I was at a retreat in prison yesterday, at which there were some relatively new guys who haven’t been to the regular weekly meditation and Buddhism group, and a handful of guys I’d never seen before.
One of the questions that came up was how vegetarianism fits into Buddhist practice. There was a lot of passion around the subject one way or another, although the discussion was always harmonious and respectful, and even humorous.
One of the volunteers in attendance said that in his view Buddhist ethics involved trying to live compassionately and avoiding causing harm, something I happen to agree with. That’s why I’m a vegetarian and have been since the fall of 1982.
One of the inmates pointed out that the Buddha and the early monastic Sangha ate pretty much whatever was put in their bowls, and so they probably weren’t vegetarians. That’s a bit of a simplification of course, since the vinaya–or monastic code of conduct–allows monks to refuse certain kinds of food and also since monks can educate householders to live more compassionately by not eating meat. After all, the Buddha encouraged lay Buddhists not to kill, cause to kill, or approve of others killing. If Buddhist monks took that teaching seriously there would be a lot more vegetarian Buddhists around. By buying meat you’re encouraging others to kill and financially giving your approval to that activity. But he’s right that the Buddha was not himself vegetarian.
In addition there were a couple of not-very-logical arguments in favor of eating meat. The most absurd (and absurdly common) is the idea that a vegetable and an animal are both living, and since vegetarians are eating vegetables they too are killing. Someone pointed out that vegetables don’t feel pain, and a couple of people were on the verge of disagreeing with that when I broke in. I said that the technical term for someone who couldn’t tell the difference between a carrot’s suffering and a rabbit’s suffering was a psychopath. That got a few laughs, but I really believe it.
The other absurd argument was that if everyone became vegetarian overnight then thousands of people would be put out of business. Well, if you can find a way to make everyone turn vegetarian overnight then let me know! Generally these social changes take decades and industry and farming adjusts accordingly. Everyone becoming vegetarian overnight? Ain’t gonna happen!
It’s very hard for the guys in prison to practice vegetarianism. Some stick at it while others have tried and can’t keep it up. Yet others haven’t even tried. And I don’t blame them. From what I hear the vegetarian food in there is awful. The guys talked about textured soy meatballs they ate that were literally rotten. One guy, who recently stopped being a vegetarian, said that it was like biting into mildew, and there were some murmurs of agreement. And the variety is poor, with just the same four meals over and over again.
One young guy, a sex offender who’s only about 20, said that he had no intention of being vegetarian when he gets out, despite the fact that he considered himself to be a sincere Buddhist. I confess I had the last word in the discussion when I said that the central issue with regard to vegetarianism and Buddhist practice is the extent to which we’re prepared to see own desires for non-essential pleasures (and eating meat is definitely non-essential) as being more important than the sufferings of otehr beings. And the amount of suffering involved in the farming and slaughtering industries is, as I know from experience having worked on farms and in a slaughterhouse, immense. With all due modesty, I wrote about this in a book on vegetarianism and Buddhism that you can find on Amazon if you just search for my name (Bodhipaksa).