- Many Buddhists choose a vegetarian diet in accordance with their principle of Ahimsa, or nonviolence, which prohibits harming animals through consumption of meat products.
- Buddhists also usually refrain from drinking alcohol or drugs that could hinder their spiritual goals by disrupting mental clarity.
The Buddha Wasn’t Vegetarian
The Buddha himself wasn’t vegetarian, though he did experiment with various diets before abandoning them once he realized their effects on his path to enlightenment were too distracting. He did recommend meat broth as a cure for certain ailments though! His teaching was that to achieve enlightenment one should follow an approach called the middle way that promotes balance over rigid rules that overlook life’s complexities and interdependence of all living beings.
In his lifetime, the Buddha often received food through alms rounds or food offered from wealthy individuals to feed his family. While not prohibiting meat consumption himself, he advised monks and nuns only consuming animal products produced through humane slaughter methods; additionally he warned against eating spoiled or poisonous food products.
Each Person Should Decide For Themselves
Some Buddhists believe that, since Buddha did not impose vegetarianism as a requirement for his disciples, each individual should decide their diet independently. Others contend that Buddha taught that eating meat does not bring bad karma so long as no direct actions contributed to its death; these people also point out that killing animals for food is never pleasant act and vegetarians simply avoid this unpleasantness for no better reason than non-vegetarians.
Arguments against meat consumption by Buddhist disciples is inaccurate because they assume he would not have had compassion and kindness towards all living things, which he is well known to possess. Buddha often told stories of how his heart broke open when watching farmers plowing fields and spray crops with insecticide to kill insects that lived underground.
Buddhists typically view vegetarianism as unnecessary for various reasons, including its difficulty to follow a strict vegan or vegetarian diet in social environments where everyone else eats meat and its potential impact on malnutrition. Some Buddhists also point out that Buddha did not advocate a strict vegetarian diet and that strict vegetarianism is only recently being practiced – some even argue he would have instructed his followers accordingly if this were what he desired – there’s even some evidence Devadatta had attempted to implement upon Buddhist monks but was eventually ousted as successor due to this practice imposed upon Buddhist monks he tried imposing vegetarianism upon Buddhist monks which lead to his ousting as successor.
