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Buddhism and Vegetarianism (Adapted from the Grand Master's Dharma Talk) |
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The Buddha mind is a great compassionate mind. The spirit of Buddhism is compassion and equality. If we wish to attain a mind of compassion and equality, first, we must not kill; second, we must save lives; third, we must practice vegetarianism. If we can accomplish all three, our compassionate mind will manifest. Practicing Buddhism is to learn from the Buddha, learn from the Buddha’s purity of body, speech, and mind. “Learning from the Buddha’s body” is to emulate the Buddha’s actions. All actions in our daily lives should be proper and meet the highest standards. “Learning from the Buddha’s speech” is to be proper in our speech—no bad-mouthing, back-biting, lying, or frivolous talk. “Learning from the Buddha’s mind” is to constantly examine and reflect on our thoughts so that they are of the highest perfection in truth, virtue, and beauty. Thus, we can attain the Buddha’s compassion, wisdom, samadhi, and even his miraculous powers and wondrous functions. To be in accord with these concepts and actions is to be in accord with the mind of compassion and equality. The mind of equality and compassion is the essence of the Buddha or a bodhisattva. The Avatamsaka Sutra says, “When all sentient beings are happy, all buddhas are happy.” Buddhas and bodhisattvas have a mind of compassion as the foundation for all their thoughts and actions. They bring forth the bodhi mind. Because of their compassion they generate the bodhi mind. Because of the bodhi mind they attain enlightenment. What is a compassionate mind? It is what Mencius says, “Seeing its life, we cannot bear to see its death; hearing its voice, we cannot bear to eat its flesh.” When we hear the loud and pitiful cries of animals before they are slaughtered, we feel very sad; therefore, due to a mind of compassion, we do not eat the flesh of sentient beings. The sutra says that all sentient beings have Buddha nature. Whether humans or animals, all wish to live and fear death; that is their awareness. Therefore the first reason for being a vegetarian is totally based on the mind of compassion and the truth that all sentient beings possess Buddha nature. Read the complete version of the Grand Master’s Dharma Talk.
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