“It is not true, Mahāmati, that meat is proper food and permissible for the Śrāvaka when [the animal] was not killed by himself, when he did not order others to kill it, when it was not specially meant for him. “
–Shakyamuni Buddha in Lankāvatāra Sūtra, Chapter 8
“How hateful this murdering beings ‘custom’!
How hugely regrettable this self-deception ‘custom’!
How heavy a weight this killing parents ‘custom’!
How much wrong is done for these stacks of meat ‘custom’!
What is done with the masses of blood in this ‘custom’
However hungry, this eating meat ‘tradition’!
From where mental appearances of this delusional ‘custom’!”
–Je Milarepa in his Song on the Evil Custom of Eating Meat
“When you eat meat, you ingest not only the chemical substances that animals are full of, but also the emotional and physical stress that animals experience throughout their lives and at the moment of their slaughter. That stress is also part of your meat. Some people may tell you that you must eat meat for your health, for the protein. But this is simply not true.”
–17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje
Introduction
For today’s full harvest moon, here is an article on what Buddha (and Tibetan Buddhist masters) taught about eating animals. One of the fundamental tenets of Buddhist vows and ethics is not deliberately (and unnecessarily) killing sentient beings, or encouraging others to do so. In addition, the concept of non-violence (ahimsa) is a central tenet of both Buddhist, Hindu and other spiritual beliefs. In the 21st Century, Buddhists generally think they are non-violent, animal-lovers, have pets and would not dream of actively harming another sentient being deliberately. Yet, many also regularly eat slaughtered animals daily seemingly turning a blind eye to the cruelty and murder of highly sentient beings (no different from their pet dog or cat), and its catastrophic effect on the environment, natural resources, land and health. Also, the Buddha taught that any monastic who eats animals for desire or health reasons, is breaching not only the basic Vinaya Rules but one of the ‘four main defeats’ of a monastic, which should lead to automatic expulsion from their monastic communities.
Yet, I have often witnessed people buying and eating slaughtered animals in Tibetan Buddhist exile communities in predominantly vegetarian India, many of whom are monastics. Despite growing up in a meat-eating culture and family, in 2006, I abandoned eating animals, when I became Buddhist and interested in animal welfare and environmental conservation. I also became aware of the cruelty and horror of mass factory farms breeding animals for meat, well as the serious environmental and health issues associated with consuming mass-bred animals. Assuming that most Buddhists were also vegetarians/vegans too, I was surprised and saddened to discover that many were not. In culturally vegetarian India, where I have lived alongside Indians and the Tibetan Buddhist community in exile for many years, the source of meat is often not hidden behind sanitized cellophane-wrapped packages in grocery stores. For example, chickens in tiny cages waiting to be slaughtered; helpless animals huddled up for hours with no room to move–clearly in mental and physical anguish–was difficult and heart-breaking to see.
I also saw Tibetan Buddhist monastics and laypeople buying meat from such slaughter shops and eating meat in local restaurants. When I occasionally asked them why they ate meat, they often gave an uncomfortable look, or direct verbal hostility. Some monastic institutions run restaurants that serve meat. In my recent interview with Tibetan artist Tenzin Gyurmey, I learned that some Tibetans even travel out of state to buy buffalo (male cow) meat, which is outlawed under Hindu customs in some states. Are they breaching the Buddha’s teachings by doing so?
In this essay, I only consider eating slaughtered animals[i], but am aware a vegan diet is considered the most compassionate one of all. Citing Buddhist Sutras such as the Lankāvatāra Sūtra and Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra,, and past and contemporary Tibetan Buddhist teachers, this article considers the question as to what Buddha actually taught about eating slaughtered animals and whether it is permissible or not. In conclusion, it is clear that Buddha never advocated eating slaughtered animals, and positively recommended against it. For monastics, it is outright forbidden, except when begging for food, extremely sick/starving or the animal died naturally (and even then Buddha later taught it should be avoided when possible). The Buddha never taught that it was acceptable to eat animals for health reasons and specifically taught that killing or encouraging others to kill animals to eat was ethically wrong and would lead to negative karma and habits, poor mental and physical health, and re-birth in lower realms.
In Tibetan Buddhism too, despite the much greater challenges of lack of plant vegetation in high altitude Tibet, many great Tibetan Buddhist masters of all the lineages, such as Je Milarepa, Kunkhyen Dolpopa, Drugpa Kunleg, 8th Karmapa and more (with the exception of Gelugpas) all advocated strict vegetarianism and compassion for animals. In terms of contemporary examples, Jadrel Rinpoche, the 17th Karmapa, Khenpo Tsultrim Lodro Rinpoche have all given extensive and clear teachings as to why anyone on the Buddhist path, but especially monastics and those with Bodhisattva vows, should not eat slaughtered animals.
