Buddhist Attitudes to Food and Farming, Blood Sports - Buddhist Ethics and Animal Life and Death - Creating a Dialogue

Author: Ruth Wood

Buddhism and animal life and death

Use of Animals As Food

Arguments in Favour:

•        Not all Buddhists choose to be vegetarian: Monks will often accept meat if it is donated by the laity. According to Theravada, the Buddha allowed his monks to eat pork, chicken and fish if the monk was aware that the animal was not killed on their behalf.

•        The Buddha himself was said to eat donated meat. There is a suggestion that the last meal he ate before his sudden death could have been a meat meal.

•        In some Northern Buddhist countries there is a very cold climate so vegetarianism is seen as being impractical (e.g. Nepal). This is because it is very difficult to eat a plant based diet with snow on the ground for so much of the year, for the means of practical survival, Buddhists in Nepal may need to eat meat.

•        Most Buddhists do not have concerns about eating eggs and dairy, suggesting that it is possible to eat animal by-products that do not involve animal death, and that animals can be kept for the purpose of providing some food an sustenance to humans.

•        In terms of karmic status, and the fact that Buddhism has an andro-centric nature in the sense that humans are the highest form of rebirth, it could be remarked logically that Buddhists can use animals for their own food and sustenance, this is because they are higher karmic forms and are therefore more precious. It could be argued that eating animals to fuel one’s human life may help a Buddhist to progress on the path to enlightenment.  

Arguments Against:

•        However, it would be wrong to kill an animal for its meat: Buddhists must not hunt or be butchers. This comes under the category of “Right Livelihood” in the Moral Precepts for the laity and monastics. One’s profession and the time one spends in daily life should not be dedicated to harm. Hunting and butchery would both be extremely frowned upon in Buddhist countries, and to a lesser extent meat farming. Buddhists believe that those who raise animals for meat, hunt animals, or slaughter them for food (e.g. abattoir workers) would experience negative karmic consequences in Samsara, either in the hell realms or even being born as animals who are then slaughtered and tortured.

•        Despite the andro-centric argument that the human form is the highest karmic forms, Buddhists also remember that the doctrine of anicca (impermanence) states that all non-enlightened beings are impermanent, and therefore a human now will not always be born in this form. It is for this reason that Buddhists largely choose to observe a vegetarian or vegan diet, as they see themselves in the lives of animals and understand that all sentient beings exist in a state of anicca in Samsara.

•        Southern Buddhists are said to greatly admire those who choose to be vegetarians, suggesting that there is a cultural value for those who choose this lifestyle. There is also suggestions that in certain countries, meat eating communities may be frowned upon for the harm that is done to animals. For example, in lands where Buddhists and Muslims live side-by-side, there may be a degree of societal judgement for Muslims who eat within halal laws.  

•        In China, culturally Buddhists choose to be vegetarian as this is their interpretation of the first precept, showing that vegetarianism is the standard for some Buddhist cultures.

•        The Mahayana schools generally recommend a vegetarian diet, as some believe that the Buddha insisted that his followers should not eat the flesh of any sentient being. Monks of the Mahayana traditions that follow some specific vows are forbidden by their vows from eating flesh of any kind.

•        The Jartaka Tales are stories of the Buddha’s past lives. In these stories, there are times where the Buddha took on the form of an animal, but was still able to grow in wisdom whilst taking on this form. This suggests that it is wrong to kill animals because they could progress towards nirvana in their current form, and potentially even earn good karma. Buddhists may interpret these stories to support their view that it is wrong to use animals for food.

•        In the Anguilmala Sutta the Buddha told monks that it is wrong to consume the flesh of animals because of the Tathagata-garba or “Buddha nature” – the belief that all beings have the potential to gain enlightenment in their current life form. “Therefore, one’s own flesh and the flesh of another are a single flesh, so Buddhas do not eat meat”.

Students - Now Try This:

Create your own concluding paragraph for the statement "Buddhists should not eat animals."

Buddhism and intensive farming

Arguments against intensive/factory farming:  

·        Factory farming causes a lot of harm to both animals and the environment. It also is a breeding ground for diseases amongst animals, like mad cow disease and chicken flu. Compassion is central in Buddhist practice, so this should not be allowed from the Buddhist perspective.

·        The external environment is seriously polluted because the internal environment in the mind is seriously damaged. Bottomless greed has pushed mankind to satisfy excessive and unnecessary demands, and take them into endless competitions, leading to self-destruction and environmental damage. Contrasting to the unwholesome and greedy mind is the spirit of simple living and contentment by those who practise the Buddha's teaching.

·    Humans should not crave so heavily, if they reduced their craving, the need to farm intensively would go down and the suffering of animals would be drastically reduced. Intensive farming is characterised by high levels of input and output per agricultural land unit, with a focus on making profit. It could be argued that these farming practices reduce animal welfare in the name of human greed. Therefore it is wrong to intensively farm animals for meat, because this represents the craving for riches that Buddhists renounce when they become monastics.

·        The Middle Way demands that Buddhists take an approach to life that is not extreme- it can be argued that intensive farming is an extreme practise, not a natural one. Free range and organic farming would strike a better middle ground from Buddhist perspective, but it would still be wrong to kill and animals and farming often requires this.

·        Buddhists should live in harmony with all beings and with nature. On that basis, those who understand the Buddha's teaching will limit their selfishness, to live in harmony with nature, without harming the environment. They will see what should be explored and to what level, what should be protected for future use by the next generations and other beings. Excessive greed to possess everything for themselves, or for their own group, has make men becoming blind. By all means, they try to maximise their profits, without being concerned of the negative impact of unplanned exploitation leading to depletion of natural resources, discharge toxics into the air, water, earth, leading to environmental pollution, destroying the ecological balance.

Students - Now Try This:

Create your own concluding paragraph for the statement "Buddhists should not practice intensive farming."

 Buddhism and Blood Sports: Against blood sports

The Buddha said that monks and nuns should not watch animal fights because they were considered a vulgar entertainment and because they involved cruelty. For monastics and lay people, participation in blood sports would be against the first Precept which requires that we have 'care, kindness and compassion to all living beings'.

Buddha rejected this on grounds of the fact that these sports are often associated with gambling and craving. In addition, he recognised that they encouraged people to take joy in violence and enjoy pain being inflicted on other beings. This exemplifies the 3 fires of hatred, greed and delusion. 

The Buddha said that monks and nuns should not watch animal fights because they were considered a vulgar entertainment and because they involved cruelty For monastics and lay people, participation in blood sports would be against the first Precept which requires that we have `care, kindness and compassion to all living beings'

There is no tradition of blood sports in Sri Lanka, Tibet, Korea or amongst Chinese Buddhists either, probably because of the influence of Buddhism. Cockfighting ending in death is popular in Burma, Cambodia and Thailand.

Students - Now Try This:

Explain why Buddhists oppose blood sports