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Old 08-14-2019, 06:58 AM
 
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Article from "Lions Roar":

Friends, Not Food
BOB ISAACSON MAY 18, 2019
https://www.lionsroar.com/friends-no...RDmh1oaISiuwp4

Just as it says in the article, I initially assumed Buddhists were vegans and was surprised and disappointed that was not the case.

Your thoughts?
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Old 08-14-2019, 08:02 PM
 
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No doubt due to my own personal shortcomings, but I really have difficulty accepting anyone who somehow rationalizes the sufferings of animals. I don't find their arguments convincing.

Should Buddhists eat meat?-68466943_10157623016258769_1609701399774363648_n.jpg
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Old 08-14-2019, 08:37 PM
 
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Not all are, no. But I never figured out exactly how people who won't euthanize a suffering animal and would watch it die slowly and painfully on its own "because killing is wrong" justify then going home to cook up a nice fish and eat some noodles with chunks of pork... Do what you want, but be consistent and choose one or the other.
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Old 08-14-2019, 08:54 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by K12144 View Post
Not all are, no. But I never figured out exactly how people who won't euthanize a suffering animal and would watch it die slowly and painfully on its own "because killing is wrong" justify then going home to cook up a nice fish and eat some noodles with chunks of pork... Do what you want, but be consistent and choose one or the other.
Yeah, that sounds pretty stupid. Or people who adore their pets, dogs or cats, but boil a lobster, live, or eat lamb or veal. The majority accept these cruelties as normal, resent any questioning of these practices, and heap disapprobation on vegan and AR folks.

I'm sure that I am far less evolved than Thich Nhat Hanh (among many, many others), who would not react with my level of anger and emotion. I am not Thich Nhat Hanh, or anything like. Wish I were. I don't want to closely associate with racists, misogynists, people who eat animals, a whole host of people I'm rejecting.

Last edited by KaraZetterberg153; 08-14-2019 at 09:38 PM..
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Old 08-14-2019, 09:55 PM
 
Location: Sun City West, Arizona
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This is a difficult topic for many Buddhists.

The Thai version of it in regard to monks I find rather bizarre. The justification goes that since it is not the monk (or the person buying it in a grocery store) who killed the animal, the monk or person has not committed a transgression. That is why the vast majority of butchers in Thailand are actually Muslims.

Personally, I have settled on not eating more than one meat meal per day. That's the best I can do.

My justification is this: Thailand has a Supreme Sangha -- a ruling body of monks. At any time they could simply announce that serving monks meat dishes will not be tolerated. They have never done that. As far as I know, they have never commented on the practice. As a result, poor Thais who bring breakfast and noon meal dishes to the temple for the monks (I have done this quite a few times) typically spend quite a bit of money on meat for the monks, where if it were outlawed, the locals could spend far less money on fruits and vegetables for the monks.
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Old 08-14-2019, 11:14 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by phetaroi View Post
This is a difficult topic for many Buddhists.

The Thai version of it in regard to monks I find rather bizarre. The justification goes that since it is not the monk (or the person buying it in a grocery store) who killed the animal, the monk or person has not committed a transgression. That is why the vast majority of butchers in Thailand are actually Muslims.

Personally, I have settled on not eating more than one meat meal per day. That's the best I can do.

My justification is this: Thailand has a Supreme Sangha -- a ruling body of monks. At any time they could simply announce that serving monks meat dishes will not be tolerated. They have never done that. As far as I know, they have never commented on the practice. As a result, poor Thais who bring breakfast and noon meal dishes to the temple for the monks (I have done this quite a few times) typically spend quite a bit of money on meat for the monks, where if it were outlawed, the locals could spend far less money on fruits and vegetables for the monks.
I really don't follow your argument as a justification. But it doesn't matter. If it doesn't bother you, it doesn't bother you. I feel revulsion, but I'm aware that most people don't.

If you want to quit eating meat, deconstruct what's on your plate back to the point when the animal was alive.
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Old 08-14-2019, 11:19 PM
 
Location: Sun City West, Arizona
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KaraZetterberg153 View Post
I really don't follow your argument as a justification. But it doesn't matter. If it doesn't bother you, it doesn't bother you. I feel revulsion, but I'm aware that most people don't.

If you want to quit eating meat, deconstruct what's on your plate back to the point when the animal was alive.
I guess what I'm saying in that last paragraph is that I will assume that the highest order of monks know more about Buddhist thought than I do, and I have no good argument against their decision.

That's not true on all things, such as the prohibition against Thai nuns.
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Old 08-14-2019, 11:23 PM
 
6,394 posts, read 3,871,076 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by phetaroi View Post
This is a difficult topic for many Buddhists.

The Thai version of it in regard to monks I find rather bizarre. The justification goes that since it is not the monk (or the person buying it in a grocery store) who killed the animal, the monk or person has not committed a transgression. That is why the vast majority of butchers in Thailand are actually Muslims.

Personally, I have settled on not eating more than one meat meal per day. That's the best I can do.

My justification is this: Thailand has a Supreme Sangha -- a ruling body of monks. At any time they could simply announce that serving monks meat dishes will not be tolerated. They have never done that. As far as I know, they have never commented on the practice. As a result, poor Thais who bring breakfast and noon meal dishes to the temple for the monks (I have done this quite a few times) typically spend quite a bit of money on meat for the monks, where if it were outlawed, the locals could spend far less money on fruits and vegetables for the monks.
The justification in Thailand for monks as well, that I've been told, is that they're to eat what they're given on their alms rounds-- which may include meat. (That doesn't explain it for everyone else, though.)

I assume the expense on meat counts as merit?

(LOL, I just looked at your username. Love it. I quite agree. )
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Old 08-15-2019, 12:29 AM
 
Location: Sun City West, Arizona
50,223 posts, read 23,846,516 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by K12144 View Post
The justification in Thailand for monks as well, that I've been told, is that they're to eat what they're given on their alms rounds-- which may include meat. (That doesn't explain it for everyone else, though.)

I assume the expense on meat counts as merit?

(LOL, I just looked at your username. Love it. I quite agree. )
Yes, that is part of it. But again, if the Supreme Sangha said it was inappropriate it would stop. They don't.

I had never thought of it as a merit issue. That's interesting. I'll have to think on that. Certainly taking food to the monks is a merit activity. I have to sort of laugh at the Facebook page of the temple in Colorado Springs. Several times a week there are dozens of pictures of the local Thais feeding the monks. You'd think that all they did was eat.

Funny story, however, regarding Thai food cleanliness. One day when I went out to tutor the monks in English, they asked if I wanted some pizza that was sitting on the kitchen counter. They said it was good...that it had only sat there 3 days!
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Old 08-15-2019, 06:26 AM
 
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"Interesting" how in discussions of this stripe there is no mention of the sufferings of the animals. As if we're all big, important humans and the torture and murder of non-human, sentient beings is of no account.

Please.

I don't let anyone, monks or anyone else, do my thinking for me.
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