Comments on: A Buddhist Diet http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/1184 A Daily Dose of Buddhist Wisdom Thu, 22 Dec 2011 10:20:23 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: Michael http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/1184/comment-page-1#comment-3106 Michael Sat, 17 Sep 2011 03:14:51 +0000 http://www.dailybuddhism.com/?p=1184#comment-3106 Just a thought, playing devils advocate.. Since our minds are like sponges(like children or if one is fully enlightened) Isn't everything a mind altering substance. Even looking at a murderous crime scene will alter your mind to fit the situation. Your emotion and reasoning will follow what is being unfolded in front of ones attention. Even if we are mindful and aware of our awareness we are still being altered, maybe a better word to describe an altered state is progression. If one could be happy, respectful, and compassionate totally high by smoking marijuana, what makes that different from any other experience, its all progression, it always happens in linear format. Achieving so much fulfillment in anyway, isn't that what life is about? Living it? Just a thought, playing devils advocate.. Since our minds are like sponges(like children or if one is fully enlightened) Isn’t everything a mind altering substance. Even looking at a murderous crime scene will alter your mind to fit the situation. Your emotion and reasoning will follow what is being unfolded in front of ones attention. Even if we are mindful and aware of our awareness we are still being altered, maybe a better word to describe an altered state is progression. If one could be happy, respectful, and compassionate totally high by smoking marijuana, what makes that different from any other experience, its all progression, it always happens in linear format. Achieving so much fulfillment in anyway, isn’t that what life is about? Living it?

]]> By: Lynda Healey http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/1184/comment-page-1#comment-3013 Lynda Healey Thu, 09 Jun 2011 17:52:08 +0000 http://www.dailybuddhism.com/?p=1184#comment-3013 I have just read the above post from Kevin Douglass. I only hope that in the two years since he wrote such utter rubbish, he has studied, learned and grown up. The idea that animals today have "lived a good life and thrived on their farm" is as deluded as is "death itself is not suffering". Number one Kevin, go inside a factory farm unit. There are no "Ann of Sunnybrook Farms" left, only concrete sheds where animals suffer incarceration away from sunlight, fresh air or any ability to carry out their innate social skills or needs. They are squashed together (like you Kevin on tippee toe, in your dining room with 1,000 other people, for life). Not in natural surroundings would they be forced to stand in thier own droppings and wee but here that is for life. They are artificially inseminated, given antibiotics routinely otherwise they would be ravaged by sickness in the filth. They suffer unending pain, brutality and agony for the whole of their lives. Number two Kevin, go into your local slaughterhouse, there is one near you, but I bet you don't know where. Do you want to know why you don't know? It is because the walls are so high as to hide the suffering and deafen the screams of the agony of waiting animals who know what they are there for. Of the animals who are dragged, punched,kicked, pushed, beaten and driven inside the building with electric prods, towards that smells of death and fear. The ones already inside, watching others killed, knowing that it is them next, seeing them kicked, punched, dragged, prodded, thrown and stamped on to make them still while their tormentors haul them onto meat hooks and slit their throats as they flay about hopelessly and helplessly in their own fear vomit, blood, saliva, urine and final bowel emptying. Some of these animals are sent there pregnant, their only sin that they are too clapped out at only one quarter of their life expectancy to produce (by drug induced over lactation), the gallons of milk to make their owners millionaires. They often give birth from fright and their infants are killed alongside them and in the sight of the mother's own eyes. Please Kevin, do this for me will you, go see it for yourself, for I have done it. I am witness to the suffering. Nobody alive needs to be part of this. No religion on earth should condone this. Be at peace with yourself Kevin, become vegan and you will find the inner peace and ability to meditate. My heart, my mind and my whole being told me that what my eyes were seeing was wrong. But the meat industry hide it from you. "Evil flourishes when good men do nothing". So stop being fooled by the "Western diet lies", we do not need to kill sentient beings, our brothers and sisters, to live. I have been vegetarian for 25 years and vegan for more than ten and my health, teeth, bones, brain (I have a postgraduate degree), energy levels and ability to study and meditate get better every year (as do my looks,I am constantly told:). Please start by watching the film "Earthlings" narrated by Joaquain Pheonix. Sorry to "have a go" Kevin, but your thinking has been clouded by the constant stream of lies we have to learn to see through in order to live up to, observe and put into practice our religion. I have just read the above post from Kevin Douglass. I only hope that in the two years since he wrote such utter rubbish, he has studied, learned and grown up. The idea that animals today have “lived a good life and thrived on their farm” is as deluded as is “death itself is not suffering”. Number one Kevin, go inside a factory farm unit. There are no “Ann of Sunnybrook Farms” left, only concrete sheds where animals suffer incarceration away from sunlight, fresh air or any ability to carry out their innate social skills or needs. They are squashed together (like you Kevin on tippee toe, in your dining room with 1,000 other people, for life). Not in natural surroundings would they be forced to stand in thier own droppings and wee but here that is for life. They are artificially inseminated, given antibiotics routinely otherwise they would be ravaged by sickness in the filth. They suffer unending pain, brutality and agony for the whole of their lives. Number two Kevin, go into your local slaughterhouse, there is one near you, but I bet you don’t know where. Do you want to know why you don’t know? It is because the walls are so high as to hide the suffering and deafen the screams of the agony of waiting animals who know what they are there for. Of the animals who are dragged, punched,kicked, pushed, beaten and driven inside the building with electric prods, towards that smells of death and fear. The ones already inside, watching others killed, knowing that it is them next, seeing them kicked, punched, dragged, prodded, thrown and stamped on to make them still while their tormentors haul them onto meat hooks and slit their throats as they flay about hopelessly and helplessly in their own fear vomit, blood, saliva, urine and final bowel emptying. Some of these animals are sent there pregnant, their only sin that they are too clapped out at only one quarter of their life expectancy to produce (by drug induced over lactation), the gallons of milk to make their owners millionaires. They often give birth from fright and their infants are killed alongside them and in the sight of the mother’s own eyes. Please Kevin, do this for me will you, go see it for yourself, for I have done it. I am witness to the suffering. Nobody alive needs to be part of this. No religion on earth should condone this. Be at peace with yourself Kevin, become vegan and you will find the inner peace and ability to meditate. My heart, my mind and my whole being told me that what my eyes were seeing was wrong. But the meat industry hide it from you. “Evil flourishes when good men do nothing”. So stop being fooled by the “Western diet lies”, we do not need to kill sentient beings, our brothers and sisters, to live. I have been vegetarian for 25 years and vegan for more than ten and my health, teeth, bones, brain (I have a postgraduate degree), energy levels and ability to study and meditate get better every year (as do my looks,I am constantly told:). Please start by watching the film “Earthlings” narrated by Joaquain Pheonix. Sorry to “have a go” Kevin, but your thinking has been clouded by the constant stream of lies we have to learn to see through in order to live up to, observe and put into practice our religion.

