Expert: Justin Choo - 2/24/2008

Question
hello i am cameron and i am a 12 year old beginner praticising buddhist and i need some help

If i am am not allowed to kill an animal is my dad allowed to buy it for me from the butchers or is that a wrongdoing?

please help me because i want to be as clean a buddhist as possible

Answer
Hi Cameron,

Welcome to the path of inner peace and happiness.  Not many young people of your age are interested in Buddhism because they simply could not grasph the true message of the Buddha.  They just want to have fun; fair enough.

Coming back to your query.  In Buddhism there is no compulsion not to do things.  The Buddha merely pointed out that doing unwholesome things would lead to unwholesome results, apart from hurting others. It is up to our conscience to decide.  As far as killing is concerned, we must understand that in this world it is very difficult not to break this precept.  That is why we always promise ourselves to keep the precepts "to the best of our abilities".

To fully commit an act of killing, all of the following five factors must be present:
     1. The victim of the killing must be a living being.
     2. The killer must know the victim is a being.
     3. The killer must have the volition to kill the victim.
     4. The action of killing must be performed by the killer.
     5. The victim dies as a result of this act.

Take care.  Please come back if you need further clarifications.

Smile from justinchoo :-)