Originally posted by nightzip:
Second, prayers are said for the lamb before they slaughter them,
in fact even more elaborate prayers and thanksgiving for the meat
of the lamb during this season than other normal days. Thus, the
lamb is "gived" with more prays or "hui xiang". Also, people have
the "gan en" or appreciative feeling for the meat.
No amount of prayers can stop the pain and suffering of the
animals being slaughtered, so we should avoid participating in any
slaughterings.
Third, as normally people do not witness the slaughtering of the
lambs, so they just eat without feeling the pain and suffering by
the lambs when they were being slaughtered. By having people
themselves slaughter the lambs and the witnesses, the people,
seeing the lamb get killed. They will feel more "gan en" to the
lamb and that will also feel sinful, that they "participated" in
killing the lamb. Thus, next time, when they eat the lamb, they
will feel something. This in buddhism is the idea of "fang sheng".
Maybe they may even abstain from lamb meat, or eat less.
Actually, in Buddhism, we should avoid eating the meat that have
been slaughtered for us, or was slaughtered by us, or was demanded
to be slaughtered by us.
Please read:
Five Clean Sources of Meat
The Buddha-dharma is infinite and there are in reality more than
84,000 Dharma doors, or methods by which we can embark to learn and
practise Buddhism. Vegetarianism is just one of the many methods.
To refrain from killing is merely a means of assisting us to
progress in our cultivation. As a medicine, meat is permitted in
the Buddhist precepts if it is required to cure a particular
sickness. Buddhism cherishes compassion. However, killing and
causing harm to life have their retributions. The world has no
peace as victims and villains engage in a vicious cycle of
vengeance and revenge, culminating in calamities and disasters, and
inflicting suffering and misery across the world.
Buddha understands the ignorance and habits of sentient
beings that have accumulated from aeons of their many past lives.
In order to provide sentient beings with an expedient means of
embracing Buddhism, those who are not able to convert to a
vegetarian diet on a long term basis are permitted to consume meat
provided:
(1) That he did not slaughter the animal personally
(2) That he did not instruct others to slaughter
(3) That the slaughter was not committed for his sake
(4) That he did not witness the slaughter
(5) That he did not hear the cries associated with the
slaughter
To refrain from killing is fundamental to Buddhism. Regardless of
life forms, we must not kill, we must not instruct others to kill,
and it must not be killed for our sake, for example, to celebrate
our birthday or because we were coming to dinner. These are three
sources of clean meat.
In Confucianism, benevolence also means to refrain from killing. It
is said that heaven has the virtue of loving life. It cannot bear
to witness the loss of life, let alone eat the flesh of those whose
cries in death we have heard. Buddhism advocates compassion and
loving-kindness to all sentient beings, regardless of their
relation to you. It is only appropriate that we do not kill for our
livelihood or for the purpose of celebrating occasions, such as
births, birthdays, funerals or weddings. Meats are no different
from the other foodstuffs purchased from the market if people do
not witness the killing or hear the cries of the animal that is
being slaughtered. If a differentiation between the two kinds of
purchases and the taste of the meat do not exist in the mind, then
the guilt is lighter. Together with the three mentioned earlier,
these constitute the five sources of clean meat.
Meat eating however is a pre-condition to killing. If people
refrain from eating meat, there will be no killing of animals for
meat. Sadly, the human race has committed killings for aeons and is
engaged in an endless cycle of vengeance and revenge over their
past lives. For one who is slaughtered for meat in this life, it is
probably because he had done the same to others in the past. The
score is even, no more and no less.
People who eat meat from the five clean sources are advised to
learn to chant the Buddha's name and the Buddhist mantras, so as to
transfer the merits to those whose meat they are eating. They
should also wish them an early rebirth in the human realm, to
eliminate any thoughts of vengeance, to nurture their virtuous
roots to benefit all sentient beings and together build a peaceful,
caring and blissful pure land in this world. Only when this is
promoted across the entire world, will we be able to eliminate
hatred and vengeance, and enhance a mind of compassion and loving
kindness. In this way we will be able to transform this Saha world
into a pure land.