]]> By: Kevin Douglass http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/1184/comment-page-1#comment-2432 Kevin Douglass Thu, 30 Jul 2009 16:26:45 +0000 http://www.dailybuddhism.com/?p=1184#comment-2432 Thank you for the clarification. I believe that the intention behind the precept is that for the sake of "Training" I do not take life. The point is the avoidance of hatred and suffering (not death) by neither causing it nor participating in it. This is different than "no killing" period which is an impossibility. We kill thousands if not millions of micro-organism a day without intending it, but we do not cause them suffering intentionally by doing so. Death itself is not suffering, living in pain is suffering. When we end the life of an animal to survive we are not causing suffering,these animals lived a good life and thrived on their farm until it came to an end. Now, when we cram animals into cages so that we may sell more of them using less space then we cause suffering. You see it is our desires that are causing the suffering not the act of killing them. We eat plants and animals just like animals eat plants and animals, it is out of necessity not desire. When we begin to eat out of desire then we are causing suffering because our demand for plants and animals exceeds our necessity for them and thus Farmers must grow more plants and raise more animals and thus maximize their efficiency (causing suffering in the process). If you wish to avoid suffering then eat only what and when you need and nothing more. Whether you eat a plant or an animal is kind of arbitrary really, they are both alive and would have died anyway. Regardless of what diet you choose, it will not prevent your death either. Desire causes suffering. Thank you for the clarification. I believe that the intention behind the precept is that for the sake of “Training” I do not take life. The point is the avoidance of hatred and suffering (not death) by neither causing it nor participating in it. This is different than “no killing” period which is an impossibility. We kill thousands if not millions of micro-organism a day without intending it, but we do not cause them suffering intentionally by doing so. Death itself is not suffering, living in pain is suffering. When we end the life of an animal to survive we are not causing suffering,these animals lived a good life and thrived on their farm until it came to an end. Now, when we cram animals into cages so that we may sell more of them using less space then we cause suffering. You see it is our desires that are causing the suffering not the act of killing them. We eat plants and animals just like animals eat plants and animals, it is out of necessity not desire. When we begin to eat out of desire then we are causing suffering because our demand for plants and animals exceeds our necessity for them and thus Farmers must grow more plants and raise more animals and thus maximize their efficiency (causing suffering in the process). If you wish to avoid suffering then eat only what and when you need and nothing more.

Whether you eat a plant or an animal is kind of arbitrary really, they are both alive and would have died anyway. Regardless of what diet you choose, it will not prevent your death either. Desire causes suffering.

