'Why people should be vegetarian' - continue

[Guest guest]

* The Company of Saints and Others '

*

* From the beginning of recorded history we can see that vegetables

have been the natural food of human beings. Early Greek and Hebrew myths all

spoke of people originally eating fruit. Ancient Egyptian priests never ate

meat. Many great Greek philosophers such as Plato, Diogenes, and Socrates

all advocated vegetarianism.

* In India, Shakyamuni Buddha emphasized the importance of Ahimsa, the

principle of not harming any living things. He warned His disciples not to

eat meat, or else other living beings would become frightened of them.

Buddha made the following observations: " Meat eating is just an acquired

habit. In the beginning we were not born with a desire for it. " " Flesh

eating people cut off their inner seed of Great Mercy. " " Flesh eating people

kill each other and eat each other ... this life I eat you, and next life

you eat me ... and it always continues in this way. How can they ever get

out of the Three Realms (of illusion)? "

*

* Many early Taoists, early Christians and Jews were vegetarians. It

is recorded in the Holy Bible: " And God said, I have provided all kinds of

grain and all kinds of fruit for you to eat; but for the wild animals and

for all the birds I have provided grass and leafy plants for food. " (Genesis

1:29) Other examples forbidding the eating of meat in the Bible: " You must

not eat meat with blood in it, because the life is in the blood. " (Genesis

9:4) " God said, Who told you to kill the bullock and the she goat to make an

offering to me? Wash yourselves from this innocent blood, so I may hear your

prayer; otherwise I will turn my head away because your hands are full of

blood. Repent yourselves so I may forgive you. " St. Paul, one of Jesus'

disciples, said in his letter to the Romans, " It is good neither to eat

flesh nor to drink wine. " (Romans 14:21)

*

* Recently, historians have discovered many ancient books that have

shed new light on the life of Jesus and His teachings. Jesus said, " People

who have animals' flesh become their own tombs. I tell you honestly, the man

who kills will be killed. The man who kills living things and eats their

meat is eating the meat of the dead men. "

*

* Indian religions also avoid the eating of flesh. It is said that,

" People can't get flesh without killing things. A person who hurts sentient

beings will never be blessed by God. So, avoid taking flesh! " (Hindu

Precept)

*

* The holy scripture of Islam, the Koran, forbids the " eating of dead

animals, blood and flesh. "

* A great Chinese Zen Master, Han Shan Tzu wrote a poem which was

strongly against flesh eating: " Go quickly to the market to buy meat and

fish and feed them to your wife and children. But why must their lives be

taken to sustain yours? It's unreasonable. It will not bring you affinity

with Heaven, but make you become dregs of Hell! "

*

* Many famous writers, artists, scientists, philosophers, and eminent

men were vegetarians. The following people have all embraced vegetarianism

with enthusiasm: Shakyamuni Buddha, Jesus Christ, Virgil, Horace, Plato,

Ovid, Petrarch, Pythagoras, Socrates, William Shakespeare, Voltaire, Sir

Isaac Newton, Leonardo Da Vinci, Charles Darwin, Benjamin Franklin, Ralph

Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Emile Zola, Bertrand Russell, Richard

Wagner, Percy Bysshe Shelley, H. G. Wells, Albert Einstein, Rabindranath

Tagore, Leo Tolstoy, George Bernard Shaw, Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Schweitzer,

and more recently, Paul Newman, Madonna, Princess Diana, Lindsay Wagner,

Paul McCartney, and Candice Bergen, to name a few.

*

* Albert Einstein said, " I think the changes and purifying effects

that a vegetarian diet have on a human being's disposition are quite

beneficial to mankind. Therefore, it is both auspicious and peaceful for

people to choose vegetarianism. " This has been the common advice of many

important figures and sages throughout history!

*

* Master Answers Questions

 

Q. Eating animals is killing living beings, but isn't eating vegetables a

kind of killing, too?

M: Eating plants is also killing living things and will create some karmic

hindrance, but the effect is very minimal. If one practices the Quan Yin

Method for two and a half hours every day, one can get rid of this karmic

effect. As we have to eat in order to survive, we choose food which has the

least consciousness and suffers the least. Plants consist of 90% water, thus

their level of consciousness is so low that it hardly feels any suffering.

Furthermore, when we eat many vegetables we don't cut their roots, but

rather we help their asexual reproduction by cutting branches and leaves.

