Buddhism and vegetarianism?

I have heard people say you dont have to be vegetarian to be Buddhist. But how can that be true if your Buddhist dont you have to believe in reincarnation? So that steak your eating couldnt that be like eating your grandma or something?

 

the reincarnation I'm familiar with, apart from buddhism, human spirits do not deevolve to animals or bugs.

 

Here's the rule the Buddha laid down for monks, and if a rule is good enough for the monks, then shouldn't it be good enough for us lay folk?
"Meat should not be eaten under three circumstances: when it is seen or heard or suspected (that a living being has been purposely slaughtered for the eater); these, Jivaka, are the three circumstances in which meat should not be eaten, Jivaka! I declare there are three circumstances in which meat can be eaten: when it is not seen or heard or suspected (that a living being has been purposely slaughtered for the eater); Jivaka, I say these are the three circumstances in which meat can be eaten."
That's from the Jivaka Sutta, if you wish to check my source.

 

so buddha said it's okay to eat meat as long as you're discreet? ??

 

it sounds like you can eat meat if you just find it lying around?

but thats unhealthy isn't it? even most animals won't do that. If it's dead, there's a good chance it's diseased.

 

So if I buy meat from a shop, I can either argue that

a.) the animal was not purposely slaughtered for me

or

b.) it was purposely slaughtered for me in the sense that it was slaughtered for anyone willing to buy it.

Oh well, whatever. My fiancee's Buddhist, and she eats whatever she wants.

 

I'm starting to think this means... if there's meat in your food and you are not aware of it, you are doing nothing wrong. but if you know and then you partake it is wrong.

am i correct?

 

I dunno, it sounds more like if you or someone hunted it down for you personally to eat it, then that's the time you violated the rule.

 

that doesn't make sense to me bc it supports factory farming, which is a very cruel industry. but I guess in the time of buddha he wasn't thinking of that.

 

Here's a link you might enjoy:
http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma3/vegi.html

Personally I just have a hard time seeing animals as sentient beings and as food at the same time.

 

Thank you. It was interesting.

 

I believe the Buddha discouraged eating meat, though. I know he said it was "okay" if it wasn't killed for the eater, but, I think overall meat-eating was discouraged. For that and other reasons, I am a vegetarian

 

Yes, technically, one shouldn't have seen the face of the animal, and the animal may not be slaughtered for you. Also, as the story goes, Buddha's last meal was a dish of fatty pork which may have been spoiled. Thus pork, because it lead to Buddha's death is considered the ignorance of this world, and is not eaten by Buddhists in general.

It depends upon your Buddhist school. In Nepal meat is eaten by most persons, especially after certain festival dates, and even by Hindus, at those times.

Finally, if one is meditating and following a yogic path then sometimes it is said that as one is incorporating the eaten into their very spirit therefore one is liberating what they have eaten into spirit.

Furthermore, if one has taken vows, in any of the Three Turnings, then one is said to have closed the 'Lower Three Doors.'

Peace, and Ciao.

 

if the animal volunteers to be eaten, you can eat it since then there is no violence involved

 

Monks only eat what is given to them by their lay community. So if it comes down to eating meat or dying due to lack of food it is pretty obvious their decision. Now if someone told Lord Buddha that "Lord I killed my best cow to serve to you", he would not eat it. But if it was just offered to him by placing it in his alms bowl he would, of course, consume. Much metta