So on this harvest moon, when plants, vegetables and fruits are harvested, may we read and contemplate the Buddha’s teachings, and may that harvest not include the tortuous creams and stench of blood, brains, innards, hooves, carcasses and so on. As The Smiths sang, Meat is Murder, “Kitchen aromas aren’t very homely It’s not ‘comforting,’ cheery or kind It’s sizzling blood and the unholy stench of murder”, and Wha Me Eat by Macka B. And for the gorgeous, bright full Harvest Moon by Neil Young.
The Buddha on Eating Animals
There seems to be debate as too whether or not the Buddha taught that eating slaughtered animals is permissible, in this article I consider what the Shakyamuni Buddha actually taught about eating slaughtered animals? For monastics, it was forbidden, except when begging for food, extremely sick or starving. The Buddha taught that any monastic who eats such animals for desire or even personal health reasons violates the basic monastic rules and partakes in one of the four major defeats, which should lead to automatic expulsion from their monastic communities.
The Vinaya and Hinayana path – only allowed when begging for food and if it passes the three-fold purity rule of not having been deliberately killed to eat
One of the reasons for the misconception that the Buddha permitted eating animals due to an old Vinaya rule allowing monastics to eat meat only if offered it while begging for food on their alms rounds. In fact, one of the four defeats that are supposed to result in automatic life-long expulsion from the Buddhist monastic community is deliberately killing any sentient being (or encouraging others to do so). Going to a butcher shop to buy meat, for example, breaches this rule. However, even then, the monks could only accept the meat if it hadn’t been killed specifically for them to eat. Monastics were told to beg for food to reduce attachment and craving to culinary pleasure, and donors occasionally offered them meat. The Buddha permitted monastics to accept offered meat while begging, only if it met the three-fold purity rule of certainty that they had not seen, heard, or suspected the animal had been killed specifically for them.
The officially recognised 17th Karmapa, Orgyen Trinley Dorje, recently taught about this three-fold purity rule as laid out in an ancient Vinaya text called Five Sections on Vinaya of the Mahīśāsaka. Itarose when Buddha and some disciples were invited to a meal at which meat was offered. The sponsor of the meal told them the animals had died naturally, so Buddha permitted them to eat it. Afterwards, as some protested about the meat-eating, the Buddha further explained that it was only permitted if the meat offered passed the three-fold purity test. Even then, the 17th Karmapa taught that Buddha’s well-known students Mahākāśyapa and Bakula actively avoided begging for alms in areas where slaughtered animals might be offered. Devadatta, the Buddha’s cousin, found this exception unacceptable (as he had asked Buddha to make a rule that forbade eating animals in any situation), so he broke away from the Buddha’s community to form his own.
In fact, some Tibetan vegetarian masters, like Ngorchen have even asserted that even meat that passes the three-fold purity text should not be consumed, in his Letter to Benefit Students (cited by Gyal (2018: 134) and that the Buddha himself states that he only create the three-fold rule as a means to gradually eliminate eating animals[iii].
In addition, when we buy meat, we deliberately induce others to kill sentient beings through a livelihood of butchering, considered one of the five wrong livelihoods in Buddhist teachings (the other four harmful professions are dealing in weapons, human trafficking, intoxicants, and poisons, see the Vanijja Sutta). Contemporary studies show that people who work in slaughterhouses often suffer severe depression and psychological trauma due to witnessing and participating in murdering sentient beings, similar to the post-traumatic stress disorder suffered by those who have engaged in military combat killing.
The Mahayana Path – not permissible in any circumstances
There are many teachings in the original Indian Buddhist literature, ancient and contemporary, about the importance of not eating slaughtered animals especially those on the Mahayana path of the Bodhisattva. One of the most famous Mahayana sutras explaining that is the Lankāvatāra Sūtra. In chapter eight, the sutra gives a detailed explanation of the many reasons why Buddhist practitioners (particularly those on the Mahayana Bodhisattva path) should not eat animals and states:
“It is not true, Mahāmati, that meat is proper food and permissible for the Śrāvaka when [the victim] was not killed by himself, when he did not order others to kill it, when it was not specially meant for him.”
Buddha is also cited as saying:
“3. To those who eat [meat] there are detrimental effects, to those who do not, merits; Mahāmati, you should know that meat-eaters bring detrimental effects upon themselves.
