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Buddhism and Vegetarianism

Author:Elder Yixian

I. Vegetarianism is a Good Tradition of Buddhism

Vegetarianism is very close to the human body health. However, it did not originate in Buddhism, nor is it advocated by Buddhists alone. From ancient to modern times, many philosophers. Scientists and writers have advocated a vegetarian diet. Literary scholars and so on are advocating vegetarianism. Ancient Greek philosophers such as Socrates. Plato, and

Pythagoras all strongly advocated a vegetarian diet. Modern German physicist Albert Einstein, Russian writer Tolstoy, and English playwright George Bernard Shaw all praised vegetarianism from a humanitarian point of view. George Bernard Shaw was a famous vegetarian. In ancient China, Mengzi's

"The gentleman is far from the kitchen" idea, the I Ching's "life is easy", "the great virtue of heaven and earth is said to be born". Taoist real people deep in the mountains to practice only

eat fruit kung fu, more than two thousand years, has been inherited by the disciples of Confucianism and Taoism. Two thousand five hundred years ago grew up in India Shakyamuni according to the doctrine of compassion and peace, by abstaining from killing and letting live to advocate not eating meat, this kind of sincerity is scattered in the Buddhist classics, especially in Mahayana Buddhism, a variety of scriptures and theories, the later generations, Buddhist disciples, the physical practice of the character of the pure and noble, their behavior of the world of the good people, the violent people, the clamor and toughness, so that the world human beings inclined to peace, it is more a unique Buddhist tradition of excellence.

Shakyamuni Buddha for the Prince, a tree under the observation of agriculture, see farmers plowing, digging out earthworms, birds fly to peck, causing him to kill each other, the weak and the strong. The Vedic () school of India worships Brahma; every year, a large number of animals are slaughtered and sacrificed, which has always been opposed by Shakyamuni. When Shakyamuni was speaking, he advocated the banning of meat in the Mahayana sutras of the Lankavatara, Huayan, Lanka, Nirvana, and Brahmanas everywhere. The Lankavatara Sutra, for example, states that meat-eaters have eighteen faults, while vegetarians have infinite virtues, based on a variety of truths such as health, karma in the three worlds, the cultivation of the body and mind, and compassion for all living beings.

The patriarchs of the Indian and Chinese sects are all vegetarians who are indifferent and self-satisfied, and who eat coarse clothes and vegetables. Cao Cao of the Three Kingdoms was influenced by Buddhism and is said to have practiced frugality and vegetarianism, an act that could not fail to influence his subordinates and later generations. The North and South Dynasties when the devoutly Buddhist Liang Wu Di according to the "Nirvana Sutra" "four phases" and other scriptures, the system of monks, nuns and priests to cut off meat and wine, the temple recommended delicacies with the sparse fruits, issued by the cut off meat and wine text, detailing the faults of eating meat. As the text of the cloud:

"The scripture says: If you eat meat, you will break the seed of great compassion, what is to break the seed of great compassion? All great compassionate beings are in peace and happiness, but if one eats meat, all beings will become enemies and will not be in peace and happiness. If you eat meat, you are far from the Dharma of the Hearers, if you eat meat, you are far from the Dharma of the Buddhas, if you eat meat, you are far from the Dharma of the Bodhisattvas, if you eat meat, you are far from the Bodhisattva Path, if you eat meat, you are far from the fruit of the Buddha, if you eat meat, you are far from the Great Nirvana, if you eat meat, you are prevented from being born into the heaven of the six desires, not to mention the fruit of the Nirvana. ......"

Also:

"If one eats vegetables for a long time, one's honor and defense circulate, and if one's honor and defense circulate, one is able to eat and drink, and because of eating and drinking one's energy is abundant, and one's mental clarity is refreshing and less than fatigue. ......"

The text explains: i. Those who do not eat meat can maintain the seed of compassion and realize the fruits of the Buddha, otherwise they break all good practices. II. Those who do not eat meat can keep the Rongwei qi and blood flowing, the gods refreshed, and the body healthy, otherwise they will have all kinds of diseases.

The Emperor of Liang Wudi gathered 1,448 monks and nuns in Kyoto, invited the Venerable Master to preach the sutra of abstaining from meat and wine, and took the oath of abstaining from meat and wine before the Buddha.