]]> By: Subhash Aggarwal http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/1184/comment-page-1#comment-2429 Subhash Aggarwal Thu, 30 Jul 2009 12:23:42 +0000 http://www.dailybuddhism.com/?p=1184#comment-2429 The Buddha was never fond of meat in his last period of life. He was using the least food articles sufficient to survive a human life. Even the reason of his death is known. He had died due to consuming the poisionous meat. I believe he was great and shown us the way to consume the least toxified diet. Though he has allowed to eat the meat but of the animals who were died due to their natural death and not slaughtered intentionally just for taste. In my oepnion veg. diet is best and suffient for humans. The Buddha was never fond of meat in his last period of life. He was using the least food articles sufficient to survive a human life. Even the reason of his death is known. He had died due to consuming the poisionous meat. I believe he was great and shown us the way to consume the least toxified diet. Though he has allowed to eat the meat but of the animals who were died due to their natural death and not slaughtered intentionally just for taste. In my oepnion veg. diet is best and suffient for humans.

]]> By: Tina http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/1184/comment-page-1#comment-1607 Tina Fri, 27 Feb 2009 21:18:57 +0000 http://www.dailybuddhism.com/?p=1184#comment-1607 Thank you for that wisom. Thank you for that wisom.

]]> By: Abe Simpson http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/1184/comment-page-1#comment-1604 Abe Simpson Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:46:34 +0000 http://www.dailybuddhism.com/?p=1184#comment-1604 The Buddha said that while he was a young man he gave up all intoxication: “On seeing an old man, all intoxication with youth vanished from me. On seeing a sick man, all intoxication with health vanished from me. On seeing a dead man, all intoxication with life vanished from me.” You will notice that the Buddha doesn't talk about alcohol or drugs. He talks about attachment. The Buddha said that while he was a young man he gave up all intoxication: “On seeing an old man, all intoxication with youth vanished from me. On seeing a sick man, all intoxication with health vanished from me. On seeing a dead man, all intoxication with life vanished from me.”

You will notice that the Buddha doesn’t talk about alcohol or drugs. He talks about attachment.

]]> By: Candy Cook http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/1184/comment-page-1#comment-1603 Candy Cook Fri, 27 Feb 2009 12:26:11 +0000 http://www.dailybuddhism.com/?p=1184#comment-1603 If you eat food, fruits or vegetables, from a plant; you don't usually kill or harm the plant in the process. In fact, if I save the seeds from the fruit/veggie that I eat, and use them to plant next year's garden.. those seeds have a much better chance of living and growing into a new plant than they do if I leave them to fend for themselves. And, if we speak of tomatoes, I notice that the plants health is reduced if I do not remove some of that fruit. It's true, that some plants are removed entirely from the ground to eat them, but most plants are not. If you eat food, fruits or vegetables, from a plant; you don’t usually kill or harm the plant in the process. In fact, if I save the seeds from the fruit/veggie that I eat, and use them to plant next year’s garden.. those seeds have a much better chance of living and growing into a new plant than they do if I leave them to fend for themselves. And, if we speak of tomatoes, I notice that the plants health is reduced if I do not remove some of that fruit. It’s true, that some plants are removed entirely from the ground to eat them, but most plants are not.

]]> By: Jason http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/1184/comment-page-1#comment-1575 Jason Wed, 25 Feb 2009 15:07:47 +0000 http://www.dailybuddhism.com/?p=1184#comment-1575 Well, I had some things to say but Nathan said them for me ‚Äî especially concerning the use of caffeine and alcohol. I continue to call myself a Buddhist despite drinking one glass of red wine daily (per doctor's recommendation) and several cups of green tea. Remember, any substance you take into your body will have some effect on your brain chemistry ‚Äî from carrots to sugar to caffeine. The key is moderation and only taking in that which will benefit you and as many beings as possible. I would hesitate to place television watching under the precept concerning intoxication and instead consider it (not watching or limiting) a "Right Effort" exercise. Well, I had some things to say but Nathan said them for me ‚Äî especially concerning the use of caffeine and alcohol. I continue to call myself a Buddhist despite drinking one glass of red wine daily (per doctor’s recommendation) and several cups of green tea. Remember, any substance you take into your body will have some effect on your brain chemistry ‚Äî from carrots to sugar to caffeine. The key is moderation and only taking in that which will benefit you and as many beings as possible. I would hesitate to place television watching under the precept concerning intoxication and instead consider it (not watching or limiting) a “Right Effort” exercise.

