Meat and Poison
By Padma Zhibde
When I was nineteen I read the Autobiography of
Mahatma Gandhi and was so impressed with his life that I
wanted to do something to honour it. I decided to quit
eating meat and did so with very little problem. My friends
and co-workers (I was working as a counsellor at a summer camp at the time)
thought it was odd,
but at that age I didn't mind the attention. I lived on dairy products and
peanut butter, lost ten
pounds (which was nice) and had no health problems. A year and a half later,
after giving birth to
my first son, I joined an intentional community of vegans. I lived there for
the next twenty years,
and for six years after that I lived in the loose-knit community of Buddhists
around Turtle Hill. All
this time I was surrounded by other vegans and vegetarians and never once
considered eating
meat, even when I had parasites or morning sickness and had trouble with my
weight and health.
Tsoks
After I took refuge with Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche and Khenpo Tsewang
Dongyal
Rinpoche, I heard the teachings about not abstaining from anything offered
at a tsok 1. I learned
that this was to avoid clinging to purity and thus preventing the realization
of the one taste of all
phenomena and the emptiness of all dualities. The amount of meat offered at
tsoks was minimal,
though and eating a bit was no problem to me. Then I moved out to Denver.
I was shocked to discover that most the Buddhists I met away from our hollow,
students of the
Khenpos 2 or other lamas, eat meat as part of their daily diet. Some large
men explained to me that
they'd been vegetarian in the past and felt they needed meat to survive. Others,
and most women,
admitted that they just liked it. Frequently it was pointed out that many
Tibetan lamas, including
the Khenpos, eat meat. Indeed, I learned that the Dalai Lama's physician had
instructed him to do
so for health reasons. It should be noted that all lamas I've heard questioned
on the subject,
including our Khenpos, say that being vegetarian is better. All agree that
unless one is at an
exceedingly high level of awareness, eating meat does have negative karmic
consequences. Also,
they spend much more time at practice and prayer than their indulgent students,
and so perhaps
are able to ameliorate the effect, if not actually liberate the slaughtered
animal.3
Saki
In Boulder and vicinity, when tsok-time comes around, there is always a big
platter of meats, as
well as lots of fruits, sweets, chocolates and alcoholic beverages. One empowerment
I attended
was followed by a tsok feast liberally provided with saki, which was eagerly
consumed by the
attendees. It's interesting to note that this empowerment was by a very accomplished
terton 4who
had to include in his teaching the injunction to respect Dharma texts! I thought,
"How can we be
enlightened enough to get drunk on saki when we don't even know to not step
over Dharma texts
or place them on the floor?"
1 [Ed.]“Tsok” (Tib.) means “gathering'”. A “tsok
offering” is a coming together of practitioners and offerings.
2 [Ed.] The title “Kenpo” (Tib.) means “Abbot” and
“Scholar”, a Ph.D. in the Tibetan Buddhist Nyingma tradition.
3 [Ed.] Compare: Chatral Rinpoche's Steadfast Commitment to Ethics - PDF
4 [Ed.] “Terton” (Tib.) means “Treasure Finder”, a
revealer of Dharma texts hidden for future generations by the
Indian adept Padmasambhava, also called Guru Rinpoche, who brought Buddhism
to Tibet.
© 2001-2006 Bonnie Holsinger. Originally published in 2001 at TurtleHill.Org.
Published in PDF with permission of the author by Shabkar.Org – Amsterdam,
2006.
Confused
Being the kind of person who doesn't like to make waves, I've rarely said
much to other
practitioners here, preferring instead to ask questions in an effort to understand.
And I must admit
I'm still confused. Meat and alcohol are specifically named as the two substances
that must be
included in many tsok-feasts and must be eaten by all participants. Why is
this?
The only way to explain it is to go back to the original teachings of the
Buddha to abstain from
meat and alcohol. Then it makes sense to eat them to overcome ideas of purity
and as a symbolic
recognition of the 'one taste' of all existence. But if we don't abstain in
our everyday life, how is the
partaking of meat and alcohol at tsok-feasts meaningful? I have to draw the
conclusion that it isn't.
