Diet of Buddha Threefold rule Anguttara Nikaya 3.16 Edicts of Ashoka Devadatta Lankavatara sutra
A Buddhist perspective on vegetarianism
A resource on the vegetarian vs. meat-based diet debate in Buddhism.
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Q: Didn’t the Buddha eat meat?
A:The Buddha may have ate some meat, following the Threefold rule. But his diet was more like a vegetarian diet who ate meat "out of pity" (Anguttara Nikaya III.49) on rare occasions.
See: Diet of Buddha
Q: What about the famous three-fold rule that the Buddha allowed meat eating if one did not hear, see, or order the animal to killed for one’s consumption.
A: The main premise behind the three-fold rule is to graciously accept what one receives in your bowl when going for alms round. This rule was meant and spoken to monks and nuns, not to lay people. “Beggars can’t be choosers” in modern terms. So for the vast majority of Buddhists who are lay people, a conscious decision must be made.
See: Threefold rule
Q: What about evolution? Does not evolution show that all animals must kill and eat as members of the food chain?
A: Some people argue that we as humans should be eating at the top of the food chain, like other large animals or because of our “superiority.” However, if we are truly superior to other animals we do not need to show it by being the greatest inflictors of violence.
Rather, it is better to show moral superiority by being the most compassionate. Not all large or intelligent animals eat at the top of the food chain. For example, elephants, rhinos, some whales, and gorillas are all very large, very strong, and very intelligent animals which eat at the bottom of the food chain. Some whales have a sort of filter at their mouths which catch tiny plankton for their meals. You need a microscope to view plankton.
Because of our close connection to animals biologically (evolution) and spiritually in the re-birth process, the Buddha was opposed to violence towards animals. An understanding and acceptance of the theory of evolution is important because without that acceptance there is a perception of a great separation between humans and animals which simply is not true.
As time goes on, people will realize that it is not even just a biological connection. If we are animals as evolution shows us, then animals must also have a soul if humans do (or Buddha-nature or capacity for enlightenment or any other spiritual terminology). There is no way around it since we all evolved from the same source.
Q: Devadatta, who was a monk and the cousin of the Buddha, made a list of suggestions which the Buddha refused to make mandatory. The list by Devadatta included a list of ascetic type practices, including vegetarianism: Since the Buddha refused to accept this list, isn’t he saying that meat eating is allowed?
A: See: Devadatta
Q: How does vegetarianism fit with the middle way? Isn’t vegetarianism an “extreme” view?
A: See: Vegetarianism and the Middle Way
Q: In first world countries only about 3 to 5% are vegetarian. What good is one person such as myself in becoming a vegetarian?
A: See: Nutrition and environment
Q: What do the Buddhist Theravada and Mahayana scriptures say about vegetarianism?
A: See: Anguttara Nikaya 3.16
See also: Edicts of Ashoka
See also: Lankavatara sutra