Sui-Wen Emperor Yang Jian ascended to the throne, vigorously promote Buddhism, every construction of the puja, must be bathed and fasted, and the commandment of the subjects do not eat meat and spices. Yang Guang, Emperor Yang of Yang, vowed to uphold the Bodhisattva's precepts of compassion and protection of living beings when he received the Bodhisattva precepts in front of Master Zhi Shi. Emperor Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty built temples in the battlefield areas to memorialize the soldiers and civilians who died in the wars and held memorial ceremonies, offering incense and fruits to the Buddha and vegetarian meals to the monks. Since the introduction of Buddhism into China, successive emperors, in addition to a small number of the Buddha, in all cases of ritual ceremonies or the construction of puja, are advocating fasting vegetarianism, from top to bottom of the development of social customs.

Literary history of the Tang and Song dynasties, Liu Zongyuan. Liu Yuxi. Wang Wei. Su Dongpo. Wang Anshi and others all believed in Buddhism. The most prominent among them is the poet Wang Wei, who was a vegetarian and a believer in Buddhism, and served his mother with filial piety. His mother Cui was a devout Buddhist. He studied under Zen Master Dazhao, a disciple of Shenxiu, for more than thirty years, and kept his precepts and meditation in brown clothes and vegetables. Since his childhood, Wang Wei was influenced by Buddhist thought, and when he grew up, he worshipped Zen Master Daoguang of Jianfu Temple in Chang'an, and abstained from meat and wine. He was also good at painting, and the world said that his poems had paintings in them, and his paintings had poems in them. His poems are often characterized by a mountainous and forested atmosphere.

Yongming Yanshou in the Song Dynasty and Master Lianchi in the Ming Dynasty, both of whom were Pure Land Sect masters, vigorously publicized the virtues of abstaining from killing and letting go of life and being vegetarian among their disciples. Master Lian Chi wrote the famous "seven strokes hook" and "abstinence from killing and releasing life text", which analyzes the reasoning of the subtle, word by word full of compassionate feelings, vivid.

Recent monks such as Taixu. The first is the "The Sacred Heart", which is the first of its kind in the world. Hongyi. Yin Guang all masters, are physically practicing vegetarian. Among them, Venerable Master Xuyun had a very high level of meditation and lived to be one hundred and twenty-one years old. He loved living creatures, and when he taught Zen in Caoxi, Guangdong, there was a legend that a tiger was converted and an old fox was ordained. Venerable Master Hong Yi's disciple Feng Zikai, had a "protection of life painting collection" printed to publicize vegetarianism and abstinence from killing and releasing, by the majority of readers welcome.

Second, vegetarianism in the Buddhist classics based on

(a), based on health reasons

Buddhism's great masters, due to vegetarianism are very healthy and long life. A part of meat eaters are not easy to understand, while in the medical doctors and nutritionists who have scientific brain, it is easier to understand.

First of all, the vegetarian monks are willing to live in peace, without the habit of taste and wear, clean mind, a heart to the road, the so-called "bite the root of the dish incense, know the flavor", joy, anger, sadness, grief, fear and other seven emotions are not easy to move to the chest, the inner peace, which is not easy to cause disease of the main spiritual factors. This also includes a set of Buddhist methods of cultivating the mind.

Buddhist scriptures point out: vegetarianism can make the four major harmonization, the roots of the flu, the flow of qi and blood, and the growth of the power of determination, "food and drink to know the amount of", "less desire to know enough", is the achievement of meditation and the divine power of the indispensable conditions.

Vegetarian soy products and fruits are rich in plant proteins, carbohydrates. Calcium. Phosphorus and a variety of vitamins, high nutritional value, easy to digest and absorb. One of the soybean is extremely high function, containing 40% protein, fat and sugar 20%, and rich in a variety of vitamins, carotene, iron, phosphorus, calcium and other nutrients. Soybean's vegetable protein and fat. Can reduce human serum cholesterol, can reduce high blood pressure, to avoid atherosclerosis and other heart diseases. So vegetarians eat beans, grains and cereals, fruits, etc., for the body's nutrients can be completely supplemented to enhance health.

