[Buddha-l] Meat Eating

[Christopher Fynn]

On 20/08/2013, Dan Lusthaus <vasubandhu at earthlink.net> wrote:

>...
> Among Buddhists, Chinese and Korean Buddhists (esp clerics) observe
> vegetarian diets. The rest (Theravadin countries, Tibetans, Japanese, etc.)
> consume meat, though there are subsets that embrace vegetarianism. The Dalai
> Lama encourages others to adopt a vegetarian diet, and some contemporary
> Tibetans are attempting it, but he himself has been forbidden by his doctors

A number of Tibetan lamas, especially in the Nyingma traditon,
promoted vegetarianism
Shabkar Tsog Drug Rangdrol (1781-1851), Jigme Lingpa (1730-1798), and
Paltrul Rinpoche  (1808-1887) come to mind.

http://www.shabkar.org/download/pdf/Shabkar_Food_of_Bodhisattvas_Introduction.pdf

http://www.shabkar.org/download/pdf/Words_of_My_Perfect_Teacher_On_Food_and_Taking_Life.pdf

Among contemporary Tibetan Lamas, Chatral Sangay Dorje, who had his
100th birthday in July, is particularly vociferous about this:

http://www.shabkar.org/download/pdf/On_Meat_Eating.pdf
http://www.shabkar.org/download/pdf/Benefits_of_Saving_Lives.pdf
http://www.shabkar.org/download/pdf/TVA_Interview_Chatral_Rinpoche.pdf
http://www.shabkar.org/download/pdf/Steadfast_Commitment_to_Ethics.pdf

He dismisses the claims of some lamas who say they need to eat meat
for health reasons by pointing out that all his relatives who ate meat
died in their 50's - while he is healthy at an old age (now 100) and
teaches that the result of saving lives and refraining from killing
and eating meat is a long and healthy life.