Buddhism and Meat-Eating

Home for Animals, a Sanctuary (heimat-fuer-tiere.de); Wisdom Quarterly

"Well-being creates an atmosphere of trust; on the other hand, eating meat creates an aura of aggressiveness." (Lankavatra Sutra)

"The consumption of meat kills the seed of great mercy toward all living beings." (Mahaparinirvana Sutra)

Look at the animals! They are often present and safe around the Buddha, who speaks on their behalf and promotes human compassion toward them.

"Eating meat always means that one is eating the meat of living beings, whose core of being is identical with one’s own person. Eating meat means to [destroy oneself and another, as if one were to] eat one’s own flesh." (Angulimaliya Sutra)

"A meat eater smells of death, because the meat eaten became available only through an act of killing." (Mahaparinirvana Sutra)

"Out of love of purity an enlightened follower of the Buddha should abstain from eating flesh… Out of fear of taking in the terror of death of other living beings [energetically and through excreted hormones], an enlightened follower of the Buddha, who through self-discipline seeks compassion, should reject eating meat." (Lankavatara Sutra)

When the first Buddhist monastics went [from India as missionaries] to Sri Lanka, the first thing they did was to dissuade the inhabitants from hunting. More