(2) Based on the reason of compassion

Buddhism is based on compassion and convenience. Compassion is generated through the wisdom of prajna. The first of the five precepts is not to kill, and vegetarianism is a positive act of abstaining from killing.

In the Mahayana Lankavatara Sutra, the Buddha told his disciple, Dahui Bodhisattva, "All meat has an infinite number of destinies, and the Bodhisattva should not eat it when he is in the midst of compassion. I am going to tell you a little bit about it. Dahui, all beings have been reborn in birth and death since the beginning of time and have never been parents. Men, women, and even friends. They have never been parents, men, women, dependents, even friends, dears, servants, and easy-lifetime recipients of the bodies of birds and beasts, so how can they take them and eat them? Great Wisdom, how can a Bodhisattva Mahasattva, who sees all living beings as the same as his own body, and remembers that all flesh comes from a life of its own, eat it? ......"

The meaning of this passage: i. It means that all living beings are their own six relatives, friends, etc., from the beginning of time, and it is foolish and sad to eat them only because they are not aware of them from another life. Two. The other body is my body, self and others are equal, should be mindful of his suffering and happiness is my suffering and happiness, not because of the mouth and stomach, greedy for delicious food, and disregard the pain of the animal killed, this is the most cruel.

Buddhist masters and sages have many poems to avoid killing and releasing animals, which fully reflect the spirit of compassion. Here are three of them:

1.

My flesh is the flesh of all beings, and the name is different from the body.

Originally the same nature, just a different body.

2.

For thousands of years, I have been in the bowl of soup, and the injustice is as deep as the sea;

If I want to know what is happening in the world, I would like to listen to the sound of the door of the slaughter in the middle of the night.

3.

The blood of the crowd is so precious that it is hard for the general public to express their grievances;

The passers-by try to find out who dares to cut themselves with a knife.

(3) Based on the reason of cause and effect

The law of cause and effect is the basic law of Buddhism. "Sow melon to get melon, sow beans to get beans", "for the good blessed, evil suffer disaster", there must be a cause and effect, create any cause and effect, is inevitable and not easy to reason. Based on this reasoning, we can see that if you kill, you will be rewarded for killing, and if you eat his flesh, you should return his flesh. As the saying goes, "Eat half a catty and return eight taels". Each person creates a cause, and each person receives a reward; the masses create a cause, and the masses receive a reward. This is the reason why many people die in wars all over the world, year after year.

The Lama Sutra says, "A man dies as a sheep, a sheep dies as a man, and the dead die and the living are born to each other. It illustrates the truth of the cycle of cause and effect in the three worlds.

Buddhism advocates the equality of all living beings, all living beings have Buddha nature, the past Buddhas are already Buddha, living beings are not yet Buddha, therefore, for living beings should not be slighted, and even more should not be brutalized, brutalized and killed is a violation of reason. Those who kill violate the principle of compassion and equality will reap the fruits of their actions. (4) Based on the reason of cultivation

Cultivation is a Buddhist's cultivation, from which the cultivation is the cause for the purpose of accomplishing the fruits of Buddhahood.

The basic method of cultivation is the three studies of precepts, meditation and wisdom. The precepts are to restrain behavior, prevent wrongdoing, and practice good deeds, while the meditation is to focus on one state and put an end to all delusional separations. Wisdom is to understand cause and effect, and to realize the truth. The first and foremost of these is the precepts, the function of keeping the precepts is to absolutely prohibit the disturbance of living beings and the destruction of the interests of others (including life and property), to keep the heart pure and clean, and to lay the foundation for the cultivation of meditation and wisdom. This precepts is the practice of the Three Vehicles **** through.

In order to reach the Buddha's Way, one must further cultivate the Mahayana bodhisattva practices. Bodhisattvahood includes the Four Immeasurable Minds, the Four Regressions. Six Degrees. Its spirit is mainly great compassion and great aspiration, not to give up sentient beings, much less harm them. Therefore, regardless of Mahayana or Hinayana abstinence from killing is the main thing. From compassion for living beings, love for their lives, and then not eating their flesh, this is the inevitable practical action. In many places in the Mahayana sutras and commentaries, killing and eating meat are spoken of as breaking the seed of compassion. Compassion is the root of Buddhist learning, and once this root is broken, one cannot develop bodhicitta or attain the fruits of the Buddha's life, so it is clear that abstaining from killing and vegetarianism are important in Buddhist teachings.

