Expert: Justin Choo - 9/17/2007

Question
what is a staple buddhist diet taking into consideration thier thoughts on meat and meat alternatives,fruits and vegtables,grains and breads,fats or oils and beverages i would appreciate a quick answer.thank you

Answer
Hi Stacy,

Here's your quick answer.  The Mahayana Buddhists are towards vegetarianism, which means no meat.  Those who follow the Theravada tradition are not particular about the type of food.

The dietician will tell you that you are what you eat. The fashion designer will tell you that you are what you wear. The Buddha told us that we are what we think, speak, and act.  

The idea of not eating meat is to avoid KILLING. When we eat meat we are eating DEAD meat. Of course there is some justification to say that we are encouraging others to kill when we eat meat. If anyone feels that way, then there is no commandment from the Buddha that you must eat meat. By all means eat only vegetables. One thing for sure, the person will be very healthy.

Vegetarianism and killing are two very different concepts.  Killing means the taking of life. Vegetarianism is to refrain from eating meat.  A lot of people misconstrue vegetarianism with "not killing". Likewise, they also accuse those who eat meat as encouraging killing, if not committing killing itself. Eating meat means eating "dead flesh". The animal was dead. If the person who eats the meat does not kill the animal, how can we accuse him of killing?

Smile from justinchoo :-)