Vegetarianism: A Buddhist View – The Launch Party!

Welcome to the launch of my book, Vegetarianism: A Buddhist View. All today I’ll be online, doing various things connected with the book and its subject. Do feel free to drop in and say “hi” or “congratulations” or anything else you feel inspired to utter (using the comment form, naturally; you can talk to your computer if you want but I probably won’t hear you!).

As well as the welcome video I’ll be adding new material to the blog all day, and I’ll add links on this post. So this is the “home page” for the party, with different “rooms” where you can mingle.

First you have to dodge the author touting his wares in the hall and spouting his opinions:

• Here’s a list of places you can buy the book…
• How Bodhipaksa became a vegetarian…
• How should Buddhist vegetarians relate to meat-eaters?
• The Buddha ate meat. So what?
• The ecological benefits of vegetarianism (book reading)
• Plants are living too. Aren’t vegetarians inconsistent? (book extract)
• Now that the comments are fixed we’re getting some comments below and on other pages. It’s easy to leave a comment. Just use the form at the bottom of this page.
• And we’ve had well over 300 almost 400 visitors so far today.

In the kitchen:

• Here’s a recipe for one of my favorite curries from Tipu’s Tiger in Missoula, Montana, where I used to eat all the time.
• Another Indian recipe, this time for Mango Dal (mangoes and lentils)
• Buddhapalita has a recipe book for meals he used to serve in the acclaimed Tipu’s Tiger veggie restaurant in Missoula, Montana. Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy!
• Whole Foods has an amazing searchable database of recipes. You can search for veggie or vegan recipes (or both) and also select whether you’re looking for a starter or a main course. Leave the search term empty and you’ll bring up all the veggie/vegan recipes. They also have a handy iPhone application.
• Goodnight folks! I just wanted to share with you some of tonight’s dinner, which was pretty much a spur-of-the moment confection, and rather delicious.

In the lounge:

• Eric explains why he’s a Buddhist and a vegetarian
• Anilasri explains how vegetarianism fits into her Buddhist practice
• Danamaya’s a Buddhist who isn’t vegetarian. Here she says why.
• Meet Laura, who says how vegetarianism fits into her Buddhist practice
• Why Roger’s a vegetarian

TV room:

I have to warn you the movies can be upsetting…

• Meat the Truth (trailer) This one isn’t gory and scary!
• But if you eat veal, you really should watch this
• This one’s tough viewing as well…

The gossip corner (Psst! Have you heard…?)

• Meat off the menu as Windsor Castle goes vegan
• Interview with Jonathan Safran Foer, author of Eating Animals
• More from Safran Foer
• More Foer!
• Vegetarian diet is better for the planet, says Lord Stern
• Natalie Portman on moving from vegetarianism to veganism
• How green is tofu?
• What’s your pet’s “carbon pawprint”?

 

 

No Responses to “Vegetarianism: A Buddhist View – The Launch Party!”

1. Dassini says:

   November 13, 2009 at 2:38 pm

   I used to wait at the bus stop outside that abbatoir most mornings for a period of about 5 years. At that time it was used even less than when you had your visit, and it was such a terrible place; grey concrete, industrial machinery and an emotional deadness – a blanking out, numbing sort of atmosphere pervading. It’s closed now. It looks like those sights of war atrocities that you see in history documentaries, abandoned now but still steeped in something unspeakable.

   I really enjoyed your post none-the-less. It was good to hear some of your personal history tied up with a place I know personally, but from a different angle.

   Why am I a vegetarian? One day, aged about 11 years, my mum put my dinner down on the table in front of me. It was a roasted chicken leg. I looked at it and said, “That is a chicken’s leg.” I’ve never eaten meat or fish since. I saw that leg and connected it to my leg. I can’t un-see that. And for my dinner I don’t want anyone’s legs, or tongue, or breast or back. Game over.

   Reply
   • bodhipaksa says:

     November 13, 2009 at 2:51 pm

     Jonathan Safran Foer just published a book called “Eating Animals.” He first became vegetarian for the same reason: a babysitter pointed out that chicken was a chicken. That had never occurred to him before!

     Reply
2. Tim Brownson says:

   November 13, 2009 at 5:13 pm

   Well done my man and I hope you have much success with it.

   As a wannabe vegetarian that uses the fact that my wife would never convert and the fact that I actually like the damn stuff as weak-willed excuses, I admire anybody that goes veggie.

   I know I wouldn’t need much of a shove, but I’m still not sure what that shove entails (no pun intended!).

   Reply
   • bodhipaksa says:

     November 13, 2009 at 5:16 pm

     Thanks, Tim. I think it requires some deep thought sometimes, in order to bring about change. We need to pause long enough for the heart to have time to respond to what the head knows all too well.

     Reply
3. Kalyanavaca says:

   November 13, 2009 at 7:22 pm

   I used to live next to an abbatoir in Aberdeen, and we would regularly see trucks of scared animals being ferried into it, and trucks of severed heads coming out. Yet I didn’t put 2 and 2 together until later, when I encountered Buddhism. I became a vegetarian overnight (1974) – I couldn’t practise metta bhavana and eat animals. In the early 80′s I became a vegan, which was actually pretty difficult then, so I lapsed about 18 months later, back to being a vegetarian. Then in the early 90s I was living at Taraloka retreat centre, and heard cows crying when their calves were being taken away from them, and that was me a vegan again. I’ve been a vegan ever since. Congratulaions on the new edition of your book, Bodhipaksa. I’ve got the first edition! Love, Kalyanavaca

   Reply