[Buddha-l] Victimized vegans?

[Erik Hoogcarspel]

Joy Vriens schreef:
>> The argument in the Mahayana sutras is much more simple. Any act of taking  
>> anything that was not freely offered is violation of the second precept. This  
>> is why it is theft to take a cow's milk, a bee's honey, or a sheep's wool. 
>>     
>
> Or Microsoft's software... Those using Linux, Ubuntu etc. are stealing the milk and honey that Microsoft shareholders need to grow. Shame on you!
>
> http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/05/28/100033867/  
>
> Whether a Buddhist or a capitalist or both, please play it by the rules!
>
>   
The weirdest thing I read once in the NY Times: if you don't watch the 
TV adds you're stealing from the sponsor.
When I was still a Buddhist groupy, I followed Namkhai Norbu for a while 
and he said that it is a great opportunity for an animal to be 
slaughtered and eaten by a bodhisattva, because it gets a karmic 
connection and will be among the followers of that bodhisattva in a 
future life.
The efficiency argument against meat eating looks good, but remember 
it's not the same to be a veggie for reasons of compassion, one that is 
afraid of dead meat or one that has ecological motives. The last one 
will have no objection to eat meat if it is part of natural life. If you 
like milk and cheese you have to keep cows and that means you may have 
to kill a cow or a calf sometimes. Sometimes cows or buffalows help to 
keep the natural balance on a moor if you want to the herd healthy, some 
animals have to be killed each year. Why not eat hem?

-- 


Erik


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