Are Buddists Vegetarian ?!
Anyone know ?
Answers: Looking at thier 4 Noble truths and Noble 8 fold path to enlightenment I would say they are
Anyone know ?
From my experience, there are particular Buddhist divisions and groups that abstain from meat, some even go as far as being vegan. Overall it isn't unanimous within the faith that a Buddhist should not eat meat.
When I was in high-school I lived next door to a first generation Japanese family and they ate a largely vegetarian diet but they still ate meat, and they were very devout Buddhists (they had an ancestral altar, they went to a Buddhist worship temple every week, and I have often listened to them talk about their faith with a curious ear).
I think it remains a personal decision for Buddhists whether they will be vegetarian or not.
This in no way proves anything or is in any way relevant but I just remembered that Lisa Simpson is a vegetarian and a Buddhist.
EDIT:
I found a fantastic link that has many resources, including opinion from prominent Buddhist figures:
http://online.sfsu.edu/~rone/Buddhism/Bu...
It seems that modernization, and perhaps a more slack interpretation of Buddhist tenets, allows for many people to reconcile their Buddhist faith and still eat meat.
This may be similar to taking the Bible very literally; there is even a line in the Bible that one should not wear clothing woven of mixed fabrics (Leviticus 19.19; Deuteronomy 22.11). Obviously an overwhelming majority of the Christians in this world would still wear a polyester-cotton blend shirt, for instance, without feeling that God will smite them.
Sometimes it is more convenient to pick and choose what you will and will not follow from your own religion's texts, and certainly beliefs have changed over time and over multiple translations and due to a decrease in the strictness of most faiths.
Buddhists come in all different shapes and sizes, some are vegetarian some are not.
Buddha was.
No not all, but some are.
A Buddist may not eat meat, most of the time.
But when/if they do eat meat, it may be for a different reason than most people. It may involve compromise.
A vegetarian by definition NEVER eats meat.
Your path to enlightenment may be through the exploration of the concept of 'never'.
Medieval and feudal Japanese were devout buddhists (until the west "rediscovered" them and reintroduced meat) but ate a lot of fish and sea food. I think they still consider themselves as good buddhists (though not really vegetarians)despite eating fish and seafood and nowadays meat.
Some are, and some aren't.
Traditionally, monks carried around "begging bowls" once a day and received food from their town. They had to eat whatever was put into their bowls... even if it was meat, even if it was moldy. They could not, however, eat meat if they knew the animal was slaughtered specifically for them.
Buddhists view animals and insects as people who have been reborn into a lower caste (caste isn't the right word, just the first word that comes to mind). Therefore, many Buddhists will become veg*ns to prevent suffering to these creatures, along with the ecological, health, etc. benefits. Veg*nism also fits nicely with the philosophy of non-violence.
Some sources (I believe the Mahayana tradition) say that Buddha himself gave a sermon about abstaining from meat, although like many texts, they were not discovered and incorporated until many years later.
However, food doesn't play a huge part in enlightenment, and many of the countries with large Buddhist populations (Southeast Asia) consume meat on a regular basis. Think of it like Seventh Day Adventists... vegetarianism is supported, maybe even reccomended, but it is not necessary.