The Dhammapada, Verse 100.
[Reference: Embracing The Light of Dhamma]
အရဟံ - ကိေလသာ အပူအေလာင္ဓာတ္ေတြ ကင္းစင္ေအးခ်မ္းေတာ္မူေသာ ျမတ္စြာဘုရား....... (ဖတ္မွတ္ျပီး ႏွစ္သက္မိသမွ် စာေပမ်ားကို စုေဆာင္းသိမ္းဆည္းရင္း ျပန္လည္မွ်ေ၀ျခင္းျဖစ္ပါတယ္။) စိတ္၏ခ်မ္းသာျခင္း၊ ကိုယ္၏က်န္းမာျခင္းတို႕ႏွင့္ ျပည့္စံုႏိုင္ၾကပါေစ...
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Words of Wisdom
"A single word of truth, which calms the mind, is better to hear than a thousand irrelevant words."
The Dhammapada, Verse 100.
[Reference: Embracing The Light of Dhamma]
The Dhammapada, Verse 100.
[Reference: Embracing The Light of Dhamma]
Friday, August 15, 2008
Are Buddhists Vegetarians?
Are Buddhists vegetarians???
"Some are, some aren't. From the Theravada perspective, the choice of whether or not to eat meat is purely a matter of personal preference. Many Buddhists (and, of course, non-Buddhists) do eventually lose their appetite for meat out of compassion for the welfare of other living creatures. But vegetarianism is not required in order to follow the Buddha's path.
Although the first of the five precepts, the basic code of ethical conduct for all practicing Buddhists, calls upon followers to refrain from intentional acts of killing, it does not address the consumption of flesh from animals that are already dead. Theravada monks, however, are clearly forbidden to eat meat from a few specific kinds of animals, but for reasons not directly related to the ethics of killing.1 Monks are free to pursue vegetarianism by leaving uneaten any meat that may have been placed in the alms bowl, but because they depend on the open-handed generosity of lay supporters2 (who may or may not themselves be vegetarian) it is considered unseemly for them to make special food requests. In those parts of the world (including wide areas of south Asia) where vegetarianism is uncommon and many dishes are prepared in a meat or fish broth, vegetarian monks would soon face a simple choice: eat meat or starve.3
Taking part in killing for food is definitely incompatible with the first precept, and should be avoided. This includes hunting, fishing, trapping, butchering, steaming live clams, eating live raw oysters, etc.
And what about asking someone else to catch and kill the animal for me? On this point the teachings are also unambiguous: we should never intentionally ask someone to kill on our behalf. We should not, for example, order a fresh steamed lobster from the restaurant menu. The Dhammapada expresses this sentiment succinctly:
All
tremble at the rod,
all
hold their life dear.
Drawing the parallel to
yourself,
neither kill nor get others to kill.
— Dhp 130
And what about purchasing meat of an animal that someone else killed? Is this consistent with the Buddhist principles of compassion and non-harming, a cornerstone of right resolve? This is where things get tricky, and where the suttas offer only spotty guidance. In the Buddha's definition of right livelihood for a lay person, one of the five prohibited occupations is "business in meat" [AN 5.177]. Although he does not explicitly state whether this prohibition also extends to us, the butcher's clients and customers, it does place us uncomfortably close to a field of unskillful action.
To summarize what the suttas tell us: it appears that one may, with a clear conscience, receive, cook, and eat meat that either was freely offered by someone else, or that came from an animal who died of natural causes. But as to purchasing meat, I am just not sure. There are no clear-cut answers here.
We are all guilty of complicity, in one way or another and to varying degrees, in the harming and death of other creatures. Whether we are carnivore, vegan, or something in between, no matter how carefully we choose our food, somewhere back along the long chain of food production and preparation, killing took place. No matter how carefully we trod, with every step countless insects, mites, and other creatures inadvertently perish under our feet. This is just the nature of our world. It is only when we escape altogether from the round of birth and death, when we enter into the final liberation of nibbana — the Deathless — can we wash our hearts clean, once and for all, of killing and death. To steer us towards that lofty goal, the Buddha gave us very realistic advice: he didn't ask us to become vegetarian; he asked us to observe the precepts. For many of us, this is challenge enough. This is where we begin."
