of the most egregious cruelty that our society is capable of.

Someone who attended a public talk that you gave in Madison around this time reports that you mentioned the vegetarian issue, saying that you had been vegetarian for two years “because the big monasteries are becoming vegetarian,” but that you had gone back to meat eating because of your health. I presume that the two years were spring, 2005 to spring, 2007. I would have expected you, as a great bodhisattva, to follow a vegetarian diet because it is the compassionate thing to do and was taught by the Lord Buddha Shakyamuni, not because it is the popular thing to do in the context of monastic politics.

Even more recently, it has been reported in the world press that on June 13, 2007 you visited a zoo created by the late television performer Steve Irwin in Beerwah, Australia. During this visit you reportedly spoke in support of a compassionate vegetarian diet while admitting that you eat meat “occasionally” for the sake of your health.

It is hard to understand how eating meat “occasionally” could benefit your health. It would seem reasonable that if your body did, in fact, require meat—which seems most unlikely—you would have to consume meat more often than “occasionally” for it to have any health effect.. And since it is easy in India and the West to eat a nutritious, high-protein diet without meat, perhaps supplemented by vitamin B12 tablets, I cannot help suspecting that this is more a question of appetite and custom than health.

It is also hard to understand why you would lend your support to a zoo, which is, after all, a prison in which animals innocent of causing any harm are incarcerated far from their natural surroundings to live out their lives in bleak, barren deprivation and hopelessness. It is especially difficult to understand why you would visit a zoo dedicated to the memory of Steve Irwin, who was world-famous for teasing and tormenting animals for the sake of television ratings, worldly fame, and money.

The lack of consistency between your public statements in support of vegetarianism and animal protection on the one hand and your personal behavior on the other is troubling, to say the least. I am afraid that it is now taken for granted in much of the Western animal protection community that you are a hypocrite who tells his audience what he believes they want to hear and then does whatever he wants to. Your moral inconsistency toward nonhuman animals has even given rise to a website called Bad Karma Lama, www.badkarmalama.com. I have no idea who created the site, but it reflects a view that is very widely held—and, I fear, with good reason. You cannot have it both ways. You cannot be seen as a protector of nonhuman animals and continue to eat meat and visit zoos. You cannot respect the Buddha nature of animals in your speech and continue to disrespect it in your conduct. That is, in fact, hypocrisy.

In The Great Compassion, I said that “Buddhism ought to be an animal rights religion par excellence” because of the Buddhadharma’s recognition that there is no intrinsic difference between humans and other animals and its insistence that the First Precept (“Do not kill.”) applies to our treatment of animals as well as our treatment of human beings. If Buddhism does not in actual practice always extend the full measure of its compassionate protection to animals, that is a failure of individual Buddhists, including I am afraid, far too many teachers; it is a violation of the teachings, not a consequence of them. The world sees you as the living embodiment of the Buddhadharma, and even those who are not Buddhist see you as a great moral leader. “Actions speak louder than words,” and when you eat meat, the public, Buddhist and non-Buddhist alike, takes that as proof that inflicting unspeakable suffering and premature death on sentient beings for the sake of appetite is morally acceptable. In that way, you contribute to the killing of the forty-eight billion land animals and uncounted billions of aquatic animals who are slaughtered every year for food.

After more than two decades of waiting for you to bring your personal regime into line with your public pronouncements—and the clear teachings of the Lord Buddha Shakyamuni in the Mahayana Scriptures—I have reluctantly concluded that you do, in fact, speak in soothing platitudes to people like me while continuing to eat the flesh of murdered mother beings, and that you have no intention of changing. I remain a firm practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism—you have broken my heart, but not my faith—but I no longer consider myself a follower of the Dalai Lama; and I will not consider myself one until your actions toward sentient beings in the animal realm reflect your teaching.

I have reached this decision only after much soul-searching and with great reluctance. I am not going to ask you to change your behavior. I’ve been there, done that. We have a saying in America that “Anybody can talk the talk. What matters is do you walk the walk.” You can talk the talk with the best of them. But after twenty years, I can no longer pretend that everything is fine while I wait for you to walk the walk

Sincerely yours,

/s/ Norm Phelps

n.phelps@myactv.net

P. O. Box 776

Funkstown, MD 21734, USA

cc: Office of Tibet, New York

[stonehearted 0]

It will be interesting to see if His Holiness the Dalai Lama, or someone on his staff, responds to this in any meaningful way.

 

Many years ago I was speaking with a colleague of mine at San Diego State University, a poet named Steve Kowit (who was a close friend of Satsvarupa Maharaja's before he met Srila Prabhupada) about vegetarianism. Steve is Buddhist, an admirer of Roshi Philp Kapleau, who advocates a vegetarian diet in pursuance of their First Precept. At one point in our conversations, I asked Steve if we can be certain that the Buddha was a vegetarian. He smiled and replied, "If he wasn't, he should have been!"

[meez 0]

 

It will be interesting to see if His Holiness the Dalai Lama, or someone on his staff, responds to this in any meaningful way.

 

Many years ago I was speaking with a colleague of mine at San Diego State University, a poet named Steve Kowit (who was a close friend of Satsvarupa Maharaja's before he met Srila Prabhupada) about vegetarianism. Steve is Buddhist, an admirer of Roshi Philp Kapleau, who advocates a vegetarian diet in pursuance of their First Precept. At one point in our conversations, I asked Steve if we can be certain that the Buddha was a vegetarian. He smiled and replied, "If he wasn't, he should have been!"

 

Thanks for sharing that with us. Be well my friend.