]]> By: Stephen Lasky http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/1184/comment-page-1#comment-1572 Stephen Lasky Wed, 25 Feb 2009 02:29:28 +0000 http://www.dailybuddhism.com/?p=1184#comment-1572 I think that its safe to assume that if something has a central nervous system, it is considered a sentient being and therefore is something that should not be killed. Whether that means you should stick to that strictly and be a vegetarian depends on how many negative actions you want to have to offset with actions of merit. srl I think that its safe to assume that if something has a central nervous system, it is considered a sentient being and therefore is something that should not be killed. Whether that means you should stick to that strictly and be a vegetarian depends on how many negative actions you want to have to offset with actions of merit.

srl

]]> By: Nathan http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/1184/comment-page-1#comment-1569 Nathan Tue, 24 Feb 2009 19:07:52 +0000 http://www.dailybuddhism.com/?p=1184#comment-1569 I am a vegetarian, and I have always considered the charge to reduce suffering more important in this decision than the proscription against killing. The reality is that animals for food suffer greatly. For me it's an issue of right livelihood. Can I survive without contributing to the horrible suffering of living beings most people consume for food without a second thought? Of course, the flip side of the coin is that it is my choice alone, and I don't try to convert friends or family. In regards to the proscription against mind-altering substances, I have always taken this with a grain of salt. The fact is, our contrived concept of "drug" vs "medicine" will be unduly influencing thoughts and policy on the matter for a long time. However, I believe extending this proscription to television seems more appropriate than extending it to all psychoactive substances. The tea ceremony of Japan is a good example of a (arguably) Buddhist ceremony revolving around a psychoactive substance: caffeine. Also, Zen's emphasis on direct personal spiritual revelation seems to okay the use of things like psychedelics for spiritual growth in my mind. Certainly there are many who came to Buddhism and Taoism as a direct result of their psychedelic experiences. Self-dilution and drunkenness seem to be the main point of this precept, in my humble opinion. As a side note, cannabis as a meditative aide has been used in India since time immemorial. I am a vegetarian, and I have always considered the charge to reduce suffering more important in this decision than the proscription against killing. The reality is that animals for food suffer greatly. For me it’s an issue of right livelihood. Can I survive without contributing to the horrible suffering of living beings most people consume for food without a second thought? Of course, the flip side of the coin is that it is my choice alone, and I don’t try to convert friends or family.

In regards to the proscription against mind-altering substances, I have always taken this with a grain of salt. The fact is, our contrived concept of “drug” vs “medicine” will be unduly influencing thoughts and policy on the matter for a long time. However, I believe extending this proscription to television seems more appropriate than extending it to all psychoactive substances. The tea ceremony of Japan is a good example of a (arguably) Buddhist ceremony revolving around a psychoactive substance: caffeine. Also, Zen’s emphasis on direct personal spiritual revelation seems to okay the use of things like psychedelics for spiritual growth in my mind. Certainly there are many who came to Buddhism and Taoism as a direct result of their psychedelic experiences. Self-dilution and drunkenness seem to be the main point of this precept, in my humble opinion. As a side note, cannabis as a meditative aide has been used in India since time immemorial.

]]> By: Abe Simpson http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/1184/comment-page-1#comment-1567 Abe Simpson Tue, 24 Feb 2009 17:05:48 +0000 http://www.dailybuddhism.com/?p=1184#comment-1567 I have always interpreted Buddha's teaching on intoxicant's as anything that causes headonism, which would clearly cause us to stay in our conditioned mind and not allow us to practice our buddha nature. I don't think limiting it to drugs is appropriate. This is the middle way after all and moderation is key to this practice. Besides, tea, which is very high in caffeine,is an integral part of several buddhist cultures and its popularity is often attributed to the Buddha. I have always interpreted Buddha’s teaching on intoxicant’s as anything that causes headonism, which would clearly cause us to stay in our conditioned mind and not allow us to practice our buddha nature. I don’t think limiting it to drugs is appropriate. This is the middle way after all and moderation is key to this practice. Besides, tea, which is very high in caffeine,is an integral part of several buddhist cultures and its popularity is often attributed to the Buddha.

]]> By: Tina http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/1184/comment-page-1#comment-1566 Tina Tue, 24 Feb 2009 16:57:08 +0000 http://www.dailybuddhism.com/?p=1184#comment-1566 Grateful and thankful for your wisdom and guidance in the buddhist diet! Grateful and thankful for your wisdom and guidance in the buddhist diet!

]]> By: Diane http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/1184/comment-page-1#comment-1565 Diane Tue, 24 Feb 2009 16:38:00 +0000 http://www.dailybuddhism.com/?p=1184#comment-1565 Excellent answers! You have a very accurate understanding of Buddhism thus far that I've seen. Excellent answers! You have a very accurate understanding of Buddhism thus far that I’ve seen.

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