Since the very beginning of Buddhism over 2500 years ago,
Buddhist monks and nuns have depended on almsfood. They were,
and still are, prohibited from growing their own food, storing
their own provisions or cooking their own meals. Instead,
every morning they would make their day's meal out of whatever
was freely given to them by lay supporters. Whether it was
rich food or coarse food, delicious or awful tasting it was
to be accepted with gratitude and eaten regarding it as medicine.
The Buddha laid down several rules forbidding monks from asking
for the food that they liked. As a result, they would receive
just the sort of meals that ordinary people ate - and that
was often meat.
Once,
a rich and influential general by the name of Siha (meaning
'Lion') went to visit the Buddha. Siha had been a famous lay
supporter of the Jain monks but he was so impressed and inspired
by the Teachings he heard from the Buddha that he took refuge
in the Triple Gem (i.e. he became a Buddhist). General Siha
then invited the Buddha, together with the large number of
monks accompanying Him, to a meal at his house in the city
the following morning. In preparation for the meal, Siha told
one of his servants to buy some meat from the market for the
feast. When the Jain monks heard of their erstwhile patron's
conversion to Buddhism and the meal that he was preparing
for the Buddha and the monks, they were somewhat peeved:
"Now
at the time many Niganthas (Jain monks), waving their arms,
were moaning from carriage road to carriage road, from cross
road to cross road in the city: 'Today a fat beast, killed
by Siha the general, is made into a meal for the recluse
Gotama (the Buddha), the recluse Gotama makes use of this
meat knowing that it was killed on purpose for him, that
the deed was done for his sake'..." [1].
Siha
was making the ethical distinction between buying meat already
prepared for sale and ordering a certain animal to be killed,
a distinction which is not obvious to many westerners but
which recurs throughout the Buddha's own teachings. Then,
to clarify the position on meat eating to the monks, the Buddha
said:
"Monks,
I allow you fish and meat that are quite pure in three respects:
if they are not seen, heard or suspected to have been killed
on purpose for a monk. But, you should not knowingly make
use of meat killed on purpose for you." [2]
There
are many places in the Buddhist scriptures which tell of the
Buddha and his monks being offered meat and eating it. One
of the most interesting of these passages occurs in the introductory
story to a totally unrelated rule (Nissaggiya Pacittiya 5)
and the observation that the meat is purely incidental to
the main theme of the story emphasizes the authenticity of
the passage:
Uppalavanna
(meaning 'she of the lotus-like complexion') was one of the
two chief female disciples of the Buddha. She was ordained
as a nun while still a young woman and soon became fully enlightened.
As well as being an arahant (enlightened) she also possessed
various psychic powers to the extent that the Buddha declared
her to be foremost among all the women in this field. Once,
while Uppalavanna was meditating alone in the afternoon in
the 'Blind-Men's Grove', a secluded forest outside of the
city of Savatthi, some thieves passed by. The thieves had
just stolen a cow, butchered it and were escaping with the
meat. Seeing the composed and serene nun, the chief of the
thieves quickly put some of the meat in a leaf-bag and left
it for her. Uppalavanna picked up the meat and resolved to
give it to the Buddha. Early next morning, having had the
meat prepared, she rose into the air and flew to where the
Buddha was staying, in the Bamboo Grove outside of Rajagaha,
over 200 kilometres as the crow (or nun?) flies! Though there
is no specific mention of the Buddha actually consuming this
meat, obviously a nun of such high attainments would certainly
have known what the Buddha ate.
However
there are some meats which are specifically prohibited for
monks to eat: human meat, for obvious reasons; meat from elephants
and horses as these were then considered royal animals; dog
meat - as this was considered by ordinary people to be disgusting;
and meat from snakes, lions, tigers, panthers, bears and hyenas
- because one who had just eaten the flesh of such dangerous
jungle animals was thought to give forth such a smell as to
draw forth revenge from the same species!
Towards
the end of the Buddha's life, his cousin Devadatta attempted
to usurp the leadership of the Order of monks. In order to
win support from other monks, Devadatta tried to be more strict
than the Buddha and show Him up as indulgent. Devadatta proposed
to the Buddha that all the monks should henceforth be vegetarians.
The Buddha refused and repeated once again the regulation
that he had established years before, that monks and nuns
may eat fish or meat as long as it is not from an animal whose
meat is specifically forbidden, and as long as they had no
reason to believe that the animal was slaughtered specifically
for them.
The
Vinaya, then, is quite clear on this matter. Monks and nuns
may eat meat. Even the Buddha ate meat. Unfortunately, meat
eating is often seen by westerners as an indulgence on the
part of the monks. Nothing could be further from the truth
- I was a strict vegetarian for three years before I became
a monk. In my first years as a monk in North-East Thailand,
when I bravely faced many a meal of sticky rice and boiled
frog (the whole body bones and all), or rubbery snails, red-ant
curry or fried grasshoppers - I would have given ANYTHING
to be a vegetarian again! On my first Christmas in N.E. Thailand
an American came to visit the monastery a week or so before
the 25th. It seemed too good to be true, he had a turkey farm
and yes, he quickly understood how we lived and promised us
a turkey for Christmas. He said that he would choose a nice
fat one especially for us... and my heart sank. We cannot
accept meat knowing it was killed especially for monks. We
refused his offer. So I had to settle for part of the villager's
meal - frogs again.
Monks
may not exercise choice when it comes to food and that is
much harder than being a vegetarian. Nonetheless, we may encourage
vegetarianism and if our lay supporters brought only vegetarian
food and no meat, well... monks may not complain either!
May you take the hint and be kind to animals.
References:
[1]
Book of the Discipline, Vol. 4, p. 324
[2] ibid, p. 325
Ajahn
Brahmavamso
(Newsletter, April-June 1990, Buddhist Society of Western
Australia.)
Also
See:
Buddhism
and Vegetarianism