[Reference: The New Rays of Dhamma, www.nibbana.com]
"Some are, some aren't. From the Theravada perspective, the choice of whether or not to eat meat is purely a matter of personal preference. Many Buddhists (and, of course, non-Buddhists) do eventually lose their appetite for meat out of compassion for the welfare of other living creatures. But vegetarianism is not required in order to follow the Buddha's path.
Although the first of the five precepts, the basic code of ethical conduct for all practicing Buddhists, calls upon followers to refrain from intentional acts of killing, it does not address the consumption of flesh from animals that are already dead. Theravada monks, however, are clearly forbidden to eat meat from a few specific kinds of animals, but for reasons not directly related to the ethics of killing.1 Monks are free to pursue vegetarianism by leaving uneaten any meat that may have been placed in the alms bowl, but because they depend on the open-handed generosity of lay supporters2 (who may or may not themselves be vegetarian) it is considered unseemly for them to make special food requests. In those parts of the world (including wide areas of south Asia) where vegetarianism is uncommon and many dishes are prepared in a meat or fish broth, vegetarian monks would soon face a simple choice: eat meat or starve.3
Taking part in killing for food is definitely incompatible with the first precept, and should be avoided. This includes hunting, fishing, trapping, butchering, steaming live clams, eating live raw oysters, etc.
And what about asking someone else to catch and kill the animal for me? On this point the teachings are also unambiguous: we should never intentionally ask someone to kill on our behalf. We should not, for example, order a fresh steamed lobster from the restaurant menu. The Dhammapada expresses this sentiment succinctly:
All
tremble at the rod,
all
hold their life dear.
Drawing the parallel to
yourself,
neither kill nor get others to kill.
— Dhp 130
And what about purchasing meat of an animal that someone else killed? Is this consistent with the Buddhist principles of compassion and non-harming, a cornerstone of right resolve? This is where things get tricky, and where the suttas offer only spotty guidance. In the Buddha's definition of right livelihood for a lay person, one of the five prohibited occupations is "business in meat" [AN 5.177]. Although he does not explicitly state whether this prohibition also extends to us, the butcher's clients and customers, it does place us uncomfortably close to a field of unskillful action.
To summarize what the suttas tell us: it appears that one may, with a clear conscience, receive, cook, and eat meat that either was freely offered by someone else, or that came from an animal who died of natural causes. But as to purchasing meat, I am just not sure. There are no clear-cut answers here.
We are all guilty of complicity, in one way or another and to varying degrees, in the harming and death of other creatures. Whether we are carnivore, vegan, or something in between, no matter how carefully we choose our food, somewhere back along the long chain of food production and preparation, killing took place. No matter how carefully we trod, with every step countless insects, mites, and other creatures inadvertently perish under our feet. This is just the nature of our world. It is only when we escape altogether from the round of birth and death, when we enter into the final liberation of nibbana — the Deathless — can we wash our hearts clean, once and for all, of killing and death. To steer us towards that lofty goal, the Buddha gave us very realistic advice: he didn't ask us to become vegetarian; he asked us to observe the precepts. For many of us, this is challenge enough. This is where we begin."
[Reference: The New Rays of Dhamma, www.nibbana.com]
Is it important to know the reality?
"Q: What will happen to me by understanding these mind-body processes? (Elizabeth, East Sussex Retreat)
A: As a result, you can get rid of wrong view or false view of a soul, a self, a person or an individuality etc. Because of this wrong view, we are attached to ourselves, our family, our relatives, our properties. As long as we have attachment to ourselves we are sure to experience many kinds of suffering such as sorrow, worry, mental and physical diseases when we come across the loss of something in our life. Those who practise this mindfulness meditation can be free from such sufferings because they have already realised the nature of mind-body process. When our concentration and mindfulness gain momentum the ignorance, wrong view, and attachment can be got rid of through our insight knowledge which can give rise to peace and happiness. For this reason, it is really important to know our mind-body process in its true nature by means of meditation."