4. Let the practitioner/yogi refrain from eating flesh as it is born of himself, as [the eating] involves transgression, as [flesh] is produced of semen and blood, and as [the killing of animals] causes terror to living beings….
- For profit sentient beings are destroyed, for flesh money is paid out, they are both evil-doers and [the deed] matures in the hells called Raurava (screaming), etc.”
In this Sutra, the Buddha cites many other reasons why Buddhist practitioners (particularly on the Bodhisattva/Mahayana) path should not eat animals, and should develop love and compassion for beings, wish to reduce any unnecessary suffering, and regard all sentient beings as our mothers and children. He mentions the negative impact of eating meat on our inner and outer health and chakras, and its negative impact on how we appear and smell to animals. A person who eats meat is more likely to be reborn as an animal that eats animals, or is eaten by animals, or in other lower existences where killing is normal.
Further, in the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, understood to be the final and definitive Mahayana teachings of the Buddha given on the eve of his death, the Buddha teaches that “the eating of meat extinguishes the seed of Great Compassion,” and that all consumption of animals—even those found already dead—is prohibited. He specifically rejects the idea that monks begging and receiving meat from a donor should eat it:
“[I]t should be rejected… I say that even meat, fish, game, dried hooves, and scraps of meat left over by others constitute an infraction… I teach the harm arising from meat-eating.”
The Buddha also predicts in this sutra that later monks will “hold spurious writings to be the authentic dharma,” and concoct their own sutras, falsely claiming that the Buddha allows meat eating.
The Buddha is also said to have outlined three types of “pure” meat: meat from animals that died naturally, meat eaten due to severe sickness or starvation, and meat that is transformed by a clear perception of non-dual emptiness into a sacred substance by a fully-realized practitioner (which rules out 99 percent of us!). The idea of pure meat was a way Buddha showed how the vast majority of meat is impure and should not be eaten for various reasons.
Tibetan Buddhist masters on Eating Animals – past and present
When Buddhism spread from India into other countries like Tibet, many great Tibetan Buddhist masters, past and present, also strongly recommended with their actions and words the necessity of not eating animals as part of Buddhist conduct and practice. Yet, meat-eating has been a topic of contention in Tibet, where the high-altitude landscape is suitable for nomadic herding, and fruits and vegetation are rare. However, there is a wealth of fruit and vegetation in India and Nepal, where many Buddhists and Tibetans in exile now reside, yet many continue to eat meat.
Tibetan Buddhist vegetarianism in Tibet pre-1959
It was not only the Buddha who advocated abandoning eating animals, many great Tibetan Buddhist masters past and present, in Tibet and exile have strongly recommended it. In his recent book The Faults of Meat: Tibetan Buddhist Writings on Vegetarianism (2019), Geoffrey Barstow compiles translations of some important teachings on vegetarianism from past Tibetan Bon and Buddhist masters such as Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen (1292–1361), Khedrup Je (1385–1438), the eighth Karmapa, Mikyo Dorje (1507–1554), Shabkar Tsokdrük Rangdrol (1781–1851), and Khenpo Tsultrim Lodro (b.1961). Several of these Tibetan Buddhist teachers have explicitly clarified that even in the Vajrayana tantric tradition of the Ganachakra – a feast-offering ritual in which ingestion of small amounts of meat and alcohol are said to be permitted – it is merely symbolic and that actual meat or alcohol should not be consumed in this practice. As Barstow writes in Hidden Vegetarians of Tibet (Tricycle, 2018):
“Vegetarianism was not only present in pre-communist Tibet; it was in fact a significant aspect of Tibetan religious practice. It is not that vegetarianism ever became the norm—even among the devout, it always seems to have been a minority practice. But it was a significant and vocal minority. Furthermore, these vegetarian lamas came from all the major Buddhist lineages in Tibet, from all regions, and from all time periods. Some were relatively minor figures, but others were among the most important masters of their day and remain well known centuries later. “
For my recent video podcast interview with Barstow where we discussed some of these issues, see here.
