Many people know that a vegetarian or even vegan diet is an integral part of the lifestyle of many Buddhists. But does that mean you have to be vegetarian or vegan to be Buddhist?
Firstly I suppose it’s good to ask the question why is vegetarianism so popular among Buddhists. In Buddhism there is a strong emphasis on compassion for all living beings. We are taught to think of all living being as equal (see post on this here). Eventually this makes you think more about whether it is then alright to eat another living being.
But Buddhism is about a gradual process of change within a person. So to be Buddhist I would think is to be striving each day to improve how we are in the world. Today you may be a person who eats a lot of red meat, poultry, fish etc. Then next week you decide to eat less red meat, maybe only at your moms house for Sunday dinner to make it easier on her. Then you eventually ask Mom if she would mind if you just had poultry or fish. After another year you stop eating poultry (yet another chat with mother / friend / partner). Then you eat less fish and start to learn how to cook some wholefoods to help vary your now almost complete veggie diet. For me it has taken years to just get to the point of eating only fish and otherwise vegetarian. And I am sure it will be another while moving to completely vegetarian.
Is this then the official Buddhist line. Well I could say from what I have studied it is reasonable to think this is close to the teachings meaning. However it is not for me to inform you as to what is right or wrong. I will only try to give you insight into what I have learned as a Buddhist student and practitioner. But I have read in one of the many books by His Holiness the Dalai Lama what his suggestion is.
His Holiness starts out suggesting that at first we may find it difficult to become vegetarian. Culturally it may be out of the norm (for years in Ireland if you were vegetarian and ate out you got stir fried veg as your only dining option or salad). It may be health wise something that will take time to adjust to. It may be an inconvenience to whomever prepares most of your meals. You may need to learn how to cook vegetarian food. So His Holiness suggests at first trying to minimize the damage as such.
He suggests that we should not go and kill an animal specifically to eat for ourselves. But perhaps buy meat that is available on the open market anyway. We should then also accept what is given to us by a host of a meal (even if it is meat) but if we arrive and the host says “great you are here I will kill our best chicken for you for the meal” you should politely decline and ask for something vegetarian if possible or at least something that has already been prepared for the family in general (not killed just for you). Then he of course suggest reducing the amount of animal products we eat over time and ideally becoming vegetarian.
But our question was not is it ideal to be vegetarian in the Buddhist tradition. We asked do you have to be vegetarian to be Buddhist? In my humble opinion we do what we can for now and in time we gain greater capacity in everything we are trying to do, including becoming vegetarian.
to veg or not to veg?
bootcampbuddhist 