As a Buddhist for many years I have always believed the 5 precepts ask us to try to be the best Buddhist we can be.

If we can avoid killing people, great. If we can also avoid killing animals and insects, even better. If we can avoid eating meat, even better still.

Realizing that Buddhism is a personal path, the precepts are almost a challenge to see how well we can do with each of them.

I find amusement how some people over-complicate and over-analyze simple things to justify doing what they want to do. This is not the Buddha’s way.

Always do good, never do harm, have a clear mind.

Sherri

As a Hatha yoga student & teacher, as well as having a Zen practice, I find that the first precept/the first of the Yamas, ahimsa(http://yogasthakurukarmani.blogspot.com/2008/09/ahimsa.html), is very clear to me. Don’t eat meat.

I have been a vegetarian for over seven years now. When I began teaching yoga in October 2005 I felt I should be practicing with the Yamas. The following spring I deepened my Zen practice and looked really long and hard at the idea of ahimsa. At the end of that looking I became a vegan.

More than anything I wanted to make very mindful, conscious decisions about what I was eating for the sake of my health. I also wanted to remove myself from the arguments about what is better or worse: “ovo-lacto is just fine, it isn’t like they are killed”, “Meat is fine so long as it is humanely raised”, “milk is OK, eggs aren’t”, “Fish don’t have eyelids”, etc.

I felt an act of affirming life was just not arguing about who was right or wrong. I also knew it was most important that I do what was right for me. Becoming vegan has improved my health tremendously, including lowering my cholesterol 100 points (I was at a level where a lifetime of medication was being discussed).

I also see the first precept as an opportunity to be mindful about fair trade practices. A way to look deeply at the many hands that have touched a product I use or what I nourish my body with.

Coupled, it should mean-perhaps in orignal Chan Buddhism- an adversion to meat should be the most practical state for Buddhist to follow.

Man is, or can be, at bottom a dreadful wild animal. The reasons here for eating meat appear ‘slothful’. We don’t require meat in the West; but, strangely, we are liberal and ethical enough to allow others to do so. The enivromental arguement does, howvever, sound compelling- Tibetan Buddhist love of meat is, so argued, based the cold and killing Himalayan environment.

Apparently, the Dalai Lama eats quails and ducks. He is no longer in the ‘Cold’, and the ‘how-can- you-refuse a guest argument’ is used justify the consumption.

Frankly, it seems a devastating weakness in the Buddhist ethical scheme. Certain Catholic Monastic Orders allow meat consumption under exceptional conditions (such as if a Monk is ill, for example). Many Rasafarians do not eat any flesh on a simple and sound basis: it is wrong.

It does not take much creativity realise that eating a slaughtered animal is more unethical than refusing the offering of a host. I suppose a step in the right direction is the Dalai Lama’s eating flesh only on ‘alternative days’.

Over the years, however, and as my practice has grown, I now view myself even more a part of the animal world and I do not eat creatures–that’s the way it’s phrased in my head. I believe our disconnect from the creatures around us enables us to perpetrate other mass actions that involve mass violence and ill-treatment of others. Maybe that’s extreme, but it’s a suspicion I have. The ancients used to believe that the blood of slaughtered sacrificial animals gave the consumer strength and power over their enemies. Maybe they were right, and maybe some of humanity’s blood-thirsty behavior is somehow related to the practice of killing and consuming other creatures.

I have to add that I keep all of these things in check with my friends who are meat-eaters–and sometimes it’s not easy, but I am and want to be respectful. I’m not a zealot, I simply have strong feelings for my own path.

Intention:
If you kill an animal just to eat it, or, if it is killed specifically for your meal, I feel it to go somewhat against the 1st Precept of No Killing. I have vowed to try and live by the 5 Precepts.

Skillful means:
This is where it would be permissible, according to my view of the Dharma. But, it is also where one must ask themselves what their own life dictates. Example: A monastic that sustains their life from alms, would likely do so by using what is offered. Sometimes meat would be offered. Also, monastics that live in certain areas of the world would have a harder time sustaining a vegetarian lifestyle. Just a reality of this world.

I happen to live in Southern California – it is quite simple and accessible to live a vegetarian lifestyle. Therefore, my skillful means allow me to be a vegetarian. However, when I travel, I do find it difficult in some areas. (When I traveled to New Orleans again years ago after becoming a vegetarian, we’ll just say I ate a lot of bread, salad, and cheese pizza. hahaha)

I have also taken Bodhisattva vows for this lifetime. In doing so, I find it important for my path to work as hard as possible to keep a compassionate mind. I cannot do so by sustaining my own life from the suffering and killing of other sentient beings. This keeps me being a vegetarian.

Now, having said all that, both my wife and my son do eat meat. This is something I cannot and will not change. It is a decision each individual must make on their own. The path of Buddhism does not prosper by forcing others into one’s own way of thinking, but rather through living a life of compassion and helping others either through actions or examples.

….joining palms.

Just as no pleasures can bring delight
To someone whose body is ablaze with fire,
Nor can the great compassionate ones be pleased
When harm is done to sentient beings.
- Shantideva

The monks at our temple do not cook or pick food for themselves. Whatever is brought to them is what they eat. They also eat only once a day. This allows them to spend less energy in decision making on what to eat, and more time focused on mindfulness. In doing so also lessens the chance of certain desires burning out of control.

There are ways of obtaining meat that have received ethical treatment, thereby limiting your negative karmic effect. Do a little research in your region to find a farm who believes in the same values as you do. The website http://www.localharvest.org is how I found my meat producer in the Wisconsin area. This farm, Ruegsegger Farm, believes the animals should be “Raised on family farms by farmers who care about the animals and the environment in which they live” and “Closely monitored with our strict animal welfare and food safety quality standards.” So while you are still obtaining meat, you can be assured that this animal was relieved of some suffering that would have come if they lived on an alternative farm.

Lastly, as a Buddhist, you should be concerned about the lives of others. With regards to meat consumption, a restricted diet of meat sounds like the best option, as it will bring satisfaction to you without allowing the unnecessary killing in excess. Let’s crunch some numbers: According to the USDA the average American eats approximately 270 pounds of meat (beef, chicken, and pork) annually, with 97lbs coming from beef. That equates to 4.25oz of beef eaten every day! To sustain that, assuming you get 300lbs of meat per cow, you need one cow for every 3 people to eat meat every day for a year. According to the 2008 CIA World Factbook, 180,694,619 people in the US are within the ages of 20 and 64 (we’ll use that number because 0-18 and 65+ have varying diets). If you continue eating as average, the US requires 60,231,540 cows to lose their lives to support about 181 million American appetites. Considering eating just one of those cows contributes to an increase in their suffering, while we as Buddhists strive to alleviate other’s suffering, cutting back on meat consumption does not seem so bad now, does it?

My understanding is that the Buddha taught to gratefully take what is offered. So, if a person put a slice of meat in the alms bowl then it should be eaten. However, the monk was not to ask that meat be given to him or that an animal be slaughtered for him.
For most people in our society, we dont walk around begging and caring alms bowls. Therefore, when I am standing at McDonalds I have a choice. I can either order the Big Mac or the salad. Ordering the Big Mac is, obviously, asking for meat.
If someone is eating with their wife or with their parents who are not vegitarians and they make a chicken casserole, I think that it would be wrong for the person to tell them “no” to not partake of what they have been offered but instead to tell them to go back into the kitchen and to whip up a vegitarian meal. That causes needless suffering

Having said all of that, I think I should be honest and say that I am not vegitarian. I currently do eat meat. However, I have wrestled with these thoughts and may take my own advice into practice