It seems to me to be another example of misunderstanding and abuse of the
more subtle teachings.
Motivation
At most of the feasts I've attended, the lama and a few students may have
been partaking of these
forbidden substances with understanding and proper motivation, but most of
the other
participants seemed to be merely having a good party.
Recently, I've been exposed to different discussions on the topic of eating
meat, and have been
giving it a lot of thought. As someone who has many shortcomings myself, I
can hardly get heavy
with others about their dietary missteps. What I object to, though, is the
stance that mealtime
consumption of meat is not ignoring the Buddhist teachings to refrain from
killing.
Argument
A favourite argument is that we can't refrain from killing as long as we're
alive (i.e. insects and
micro-organisms.) I don't see how this is an argument in favour of eating
meat. It points out that
life IS inseparable from experiencing and causing suffering, and that it takes
much intense practice
before we are purified. It keeps us from feeling smug if we are able to avoid
grosser levels of
taking life, and points us to the subtle and hidden aspects of the teachings.
If we can't avoid taking
life, why do we try? Consideration of this question and the Buddha's teaching
to abstain from meat
leads to understanding the truth of interdependent origination.
An addendum to the 'we can't refrain from killing' stance is that 'even eating
vegetables is killing.'
Pardon my laughter here. If we don't eat vegetables, we die. Out of compassion
for other beings,
we draw the line where we can. I was also happy to hear that the Khenpos have
said that plants
are not sentient beings. This doesn't mean that we shouldn't value the life
of plants. Even the inert
objects in our lives should be respected. But the Buddha never said anything
about eating plants
and there's a reason for it.
Lamas
Another puzzling argument is that most Tibetans, including lamas, eat meat.
Every lama I've
heard speak or read on the subject has stated that abstaining from meat is
best. There are other
things that most lamas can do that most of their students can't: sitting in
a meditation position for
long hours, elaborate visualizations, chanting numerous texts by heart. Why
don't we imitate these
behaviours instead of the one they suggest we avoid? Do we see the lama as
a teacher who gives
us trick instructions that don't really need to be followed?
Another area of discussion centers around who killed the meat, how far removed
they are from
you, the eater, whether abstention from eating meat actually saves any lives
in our modern world,
etc. I must admit I consider most of this type of arguments to be word-smiting.
As someone who
decided to eat meat from an inspired position, this aspect of the discussion
seems conceptual and
based on philosophy rather than spiritual principles. Since it is important
to consider all
arguments, I will address them here.
© 2001-2006 Bonnie Holsinger. Originally published in 2001 at TurtleHill.Org.
Published in PDF with permission of the author by Shabkar.Org – Amsterdam,
2006.
Difference
I'm sorry if I can't get too serious about the idea that if you don't do the
killing or know the butcher
and the meat wasn't killed just for you, it's okay to eat it. The moral stance
here is one of saving
life, not killing, so how can someone else doing it make a difference? These
arguments were
apparently more common in Tibet, whereas here and now, where large quantities
of meat are
consumed daily, people favour the idea that one person not eating meat won't
really save any
lives.
A study of economics will show that boycotts can be effective, the market
is affected by demand.
Therefore, the less meat consumed, the less raised and the less animals killed
for that purpose. One
person's action in this regard may seem like a drop in the bucket, but this
is where we must start,
economically, morally and spiritually.
Judgements of this type are very touchy, as every situation must be carefully
observed. It's better
to be stricter with oneself than when judging others. Again, consideration
of the matter, striving to
follow the teachings, leads us to a subtlety that can only be understood in
the context of the
Buddha himself. Finally we gain the ability to see as He sees, and argument
ceases.
About the author
Padme Zhibde (Bonnie Holsinger) was born in 1950 in Denver Colorado and grew
up there in a
Quaker family. Formal Buddhist practice entered her life in 1989, when she
took refuge with
Khenchen Palden Sherab and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal, who continue to be her
teachers.
© 2001-2006 Bonnie Holsinger. Originally published in 2001 at TurtleHill.Org.
Published in PDF with permission of the author by Shabkar.Org – Amsterdam,
2006.