[Buddha-l] Insight into Anti-Muslim Violence in Sri Lanka

[bob Woolery]

This passage rang such a bell in me that I chased the link to the specific
diatribe against carnivores. 

  

-Firstly, the Buddha never called anyone to believe or follow Him; instead,
He urged people to see for themselves and find out what is true. Even so,
many Buddhists become prisoners of books, repeating things like parrots or
tape-recorders, without investigating, thereby missing the great value of
the Buddha's Way, which is a Way of self-reliance."

 

http://shabkar.org/download/pdf/Taking_a_stand.pdf

 

This whole argument hinges on the notion that plants are not sentient
beings.  Lakota claim that the very rocks have consciousness, and are the
only such that don't have to eat.  Plants consume mineral nourishment,
transform it into their tissues, which we rudely yank out of the ground and
consume.  The rabbit or deer have the chance to run; that poor carrot just
has to wait.

 

   If we give any credence to the notion of sentience in plants, the
implication is that we all must kill to live.  A strict Fruitarian might
argue that he has escaped killing, and planting fruit trees maybe quashes
the problem of seeds. The rest of us are for sure killing living things who
have no choice in the matter.

 

   For those who remember Al Capp, Would eating a Smoo, who voluntarily
presents in a ready to eat condition, incur the same moral consequences as
slaughtering a defenseless carrot (or chicken)?

 

This has perhaps wandered too far afield.

 

bob