Three, the wind of vegetarianism in China

I talked about above, vegetarianism is not only advocated by Buddhism, philosophers and scientists from ancient to modern times. Scientists. Humanitarians, many of whom have advocated vegetarianism. And in Buddhism, according to its teachings and practices, strongly publicized abstinence from killing and vegetarianism, has its own unique spirit, worshipped by the masses, therefore, from the introduction of Buddhism into China, in the country, abstinence from killing and letting go of life, vegetarianism deep into the folklore, the formation of a kind of trend.

(a), the supreme ruler of feudal society, in addition to the introduction of the Liang Wu Di . Emperor Wen of Sui . Tang Taizong and other Buddhist beliefs, directly advocate fasting Buddha, the rest of the general situation, where the court held a sacrificial ceremony, or when the birth of the royal family, or the sky alarm, the imperial edict of sin, or long drought and pray for rain, have to order a strict ban on slaughter, and even amnesty for prisoners, in order to show that the emperor's generous and loving heart.

(2), in various temples, every lunar April 8 Buddha's Birthday, held a life release, a large number of release, the believers are very enthusiastic about it. Large temples have built a life release pool.

(3), North and South Dynasties. Sui and Tang Dynasty, through the Song. Yuan. Ming . In the Qing Dynasty, there was a golden age of vegetarianism. Palace Imperial Household Restaurant specializing in "vegetarian bureau", responsible for vegetarian food for the Emperor's fast. Monastery "Xiangji kitchen" of vegetarian dishes, gradually and significantly improve and improve, color and flavor, the emergence of many varieties of flowers and colors, around the food market of the vegetarian museum increased dramatically, vegetarian food in the competition in the renovation. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Xue Bao-yuan wrote "Vegetarianism", which was based on Beijing and Shaanxi alone. Shaanxi, for example, described more than two hundred varieties of vegetarian food. Since the Republic of China, major temples and major cities have vegetarian departments, Zizhu Lin. Gongde Lin, etc., vegetarian recipes continue to be compiled and published, due to the increase in vegetarian raw materials and categories, the content is even richer.

(4), monks and nuns are generally vegetarian, can not cut off meat in accordance with Buddhist scriptures initially eat three clean meat. Three clean, that is, do not see kill. Do not hear kill. Do not like to kill, develop compassion for living things, and gradually stop eating meat. In folklore, the Ten Lenten Seasons, i.e., the first day of each month of the lunar calendar. The eighth. Fourteen. Fifteen. Eighteen. Twenty-three. Twenty-four. Twenty-eight. Twenty-nine. On the 30th day of the month, those who believe in Buddha and God should eat vegetarian food. When Buddhists meet their mothers' birthdays, they also eat vegetarian food to repay their mothers' kindness because it is the day of their mothers' deaths. Every year there are fifteen birthdays of Buddha and Bodhisattva, all Buddhists have to incense, flowers, lanterns, fruits and vegetarian food in front of the Buddha and Bodhisattva to set up offerings, worship and chanting, and at the same time to eat vegetarian.

(5), Indian Buddhism was introduced to China, and Chinese culture, there are many literary works about the Buddhist scriptures. In terms of genre, such as variant texts, koans, novels, legends, etc., they were all influenced by Buddhism. Many authors (including Buddhist monks) used articles and poems to depict the deeds of abstaining from killing and letting go of life and to extol the virtues of vegetarianism, which have occupied a lot of space in the works of successive generations and enriched the content of traditional literature.

(6), China's vegetarianism has been extended to Europe and America. For example, in the United States, it is rumored that there have been more than forty Buddhist temples, to the United States missionary, in addition to Japan, Burma, Thailand, Sri Lanka and other countries a few monks and nuns, most of them are Chinese, including overseas Chinese. There are Chinese Americans. They believe in Buddhism and vegetarianism, promote Buddhism, run a vegetarian restaurant, due to the special flavor of vegetarian food. Aroused great interest among Americans. This wind will spread to the world, opposing and stopping the war, maintaining peace, plays a role in promoting.