The end result can actually be beneficial to the plant. Therefore,

horticulturists say that pruning vegetation helps them grow large and

beautiful.

This is even more evident with fruit. When fruit ripens, it will attract

people to eat it by its fragrant smell, beautiful color and delicious taste.

It is in this way that fruit trees can achieve their purpose of propagating

their seed over a wide area. If we do not pick and eat them, the fruit will

become overripe and will fall to the ground to rot. Its seed will be shaded

from sunlight by the tree above them and will die. So, eating vegetables and

fruit is a natural tendency, which brings to them no suffering at all.

 

Q. Most people have the idea that vegetarians are shorter and thinner, and

flesh eaters are taller and bigger. Is this true?

M: Vegetarians are not necessarily thinner and shorter. If their diet is

balanced, they can also grow tall and strong. As you can see, all big

animals like elephants, cattle, giraffes, hippopotamuses, horses etc. eat

only vegetables and fruit. They are stronger than carnivores, very gentle

and beneficial to mankind. But flesh eating animals are both very violent

and of no use. If human beings eat many animals, they will also become

affected with animal instinct and quality. Flesh eating people are not

necessarily tall and strong, but their life span is very short on the

average. Eskimos are almost totally flesh eating, but are they very tall and

strong? Do they have a long life? This I think you can understand very

clearly.

 

Q. Can vegetarians eat eggs?

M: No. When we eat eggs we are also killing beings. Some say that

commercially available eggs are unfertilized, so eating them is not killing

living things. This is only seemingly correct. An egg remains unfertilized

only because the appropriate circumstances for its fertilization have been

withheld, so the egg can not complete its natural purpose of developing into

a chicken. Even though this development has not occurred, it still contains

the innate life force needed for this. We know that eggs have innate life

force; otherwise, why is it that ova are the only type of cells which can be

fertilized? Some point out that eggs contain the essential nutrients,

protein and phosphorus, essential for human bodies. But protein is available

from bean curd, and phosphorus from many kinds of vegetables

such as potatoes.

 

We know that from ancient times till now, there have been many great monks

who did not eat meat or eggs and still had a long life span. For instance

the Ying Guang Master ate only a bowl of vegetables and some rice each meal,

and yet he lived up to the age of eighty. Furthermore, egg yolks contain a

lot of cholesterol, which is a major cause of cardiovascular disorders, the

number one killer in Formosa and America. No wonder we see that most

patients are egg eaters!

 

Q. Man raises animals and poultry, such as pigs, cattle, chickens, ducks,

etc. Why can't we eat them?

M: So? Parents raise their children. Do parents have the right to eat their

children? All living things have the right to live, and no one should

deprive them of this. If we have a look at the laws in Hong Kong, even

killing oneself is against the law. So, how much more unlawful would killing

other living beings be?

 

Q. Animals are born for people to eat. If we don't eat them, they will fill

the world. Right?

M: This is an absurd idea. Before you kill an animal, do you ask it if it

wants to be killed and eaten by you or not? All living beings desire to live

and are afraid to die. We don't want to be eaten by a tiger, so why should

animals be eaten by humans? Human beings have only existed in the world for

several tens of thousands of years, but before mankind appeared, many

species of animals had already existed. Did they overcrowd the earth? Living

things maintain a natural ecological balance. When there is too little food

and space is limited, this will cause a drastic reduction in population.

This maintains the population at an appropriate level.

 

Q. Why should I be vegetarian?

M: I am vegetarian because the God inside me wants it. Understand? Eating

meat is against the universal principle of not wanting to be killed. We

ourselves don't want to be killed, and we ourselves don't want to be stolen

from. Now, if we do that to other people, then we are acting against

ourselves, and that makes us suffer. Everything that you do against others

makes you suffer. You can not bite yourself and you shouldn't stab yourself.

In the same way you should not kill, because that is against the principle

of life. Understand? It would make us suffer, so we don't do it. It doesn't

mean we limit ourselves in any way. It means we expand our life to all kinds

of life. Our life will not be limited within this body, but extended to the

life of animals and all kinds of beings. That makes us grander, greater,

happier, and limitless. Okay?

 

 

You may wish to browse Master Ching Hai's website at:

http://www.godsdirectcontact.org/

 

Enjoy : ) : ) : )

 

 

 

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