Page 24 - Applied Buddhism

cultivated the land by themselves and survived on vegetables. In the meat daily. Today, people stock all sorts of meat and fish in the
keeping with the precept of non-killing, they did not keep animals fridge and consume them daily, not so much to “eat to live’ but to
for food. Thus they had to eventually turn to vegetarianism. “live to eat.” I think non-vegetarians should at least reduce their
intake of meat.
However, when Buddhism spread to Tibet, the Tibetan monks
did not opt for a vegetarian diet. In the high and cold mountains of
Tibet, growing vegetables was, and still is, a very difficult task. If (A talk given at an Interfaith Forum organised by INSAF (Interfaith Spiritual
they had opted for a vegetarian diet, there would probably be no Fellowship) at the Sikh Guwara, Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur on 3rd Sept 2005.)
monks left in Tibet now.

Both Chinese Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism are of the
Mahayana school (albeit one exoteric and the other esoteric). It
is therefore not right to say that Mahayana Buddhism advocates
vegetarianism and Theravada Buddhism do not. In fact, today,
there are many Buddhists, monks and lay people, of the Theravada
tradition who opt for a vegetarian diet. The inclination is not due
to sectarian demand but rather due to cultural backgrounds and
individual preferences.

There are many ways and degrees to which people practice
vegetarianism today. Some do not eat any animal products such as
meat, eggs, cheese, and milk, while some others reject meat but eat
eggs, cheese and milk. Some are full-time vegetarians while some
practice vegetarianism only on certain days. Our attitude towards
food, vegetarian or otherwise, should be “eat to live, and not live
to eat.”

For the meat-eater, I am of the opinion that we are over-eating
meat. People during ancient time slaughtered a chicken perhaps
once a fortnight, and shared the meat with family members and
neighbours. They did not keep the meat in the fridge and consume

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