The Karmapas and vegetarianism
In 2007, I was physically present when the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje give an electrifying and important speech under the Bodhi Tree at Bodhgaya on vegetarianism. Citing the teachings of the Buddha and the previous Karmapas, he stated that the 8th Karmapa had taught that one could not reasonably call oneself a follower of the Karma Kagyu lineage and eat slaughtered animals, which left some meat-eating followers shocked. He also recommended that if devotees wanted him to have a long life, they should abandon eating animals. More recently, the 17th Karmapa gave several teachings on the essential Buddhist monastic rules that forbid eating meat willingly for pleasure or health, the suffering of murdered animals he witnessed as a nomadic child growing up in Tibet, the teachings of past Tibetan masters like the yogis, Milarepa and Drugpa Kunleg (1455-1529) on the ‘wrongdoing’ of killing and eating animals, the strict vegetarianism of previous Karmapas, and on the catastrophic, destructive effects on the environment and natural resources. In his book The Heart is Noble, the 17th Karmapa explains:
“When you eat meat, you ingest not only the chemical substances that animals are full of, but also the emotional and physical stress that animals experience throughout their lives and at the moment of their slaughter. That stress is also part of your meat. Some people may tell you that you must eat meat for your health, for the protein. But this is simply not true. The millions of healthy vegetarians around the world are proof of that fact. Protein sources abound in legumes and other foods that are better for our body and for the environment. It really is just a matter of where we decide to get our protein. I think it is important to recognize that this is a choice we make every time we eat.”
Although he also explained recently that things are improving within the Tibetan Buddhist monasteries. For a compiled transcript of the 17th Karmapa’s teachings on vegetarianism, see here. In sum, there were many great Tibetan Buddhist masters, past and present, before 1959, who were strict vegetarians who actively abandoned and advocated against eating animals.
Other contemporary teachers on eating animals: Not Buddhist and not necessary
Other contemporary examples of Tibetan Buddhist teachers who strongly advocate against eating meat are the recently passed Jadrel Rinpoche and Khenpo Tsultrim Lodro Rinpoche. For example Jadrel Rinpoche stated that misusing the three-fold purity rule of not seeing the animal being killed for you as a way to justify eating it was wrong:
“What they say is not right. Killing, stealing and other negative actions can never be gotten away with. Even if other people don’t see you do them, the deities and Buddhas and Bodhisattvas see you doing these things…. They see and understand what you did—they know that you helped to kill an animal by buying meat. This is my answer.”
In Liberating Yaks: The Vegetarian Question in Tibet, Khenchen Tsultrim Lodro Rinpoche of Larung Gar, Tibet also makes it clear that it is breaching Buddha’s teachings on love, compassion and non-violence by eating animals, whether one has seen them being slaughtered or not, and cites a study on pigeons who became significantly more aggressive when given a meat-diet than pigeons who had not.
The British-born Tibetan Buddhist nun and teacher, Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo also said that eating animals was not consistent with seeing them in the Buddhist way as our loving mothers:
“Basically, the idea is that just as I wouldn’t like it for someone to kill and eat me, I don’t think any being wants to be slaughtered and eaten, especially considering the manner in which animals are killed in this day and age, and the terror and trauma that they go through in the process. How can we sit down and eat them? Of course, in Tibetan Buddhism, where we are taught that all beings have been our mothers, if you really believe what you’re saying, then how can you sit down and eat your mother?”
Gelug lineage and the Dalai Lamas: the only lineage who seems to excuse meat-eating
Interestingly, within the four main Tibetan Buddhist lineages, as Tibetan scholar, Nyangshem Gyal points out in bis recent paper The Sectarian Formation of Tibetan Vegetarianism: Identifying the First Polemic on Meat-eating in Tibetan Literature (2019), that “the practice of vegetarianism among the Geluk was, indeed, rare prior to twentieth century, compared with other the norms in Tibetan Buddhist schools.”
For example, although the 14th Dalai Lama (of the Gelugpa lineage) has encouraged people to abandon eating animals, he is often criticized by vegetarians for eating meat himself, which he states is due to medical advice and health reasons. However, from the perspective of the Buddha’s Sutra teachings, and those of the other main Tibetan Buddhist lineages, eating murdered animals for health reasons was never deemed an acceptable reason, unless one was begging for food or starving.
In brief, the Shakyamuni Buddha and Tibetan Buddhist masters taught against eating meat long before technological inventions allowed the mass breeding and slaughtering of animals for food. These days, however, there are even more reasons not to eat meat, including one’s health (physical and psychological) and environmental reasons.
Contemporary concerns about eating animals: Mental and physical health and the environment
The Shakyamuni Buddha and Tibetan Buddhist masters taught against eating meat prior to technological inventions that allowed the mass breeding and slaughter of animals for food. However, if they were teaching today, such ‘advances’ and the now well-documented addiction to meat, catastrophic harm they cause the environment[i], wasting of natural resources, extinction of other species, physical and psychological damage to those who eat animals[ii] and work in slaughter-houses, and greater levels of aggression, would no doubt be included as part of the general Buddhist principle of non-violence, love and compassion.
