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For
so it is:
The Bodhisattvas,
mighty beings,
Consume no alcohol; they eat
No meat, no garlic, and no onion.
This the Conquerors, the leaders of the flock, have taught.
But common folk partake of evil-smelling fare;
Their actions are unfitting.
For flesh
is food for wild and ravening beasts.
It is unfitting food, the Buddha taught.
The defects that arise from eating meat,
The qualities that come when one abstains,
However it may be for those who thus consume,
All this, O Mahamati, you should understand.
All flesh, of animals as well; as of one’s friends,
Derives from unclean substances, both blood and sperm;
And those who feed on flesh become a source of fear.
Therefore yogis shall refrain from eating meat.
Every kind of flesh, all onions and garlic,
Alcoholic drinks in various forms,
Leeks, wild garlic also?these indeed
Are foods the yogis shall reject.
All massaging with oil they spurn;
And since it is upon a bed
That living beings enter in the womb of pain,
On such the yogis do not sleep or take their rest.
From all
such food derives the pride of self,
And from this pride all thoughts, and thence
Desire and craving, rise in all their strength.
All such foods therefore you should refuse.
Indeed it is from thought that craving comes;
By craving, then, the mind is rendered dull.
This dullness thence disturbs the body’s elements;
Disease occurs with every movement crippled.
For sake
of profit, animals are killed,
And wealth is given in exchange for meat.
Slayer, buyer, both are caught in sin,
And both will boil in hells of lamentation.
All those who contravene the Buddha’s word,
Who with an evil attitude partake of meat,
Destroy their lives, both now and those to come,
And blight the discipline of Shakyamuni.
Such people,
evil in their deeds, desire
What brings an endlessly enduring hell;
The destiny of those who feed on meat
Lies in the house of dreadful lamentation.
There is no meat that’s pure in the three ways,6
And so you must refrain from eating flesh.
Those who are true yogis eat no meat:
This is the instruction of myself and all the Buddhas.
Creatures that devour each other
Are born again as carnivores and evil-smelling beasts.
Insane or universally despised,
They will be born among the outcasts:
Butchers, dyers, prostitutes, the lowest ranks,
Or else as flesh-devouring beasts and ghosts.
And after this, their present human life,
They will return as cats or evil wraiths.
And so in all my teachings I decry the eating of all flesh:
The Parinirvana and Angulimala,
The Lankavatara, Hastikakshya, and Mahamegha sutras.7
Therefore the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas both,
And Shravakas as well have also criticized
The shameless eating of the flesh of beings.
It leads, in all one’s later lives, to madness.
But if instead you fast from meat and other evil fare,
You will take birth in pure and human form,
As yogis, or as people rich in wisdom and in wealth.
The meat of beasts that you have seen or heard
Or think are killed for food, I utterly denounce.
Those born
in families where meat is eaten
Know none of this, despite their cleverness.
Just as craving is an obstacle to freedom,
Even so are alcohol and meat.
People who eat meat in future times
Will ignorantly say that Buddha has declared
That eating meat is sinless and appropriate.
But yogis, moderate in what they eat,
Regarding food as nothing more than medicine,
Should not consume the flesh of beings, who are like
their children.
Those who
keep the company
Of tigers, lions, and the crafty fox
I censure I who dwell in love.
To eat meat is to contravene
The dharma, path to liberation.
Those who practice Dharma should refrain from meat,
For eating it they are a source of fear to beings.
To fast from meat this is the banner of the Noble
Beings’ victory."
This concludes
the sixth chapter of the Lankavatara-sutra, the quintessential teachings
of the Buddhas, which treats of the question of meat eating.
(Source:
FB p. 47-59)
See also the translation plus commentary of William Bagley of chapter
eight of the Lankavatra Sutra (download
PDF - 300 KB)
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