[Buddha-l] on eating meat

[curt]

Tibetan monks do not practice vegetarianism as a general rule and I am 
pretty sure that the Dalai Lama eats meat more than once a week. I heard 
him speak once and he was asked this question (it was funny hearing 
several thousand Buddhists groan all at once when he was asked "the 
vegetarian question") and he said he was a vegetarian "50% of the time". 
You should remember that the Dalai Lama is the avatar of Avalokitesvara, 
the freaking Bodhisattva of Compassion - so if he (she?) doesn't have to 
be a vegetarian, why should the rest of us get all worked up about it??

The great Tibetan saint/sage Milarepa did in fact practice and encourage 
vegetarianism - but as far as I know it never caught on in his lineage - 
Kagyu. Eating meat is pretty much a matter of survival in a cold place 
like Tibet. But Milarepa was able to generate his own heat magically, so 
I think that's why he was able to be a vegetarian. Personally I consider 
that cheating.

- Curt

Laura Castell wrote:

>
> I've been following this thread with attention because I think we 
> (people) tend to live with many contradictions between what we do and 
> what we 'pray' or think is correct, often not being aware of these 
> contradictions, and the case of eating meat is usually one.  I think 
> it is basically the same attitude that drives us to use air 
> conditioning, waste water, produce lots of waste, etc etc.  But the 
> point I want to make in this message is that I read in one of the many 
> books by The Dalai Lama that he eats meat once a week for health 
> reasons.  At least in the interview there was no mention of killing 
> the animal in a special way or anything like that. It made me wonder 
> though.  Should I assume that someone like The Dalai Lama would 
> (obviously) take that into consideration or am I being idealistic? 
> Sometimes I think I expect perfection from people who practice 
> Buddhism, but they are people like us (in other words, full of 
> imperfections!) and are in the road of learning, aren't they?
> Best wishes, Laura
>
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