The Aura of Wisdom By Living Buddha Sheng-yen
Lu This was translated from Grandmaster Lu's 154th book, 智慧的光環. CHAPTER 31 - Taking Meat or Vegetarian Meals Someone once asked the Dalai Lama, `What is Tantric Buddhism`s stand on vegetarianism and meat eating?` The Dalai Lama replied, `I personally am a vegetarian, but the lamas aren`t.` The questioner then raised this issue: `If a person is not a vegetarian, then he or she is killing. Isn`t this a breach of the Five Precepts?` The reply given by the Dalai Lama was ambiguous, suggesting that being a non-vegetarian does not imply one is killing, and that there is no connection between killing and consuming vegetarian meals. In fact, the Dalai Lama laughed embarrassingly and said, `The lamas don`t kill for food, neither are they vegetarians.` When I was at Drepung Loseling Monastery having our meals together with the Khenpo, only meat was served. To my knowledge, the Chinese Buddhist orders were commanded by Xiao Yan, the Chinese Emperor Wu of the Liang Dynasty, to instruct their ordained monks and nuns to adopt a vegetarian lifestyle. This is characteristic of Chinese Buddhism, which has the intention to nurture compassion and avoid creating negative karma. Consuming vegetarian meals in itself has its merits, but it is not a definite key to attaining buddhahood. If taking vegetarian meals by itself could lead to buddhahood, horses, cows and sheep would have long attained enlightenment! Many beginners in Buddhism are not accustomed to sticking to a vegetarian lifestyle. It is advisable that they consume the `three pure meats` (no personal sighting of the animal being killed, no actual hearing of its cry while it? being killed, and no killing done by oneself specifically for personal consumption). This is a convenient solution as an alternative to adopting a vegetarian lifestyle. Should the True Buddha practitioner adopt a strict vegetarian lifestyle? My answer to this is: `It`s up to you.` But any meal-eating practitioner must purify their meat by `blowing a gust of air` and reciting the Manjusri Deliverance Mantra. This is applying the Tantric method to deliver the souls of the animals, transforming the meal into purified food. Upon offering merits to the soul of the animal whose meat is to be consumed, the meat can thus be eaten. This is because when you have extended your compassion and delivered the soul, there exists no bond of negative karmic affinity between you and the animal soul. The views held by the Sutric and Tantric traditions on taking meat and vegetarian meals are different, but please remember this verse expounded by the Buddha: One mouthful of pure water Contains eighty four thousand worms If you do not recite a mantra It is as good as killing. Such subtle truth must be discerned carefully!
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