[Reference: The New Rays of Dhamma, www.nibbana.com]
A: As a result, you can get rid of wrong view or false view of a soul, a self, a person or an individuality etc. Because of this wrong view, we are attached to ourselves, our family, our relatives, our properties. As long as we have attachment to ourselves we are sure to experience many kinds of suffering such as sorrow, worry, mental and physical diseases when we come across the loss of something in our life. Those who practise this mindfulness meditation can be free from such sufferings because they have already realised the nature of mind-body process. When our concentration and mindfulness gain momentum the ignorance, wrong view, and attachment can be got rid of through our insight knowledge which can give rise to peace and happiness. For this reason, it is really important to know our mind-body process in its true nature by means of meditation."
[Reference: The New Rays of Dhamma, www.nibbana.com]
The Laws of Cause and Effect?
"Q: How shall we know the law of cause and effect of mind-body processes? (Jonathan, East Sussex Retreat)
A: Now you are holding a blue ball-pen which can be seen by everyone here. We all have eye-base that can contact with the ball-pen which is beautiful and attracts our attention. There is also a light helping us to see the ball pen. When these four things come together there arises eye consciousness. It is clear that eye consciousness arises based on these four causes:
1)object called ball-pen
2)eye-base
3)light and
4)attention.
If you put your ball-pen in your pocket nobody could see it. Though it has been placed in front of you, we cannot exactly know what it is, if there were no light or we were blind, or we do not notice it. So it is necessary to have the four causes for the arising of eye consciousness, on the contrary, nobody can stop eye consciousness arising when these four causes come together. In the end, what we come to know is that the arising of consciousness has nothing to do with any creator God, Deities or Almighty Being. it is clear that physical processes arise depending on consciousness. Your body cannot be moved without intention. You know yourself that you had the idea, the intention, to come to this retreat when you were at home. Otherwise, you wouldn't be here without any intention. Similarly, every movement of eating, walking, standing and sitting, consists first of intention. Those who have practised mindfulness meditation can realise the process of meantality and physicality which are arising and passing away in every moment and every second quickly through their insight knowledge during just one step of walking. According to their own experience they accept the realistic teaching of the Buddha that millions and millions of mind-body phenomena are arising and passing away from moment to moment which cannot be controlled by any one. With practice, I believe that you too can understand how mental and physical processes are related to each other as cause and effect."
[Reference: The New Rays of Dhamma, www.nibbana.com]
A: Now you are holding a blue ball-pen which can be seen by everyone here. We all have eye-base that can contact with the ball-pen which is beautiful and attracts our attention. There is also a light helping us to see the ball pen. When these four things come together there arises eye consciousness. It is clear that eye consciousness arises based on these four causes:
1)object called ball-pen
2)eye-base
3)light and
4)attention.
If you put your ball-pen in your pocket nobody could see it. Though it has been placed in front of you, we cannot exactly know what it is, if there were no light or we were blind, or we do not notice it. So it is necessary to have the four causes for the arising of eye consciousness, on the contrary, nobody can stop eye consciousness arising when these four causes come together. In the end, what we come to know is that the arising of consciousness has nothing to do with any creator God, Deities or Almighty Being. it is clear that physical processes arise depending on consciousness. Your body cannot be moved without intention. You know yourself that you had the idea, the intention, to come to this retreat when you were at home. Otherwise, you wouldn't be here without any intention. Similarly, every movement of eating, walking, standing and sitting, consists first of intention. Those who have practised mindfulness meditation can realise the process of meantality and physicality which are arising and passing away in every moment and every second quickly through their insight knowledge during just one step of walking. According to their own experience they accept the realistic teaching of the Buddha that millions and millions of mind-body phenomena are arising and passing away from moment to moment which cannot be controlled by any one. With practice, I believe that you too can understand how mental and physical processes are related to each other as cause and effect."
[Reference: The New Rays of Dhamma, www.nibbana.com]
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