The article cited, of course, only applies to monks. They are admonished to not exercise choice about what food is given them. That’s all well and good.

For the laity, things are a bit different.

When given a choice, exercise your preferences.

When providing for yourself, enforce them.

When starving, just eat.

From a viewpoint of farming, soil fertility, diet, lifestyle and spirituality (including Buddhism), I’m strongly convinced that a diet primarily based on grains, vegetables and fruits is best for our own health and for the health of the planet. However, I also believe that meat, dairy products and fish should not be excluded from the diet either, just like farm animals should not be excluded from our planet. Animals too have a right to live on this planet. With a World population of 7 billion, and rising, most fertile land is already dedicated to producing food for humans. An entirely vegan or vegetarian diet would relegate animals to ever smaller margins. Already today, innumerable species disappear from the Earth because of human domination.

If as Buddhists we want to put our money where our mouth is, we ought to look at the way of how the food we eat is produced. Industrial agriculture is nothing less than mass murder or genocide. That is not an exaggeration! With every bite of industrially produced food we eat we destroy billions of soil organisms and hundreds of small animals such as bugs, spiders, earthworms etc. that normally live in a biologically active soil and that are systematically killed by a large range of toxic chemicals used in modern farming.

At the root of the problem are industrial production methods and the mechanisms of consumer society in which food is considered just like another commodity. That is a mistake! Food is much more than just another product because we are what we eat. Among sustainable farming circles in Japan, the term “shinto buji” (body and soil are not two) underlines the close relation there exists between our own body and the soil. This relation between our body and soil, between us and Nature has been completely lost in modern society. The price we have to pay for the comforts of modern living is a dramatic increase in such diseases such as allergies, cancer and cardiac problems coupled with the destruction of the environment.

With an increasingly sedentary lifestyle, it is common sense to reduce the intake of meat and diary products, but the real issue is not vegetarian versus carnivorous; the real issue is to make the right consumer choice for sustainable products, or better still, to consume less altogether. It is hardly honest to pay lip service to the sanctity of all life while at the same time maintaining a lifestyle that kills innumerable beings and destroys the environment and farming soils worldwide which are the basis for all life on this planet.

Also another thing interesting on another note, is that a good quantity of the corn in the USA is being diverted and grown specifically for ethanol production, causing shortages of that grain for livestock farmers and raising prices (saw a whole 60 minutes or 20/20 on it). Corn being such a raw process to produce ethanol too. You barely get out of it more then you put in, compared to say like sugar cane. So the next time everyone is talking about “being green” for the planet, in regards to ethanol, maybe they should reflecting on the origin of their e85 gas, or other ethanol based products.

You can reduce this kind of analysis for almost any object in front of you. “How many animals did the production of my coffee mug kill?” While it may be a good exercise of reflection from time to time, in general it may be more of a burden if all it does is cause constant stress, worrying and agonizing for the individual. To me as long as you’re “with compassion”, you’re fine.

In the end, different strokes for different folks. That’s the beauty of multiple paths

As mentioned above, if one examines it, this is clearly not true. A lot more grain, corn, etc. needs to be used to feed livestock than if it were used to directly feed humans, so eating a vegan diet still reduces the harm to the greatest extent possible.

There have been many many articles written on this with the various facts and figures, i don’t need to requote them, use google if you’re so inclinded. One could say I’m being compassionate by being a meat-a-tarian .

It’s been quoted an awful lot, for sure, but the idea was debunked pretty quickly as well.

In the end I feel that neither the meat nor the vegetable exists, only our attachment to the idea of meat or vegetable. I personally try to limit my intake of meat as I believe it produces greater results during meditation and practice, for myself. I do not turn up my nose or go into the shakes if the only thing vegetarian at a friend’s dinner table is salt or a baked potato. Nor do I go out of my way to let this be known to my dinner host, hurting their feelings or being a burden. I eat what has been set on the table and provided to me gladly. I don’t feign contentment while swallowing with regret and despair.

Many people may be outraged by my viewpoint, which seems like another form of attachment in itself. I don’t get outraged or loose sleep because of vegetarians. I eat with compassion, I don’t delight in the killing of either animal or vegetable. I post this simply to share my view. I don’t claim my view to be superior to any other. I’m not here to convince you “I’m right, you’re wrong”, or to seek reconciliation for my “evil ways”. This is merely my views and the path I’ve chosen. Its the path that works for me.

I eat meat and this is my manifesto
-Dave

P.S. Smile faces not to be misconstrued into thinking I believe the killing of any living thing is funny. However, I do find humorous how heated people get on both sides of the fence.

several years ago i had to have a colonoscopy. most of my life i have had ibs.

not only is there no sign in my intestines of my EVER having had ibs but i had no polyps.

when i spoke to my retired pathology friend in southern california and told him this he said there was a logical explanation — i don’t eat red meat.

:::::smile:::::

…joining palms