There is also a false perception that one needs meat for health reasons. However, the converse is true. In Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhist, yogic, and Ayurvedic traditions, eating meat has always been considered unhealthy (and unethical) and unnecessary for a balanced diet. In other cultures and religions, the perception of eating animals for health reasons has been different, although that perception is also changing.
In conclusion, following a spiritual tradition’s ethical guidelines and discipline can sometimes be challenging, as we have many faults and a lack of wisdom. However, to answer the title of this article, the answer is no: Buddha did not permit or encourage eating animals, except in very limited or extreme circumstances. So, if we want to follow Buddha’s teaching actions speak louder than words, and if we genuinely care for and love animals as fellow species on this planet, then surely we owe it to ourselves (and animals) to take to heart the fact that, as The Smiths sang, Meat is Murder, “It’s sizzling blood and the unholy stench of murder.”
Written by Adele Tomlin, 29th September 2023.
Endnotes
[i] Interestingly, one the most famous Tibetan vegetarians who wrote about the faults of eating meat, Ngorchen Kunga Zangpo uses the term “slaughtered-meat” (bsad sha), instead of the term “meat” (sha) in general, which probably indicates that Ngorchen Kunga Zangpo tolerated the consumption of shisha (shi sha), “non-slaughtered meat”. See Nyangshem Gyel (2018: 134).
[ii] “To protest about bullfighting in Spain, the eating of dogs in South Korea, or the slaughter of baby seals in Canada while continuing to eat eggs from hens who have spent their lives crammed into cages, or veal from calves who have been deprived of their mothers, their proper diet, and the freedom to lie down with their legs extended, is like denouncing apartheid in South Africa while asking your neighbors not to sell their houses to blacks.”― Peter Singer, Animal Liberation
[iii] The quotation cited by Gyal (2018:134) is: “We read in the Mahāparinirvāna Sutra: “to offer somebody alcohol, poison, weapons, and slaughtered meat is evil charity.” Some might argue that monks are allowed to eat slaughtered meat under the three circumstances as the Vinaya states. However, this is an exceptional choice, not a definitive teaching of the Buddha. For instance, if a monk is sick, and without eating meat would probably die, then the monk can eat it as a medicine. Other than that, monks shouldn’t be eating [meat that satisfies the conditions of] threefold purity. In the Mahāparinirvāna Sutra, Kasyapa asked, “In the past, why did the Tathagata [the Buddha] permit the consumption of meat examined in the three ways?” The Buddha replied, “Kasyapa, I allowed the consumption of meat examined in the three ways as a means to gradually eliminate meat eating.” Therefore, we should understand Buddha’s teaching fully.”
[iv] In a recent interview, Jonathan Safran Foer, a leading environmentalist and author of the book Eating Animals (2010) was asked whether or not a person could eat meat and still call themselves an environmentalist. He replied that one could say one is honest and still be a liar, and said meat-eating was a major ‘blind-spot’ for anyone who cares about the environment. The catastrophic effects of mass animal breeding on the planet, land and natural resources is clearly undeniable and public knowledge.
[v] To understand the reasons for that, psychologists and health professionals are speaking out about meat-eating’s physical and psychological addiction, such as the author and founder of Beyond Carnism, Dr. Melanie Joy, in “The Secret Reason We Eat Meat.” There have been several studies done that show eating certain kinds of meat causes physical diseases, and also more aggression in animals and humans. For example, recently, Khenpo Tsultrim Lodro Rinpoche cited a study that had been done on pigeons and their differences in aggression depending on their diet.
Further Reading/Sources
Barstow, Geoffrey:
Hidden Vegetarians of Tibet (Tricycle, 2018)
The Faults of Meat: Tibetan Buddhist Writings on Vegetarianism (Wisdom Publications, 2019)
Gyal, Nyangshem (2019) The Sectarian Formation of Tibetan Vegetarianism: Identifying the First Polemic on Meat-eating in Tibetan Literature
Khenchen Tsultrim Lodro Rinpoche, Liberating Yaks: The Vegetarian Question in Tibet
Tenzin Palmo, Jetsunma: ‘I DON’T EAT MY FRIENDS’: 78th birthday offering to Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, meditator, teacher and nunnery founder, on eating animals
Tomlin, Adele:
JE MILAREPA’S SONG ON THE SUFFERING OF ANIMALS AND THE ‘EVIL CUSTOM’ OF MEAT-EATING
Dakini Translations and Publications མཁའ་འགྲོ་མའི་ལོ་ཙཱ་བའི་འགྱུར་དང་འགྲེམས་སྤེལ། 
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