Lord Buddha was not a vegetarian and
neither he did insist his disciples to follow vegetarianism. He used to eat
whatever he received from the villagers in 'bhiksha'. Even before his
enlightenment, He had experimented with several diets including a non
vegetarian diet, but he gradually abandoned them believing that they did not
contribute to spiritual development of a person. Therefore, though not
insisting on Vegatarianism, what he emphasised more upon was Ahimsa, which
forbids killing of animals.
However, The Buddha's followers got divided into their practices and even
today, the Buddhists around the world practices both Vegetarianism and
Non-Vegetarianism with complex arguments to support their views.
Generally Theravadins have no dietary restrictions, although one can find
the monks and lay people in Sri Lanka, who are strict vegetarians. Others
abstain from meat while they eat fish. Chinese and Vietnamese monks and nuns
are strict vegetarians and the lay community try to follow their example
although many do not. However, Vegetarianism is rare amongst the Tibetans
and Japanese Buddhists.
The Mahayana Buddhists, who are strict vegetarians give a simple and
compelling arguments to support their belief. Eating meat encourages an
industry that causes cruelty and death to millions of animals and a truly
compassionate person would wish to mitigate all this suffering. By refusing
to eat meat one can do just that and follow the path of Ahimsa impartially.
However, the Buddhists who believe that vegetarianism is not necessary for
Buddhists, too argue for their case.
1. If the Buddha had felt that a non vegetarian diet was not in accordance
with the Precepts, He would have said so, but he did not.
2. Unless one actually kills an animal oneself (which seldom happens today)
for eating meat, one is not directly responsible for the animal's death and
in this sense, a non- vegetarian is no different from a vegetarian. The
later can only eat his vegetables because the farmer has ploughed his fields
(thus killing many creatures) and sprayed the crop (again killing many
creatures).
3. Though the vegetarians will not eat meat, he does use numerous other
products that lead to killing of the animals (soap, leather, serum, silk
etc.). Therefore, why abstain from one while using the others?
4 Good qualities like understanding, patience, generosity and honesty and
bad qualities like ignorance, pride, hypocrisy, jealousy and indifference do
not depend on what one eats and therefore, diet is not a significant factor
in spiritual development. So, each person has to make up his or her own mind
