BUDDHIST TEACHINGS ON NOT EATING SLAUGHTERED ANIMALS IN THE HINAYĀNA, MAHAYĀNA AND VAJRAYĀNA

There is a common, yet gross misunderstanding among many Buddhists (and non-Buddhists) that Shakyamuni Buddha taught that people could eat slaughtered animals for health reasons and/or that as long as you don’t personally kill the animal then it has no karmic negativity in buying and consuming it. This is not correct. As I explore here in this recent article, and as the teachings of other great masters, such as the incarnations of the Karmapa (including the present 17th Karmapa) eating animals is strictly forbidden by the Buddha in the Vinaya, and Mahayana and Vajrayana, and that only monastics were permitted to eat it if they were given meat while BEGGING for alms. Even then they had to check if the animal had been specifically killed to eat or not, and should not accept the offering if it had.

Contrary to popular belief, and despite the difficulties of giving up meat in countries like Tibet (due to lack of plant food available), there are many examples of Tibetan Buddhist masters who advocated strict vegetarianism. One recent article, “The Hidden Vegetarians of Tibet” by Dr. Geoffrey Barstow (author of “Food of Sinful Demons: Meat, Vegetarianism, and the Limits of Buddhism in Tibet”) identifies more than 110 individual teachers who made the decision to give up meat in Tibet, prior to the Chinese invasion in the 1950s.

For my recent article in Teahouse Buddhist Door Global about what the Buddha taught (from scriptural sources) about eating slaughtered animals, see:
https://teahouse.buddhistdoor.net/buddhist-teachings-on-eating-slaughtered-animals/

Here is a list of other original articles and research on Buddhism and Eating Animals too.

Buddhism and Eating Animals: Is It Permissible or Not?

Milarepa’s Song on the ‘Evil Custom’ of Eating Meat and the Suffering of Animals

Milarepa’s Songs to the Hunter and Animals: Khyira Kagyu Lineage

MEAT IS MURDER: ‘Tibetan Buddhist Vegetarianism: Ancient and Modern’ compiled teachings by 17th Gyalwang Karmapa

For specific Dakini Translations website section on Buddhism and Vegetarianism see here.

As Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo recently said “I don’t eat animals, I don’t eat my friends.”