"Even at the cost of your own life, you must never kill other beings. Both evil human leaders filled with great pride And the evil caste of hunters chased by their own karma Will misunderstand this even if it is explained most properly and most clearly. He who has taken the Bodhisattva Vows, Has shame… Continue reading ARE ANIMALS PROTECTED IN BUDDHIST BHUTAN? Report on veganism and protecting animals and the environment in Bhutan, the outsourcing of slaughter to India, and the remarkable activities of Chatrel Rinpoche’s student, Lama Kunzang Dorje Rinpoche with the first vegan monastery in Bhutan, and the “Jangsa Animal Saving Trust (Bhutan III)
Tag: Buddhism and Vegetarianism
SHAMBHALA VEGGIE SANCTUARIES IN SAIGON: Vegetarian Restaurant reviews in Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam II, 2025)
Introduction A couple of days ago was the full moon (15th Day) of the 4th Lunar month, which is traditionally celebrated as Vesak Day/Buddha Purnima in Buddhist Asian countries like Vietnam and India, commemorating the Shakyamuni Buddha's birth, enlightenment and parinirvana. Traditionally, in many countries it is considered to be a "vegetarian day" where Buddhists… Continue reading SHAMBHALA VEGGIE SANCTUARIES IN SAIGON: Vegetarian Restaurant reviews in Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam II, 2025)
The 17th Karmapa’s lifetime vow to give up eating meat and other recent teachings on Buddhism and eating animals (video clips in Tibetan w English subtitles)
Below are some video clips I made of the 17th Karmapa's recent teachings in 2021 (in Tibetan with English subtitles) on the topic of the importance of not eating slaughtered animals not only for the Karmapas and Karma Kagyu tradition, but in original Buddhism Vinaya, and the Mahayana. For the full teachings (Days 16 and… Continue reading The 17th Karmapa’s lifetime vow to give up eating meat and other recent teachings on Buddhism and eating animals (video clips in Tibetan w English subtitles)
“WHY BUDDHISTS ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO EAT ANIMALS”: Launch of ‘Buddhism in a Nutshell” short reels series (I)
For the full Strawberry Moon (and Summer Solstice), I am delighted to launch a new short video reels series, called "Buddhism in a Nutshell" (available on Instagram and Facebook pages). This series is to give short (and hopefully easy-to understand) explanations of key fundamental concepts and ideas in Buddhist philosophy and practice. The first reel… Continue reading “WHY BUDDHISTS ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO EAT ANIMALS”: Launch of ‘Buddhism in a Nutshell” short reels series (I)
AN EMANATION OF NOBLE TĀRĀ: The amazing life and activities of Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo (Dakini Conversations podcast, Ep.6)
Today is 25th December (Christmas Day for many), and a time of joy, giving and celebration, and tomorrow (26th) is a full moon. So it is with great pleasure to offer this timely 'gift' today (to women in particular) of a new Dakini Conversations podcast interview with renowned British-born Tibetan Buddhist nun and teacher, Jetsunma… Continue reading AN EMANATION OF NOBLE TĀRĀ: The amazing life and activities of Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo (Dakini Conversations podcast, Ep.6)
‘FOOD OF SINFUL DEMONS’ AND THE FAULTS OF EATING ANIMALS: Tibetan Buddhism and Tibet: Interview with Dr. Geoffrey Barstow (Dakini Conversations: Ep.4)
"Meat is a food for sinful demons." ---Nyammey Sherab Gyeltsen (1356-1415) Tibetan Bon master "I was struck, however, by Patrul [Rinpoche]’s mocking description of monks, beards tinged red from the bloody meat they were eating, covering their heads in shame. I had lived with Tibetans long enough to know that most ate meat with… Continue reading ‘FOOD OF SINFUL DEMONS’ AND THE FAULTS OF EATING ANIMALS: Tibetan Buddhism and Tibet: Interview with Dr. Geoffrey Barstow (Dakini Conversations: Ep.4)
Vegetarianism in Buddhist Bhutan: Karma Dendup interviewed by Adele Tomlin (Dakini Conversations video/podcast Ep.1)
"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… Continue reading Vegetarianism in Buddhist Bhutan: Karma Dendup interviewed by Adele Tomlin (Dakini Conversations video/podcast Ep.1)
DRIGUNG KAGYU VEGETARIANISM: ‘IF YOU EAT MEAT AND CALL IT DHARMA, YOU ARE NOT MY DISCIPLE’ AND ‘IT DISPARAGES GREAT BEINGS’: Phagmodrupa, Jigten Sumgon and the ‘white’ food’ vegetarian tradition of Drigung Kagyu, past and present
For Dakini Day today, I offer a new research and translation article on vegetarianism in the Drigung Kagyu lineage. Although there has been quite a bit spoken and written about vegetarianism in Karma Kagyu recently, such as Milarepa, 7th, 8th and 17th Karmapas, as well as other lineage masters, such as Dolpopa, Shakpa and Khenpo… Continue reading DRIGUNG KAGYU VEGETARIANISM: ‘IF YOU EAT MEAT AND CALL IT DHARMA, YOU ARE NOT MY DISCIPLE’ AND ‘IT DISPARAGES GREAT BEINGS’: Phagmodrupa, Jigten Sumgon and the ‘white’ food’ vegetarian tradition of Drigung Kagyu, past and present
‘HUNTER’S MOON’ TRANSLATION TREATS: MILAREPA’S SONGS TO ANIMALS AND THE HUNTER and SONG ON THE SUFFERING OF ANIMALS FOR THE EVIL MEAT-EATING ‘CUSTOM’
"Subjugating 'outer' appearances, will not conquer them. Conquer your own mind, at this very moment! Your killing this deer will not satiate you, Killing the five poisons within, all wishes are fulfilled! Subjugating ‘outer’ enemies, they increase even more. Conquering one’s ‘inner’ mindstream, there are no ‘enemies’." ཕྱི་སྣང་བ་བཏུལ་གྱིས་མི་ཐུལ་གྱིས། ། ཁྱོད་རང་སེམས་འདུལ་བའི་དུས་ལ་བབ། ། ཁྱོད་ཤ་བ་བསད་པས་མི་འགྲངས་ཏེ། ། ནང་དུག་ལྔ་བསད་ན་ཅི་བསམ་གྲུབ། །… Continue reading ‘HUNTER’S MOON’ TRANSLATION TREATS: MILAREPA’S SONGS TO ANIMALS AND THE HUNTER and SONG ON THE SUFFERING OF ANIMALS FOR THE EVIL MEAT-EATING ‘CUSTOM’
MEAT IS MURDER: ‘Tibetan Buddhist Vegetarianism: Ancient and Modern’ compiled teachings by 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje
"How devastatingly hateful this murdering beings ‘custom’!How hugely regrettable this self-deception ‘custom’!How heavy a weight this killing parents ‘custom’!How much wrong action for this stacks of meat ‘custom’!What to be done for this masses of blood ‘custom’!However hungry, this eating meat ‘custom ’!What are these mental appearances of this delusional ‘ custom ’?!Such major evil… Continue reading MEAT IS MURDER: ‘Tibetan Buddhist Vegetarianism: Ancient and Modern’ compiled teachings by 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje