is vegatarianism a part of being a monk?

cabossimn

???

Brian

Depends on what path you follow.

Listen, you seem hell-bent on following an austere path. I'm not being condescending, but it's my belief that you need to live a little before you decide that austerity and self-denial is the path you want.

vixthenomad

The Buddhist community in my town will not ordain anyone under the age of twenty-two - and that's in England, where the legal minimum age for most other things is 18. I saw in another thread that you said you're 17, so assuming that it's the same everywhere you have another 4 years before you're even going to get close to monkhood.

seeker242

It depends on what tradition the monk ordains in. Some are, some aren't.

cabossimn

isnt Buddhism all about relieving your self of lifes delusions? this is what i want whether you call it the austere path, the middle path, the path of awakening, what ever. i want to go through with it. it makes sense to me. ive done drugs before ive had at least oral sex before ive played video games kissed loved, ive lived ive learned now i want to get loves[hehe its a reference to a commercial that i thought would be appropriate lol] so yes it is odd for a yougin like me who hasnt really had those wild pony years to want enlightenment, but nothing seems to bring me joy like philosophizing, meditation, and the path to awakening. it just makes sense to me. ive already got my parents consent they said itd be great for me i wasnt expecting them to say that but i was glad. im not really odd at all there are tons of people like me. so...yeah.

cabossimn

what about zen?

seeker242

what about zen?

It depends on the particular sect of Zen. Japanese zen, not necessarily. Vietnamese, korean and chinese zen mostly yes.

cabossimn

thai?

MindGate

Is vegetarianism part of being a monk? Only if you want it to be.

Thai's eat meat I've heard. It honestly depends on your country, province, sect, and specific monastery though.

Brian

And nutritional needs.

Linc

You haven't mastered uppercase letters and punctuation. Maybe tackle that before changing your entire life.

shanyin

Look to the scriptures. I have met a very intelligent Theravadin monk who eats meat and said "it's already dead". Of course monks don't handle money and he lives off of offerings. I have also met Tibetan Lamas who I fed meat. However, and this may interest you otherwise:

DEVELOPEMENT OF THE EIGHTFOLD PATH IN THE DISCIPLE

CONFIDENCE AND RIGHT-MINDEDNESS (2ND STEP)

Suppose a householder, or his son, or someone reborn in any family, hears the law,; and after hearing the law he is filled with confidence in the Perfect One. And filled with this confidence, he thinks: "Full of hindrances is household life, a refuse heap; but pilgrim life is like the open air. Not easy is it, when one lives at home, to fulfill in all points the rules of the holy life. How, if now I were to cut off hair and beard, put on the yellow robes and go forth from home into the homeless life?" And in a short time, having given up his more or less extensive possessions, having forsaken a smaller or larger circle of relations, he cuts off hair and beard, puts on the yellow robe, and goes forth from home to the homeless life.

MORALITY (3RD, 4TH, 5TH STEP)

Having thus left the world, he fulfills the rules of the monks. He avoids the killing of living beings and abstains from it. Without stick or sword, conscientious, full of sympathy, he is anxious for the welfare of all living beings. -- He avoids stealing, and abstains from taking what is not given to him. Only what is given to him he takes, waiting till it is given; and he lives with a heart honest and pure. --He avoids unchastity, living chaste, resigned, and keeping aloof from sexual intercourse, the vulgar way.

.... continued

He keeps aloof from dance, song music and the visiting of shows, rejects flowers, perfumes, ointments, as well as every kind of adornment and embellishment. High and and gorgeous beds he does not use. Gold and silver he does not accept. , raw corn and meat he does not accept

[AN. 198]

Now, the Buddha's time was was very different, as you could tell by the raw corn and high beds remark. These things were likely things valued in society for status and egotistical reasons. And I can't see what I'm typing right now so I'll have to edit this. This may have been true for meat. I have heard that the suttas say that a monk may accept meat and eating depending on conditions. The 3 conditions that the animal was not killed for himself, that he didn't hear it being killed and THINK the last one was that he didn't kill it himself. Now would the Buddha not accept meat because he doesn't know if it has been killed for himself? Such as if someone offers him meat and doesn't know if it has been killed for himself. It would be reasonable to think that he would just say, no thanks. I have also heard that the suttas say that the Buddha taught a form a secret vegetarianism. To be a vegetarian in secret.

I have been a vegetarian for 2 years, I'm not now. There are somethings that I think are wrong with eating meat in our society. Perhaps not so much that it's wrong, more that it's right to boycott factory farms.

Anyways, it seems clear according to scriptures the Buddha said that being a monk and not accepting meat is moral. And in fact right morality. Theravadin schools approach is considered conservative, and yet I met a monk who eats meat.

I'll leave it there.

shanyin

I think when you get a certain age it's becomes wrong to go on with the cycle of meat consumption. People are going around killing animals completely unnessisarily and we're as adults handing them over capital for it. Americans seem to have to worst foreign aid programs in the world, and people go on paying money for their habits. There's nothing right about it. If you become vegetarian I can almost guarantee a dozen people will will say, "I just like how it tastes". That's really the bottom line for the habits and cycle. The health factor is debatable. People seem to get along fine without it, I've met a guy who was raised vegetarian and he's fine, he's like 35. I was vegetarian for 2 years and I didn't have any problems. There's supplements, like b12 shots and protein.

I've pretty much been disgusted with people who have problems with vegetarians, and the more I learn about the world the more twisted it seems.



That's my 2 cents

vinlyn

I've pretty much been disgusted with people who have problems with vegetarians, and the more I learn about the world the more twisted it seems.

Perhaps just as we non-vegetarians become disgusted with those who PUSH their vegginess on us.

shanyin

make ur own choice meng

vinlyn

make ur own choice meng

Exactly.

shanyin

touche and touche bro

shanyin

I think my second post muddled up the first one. I just wanted to answer his question and leave it to him.

abhishek_laser

No, even the buddha ate meat. The thing here to understand is that monks are supossed to eat whatever is given to them and not have any preferences, they are not supossed to eat meat only if they come to know that the animal was killed specificially for them.
Actually in the theravada tradition even the lay people can eat meat the simple reason being that they did not kill, somebody else killed that animal. this has to be seen in terms of the law of kamma. the kamma of buying meat is a completely different thing than the kamma of killing, hence buyingm meat is not seen as a bad thing.
this is a widely debated topic in buddhism and i've chosen to avoid eating meat just for me to no even have to doubt in the first place.

taiyaki

a lot of monks i know have a vegetarian diet.

though some choose to eat meat here and there.

i heard that if you eat meat you have to be the one who kills it.

might be a rumor?