Page 41 - The Buddha‘s Noble Eightfold Path

have arisen, should find it impossible to indulge.

In the same way, it should be impossible for a Buddhist to

indulge in blood sports. You may tell me you know the
Abhidhamma very well, but if, at the same time, you are
engaging in blood sports every Sunday morning, I shall not take

your knowledge of the Abhidhamma very seriously. This is an
extreme case. Most people don't indulge in blood sports

nowadays, though some unfortunately still do, and even try to
defend the practice. Still, from a Buddhist point of view, — from
the point of view of Perfect Vision and Perfect Emotion, blood

sports are quite inadmissible, on account of the very definite
and wanton cruelty involved.

There is also the whole question of vegetarianism. Many people
feel that they cannot take meat or fish because here again

cruelty — often deliberate and wanton — is involved. Though in
Buddhism there is no hard and fast rule that if you want to be a

Buddhist you must be a vegetarian, yet a sincere Buddhist, i.e.
one who is trying to follow the Eightfold Path, and in whom
Perfect Vision has arisen and Perfect Emotion is beginning to

stir, will certainly make some sort of move in this direction. The
reason for this is that as he progresses on the spiritual path his

feelings become more and more sensitive, so that eventually
things like eating meat just drop away of their own accord.

The Positive Aspect of Perfect Emotion
This consists of a number of wholesome emotions, all

connected. First come the positive counterparts of renunciation,
non-hatred, and non-cruelty, known in Sanskrit as (a) dana,

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