Expert: Bodhicitta - 4/9/2006

Question
I passed through a market and saw people killing chickens. They just pick up the chicken, still struggling, and cut off its neck. I feel very sad looking at this sight. But  I can't blame the butcher because he wants to earn a living too. But what must we do to stop this madness? Encourage people to follow the Buddhist way and be vegetariens?

Answer
Dear Lee,
The first thing to  note is being Buddhist doesnt imply that you are vegaterian. Buddhists usually take the five precepts one of which is
not to kill.
The first thing to understand is that the precepts aren't laws - but they are more fences marking out a ground that is bad to walk on.

Most precepts have different degrees. If you were to kill a human
it is thought to be very bad. At that pointy you would ceases to be a Buddhist and you would have a big problem. Human life is thought to be the vehicle in which to obtain Buddhahood., So to destroy human life would be very negative karmically.

Everyday we kill beings - just to be alive. There are beings  of all sizes being killed
as our bodies move around they kill beings.We tred on beings. We breath beings in.  There are beings in our stomaches being killed. When rice is planted and the fields flooded - beings are killed. Death follows us like a shadow.
This troubles some religions greatly - the Jains walk around with masks on so that they wont breath in small incesects and kill them.

Most Buddhists try and avoid killing animals as far as possible . But again there are grey areas . Some Buddhist communities have pests that either attack people or the buildings. Tigers might attack and kill people.


In terms of eating meat/. This is a choice for Buddhists. If meat is
already it is permissible to eat it. Eating meat already killed is
actually thought by Buddhists to be positive since it creates a positive connection. Killing animals is negative . This all seems
very strange to nonBuddhists. But this is the way the Buddhist
teachings are.

So as you can see, I hope killing and vegatarienism is not clear cut. It is a choice for each Buddhist what they do in this area.
Killing humans is negative. Killing animals is to be avoided if possible. However eating meat and the grey areas of killing
animals accidentally or maybe when circumstances require is
all a choice to be made.

Buddhist presents no laws. It presents a system of training for
practioners to discover what wisdom and compassion  is.

Yours
Bodhicitta