Vegetarianism: indifferent to life, inner peace

·Clear heart and few desires, wholeheartedly devoted to the Tao·

Practice: Abstinence, Wisdom, Learning, Great Compassion, Great Aspiration

Practice is a basic requirement for Buddhists, and through cultivating kung fu, the goal of achieving the fruit of Buddha can be achieved. The basic methods of cultivation are the three schools of precepts, concentration, and wisdom. Precepts are constraints on behavior, preventing and stopping evil, and practicing good deeds for all; It is to focus on one realm and eliminate all false distinctions; Wisdom is the ability to understand the causes and fruits, and to comprehend the realities of various phenomena. The most important thing in this is the precepts. The function of observing precepts is to absolutely prohibit disturbing sentient beings, harming the interests of others (including life and property), maintaining inner purity, goodness, and purity, and laying the foundation for cultivating wisdom. This precepts of wisdom is a common practice of the Three Ridges.

To achieve Buddhahood, one must further cultivate the Mahayana Bodhisattva practice. The bodhisattva practice includes the four immeasurable minds, the four consciousnesses, and the six degrees. Its spirit is mainly about great compassion and great wishes, not giving up on sentient beings, and not harming them. Therefore, regardless of Mahayana or Hinayana, abstaining from killing is the main thing. It is an inevitable practical action to show compassion towards all sentient beings, cherish their lives, and refrain from eating raw meat.

In the Mahayana scriptures, there are many discussions about killing and eating meat, both of which are cutting off the seed of compassion. Compassion is the foundation of learning Buddhism. Once this foundation is broken, one cannot attain bodhicitta or attain the fruit of Buddha. This demonstrates the importance of abstaining from killing and vegetarianism in Buddhist doctrine.

In 2011, Elder Wei Xian published a paper titled "Buddhism and Vegetarianism" at the Second Chongqing Ancient Sword Forum, detailing the formation and development of the vegetarian viewpoint, as well as the influence of Buddhism on it. The Buddhist scriptures and practices of vegetarianism provide four main reasons for our vegetarianism: health, compassion, causality, and spiritual practice.

Article source: Paper "Buddhism and Vegetarianism" from the 2nd Chongqing Ancient Sword Forum

Author: Elder Wei Xian