Shabkar:
Commenting on the Lankavatara-sutra, the Indian
abbot Jnanavajra wrote as follows,
The entire ran ge of the Buddha's teachings, starting from the first
turning of the wheel of Dharma, with the exposition of the Four
Noble Truths, up to and including the teachings of the Vidyadhara-pitaka,*
are covered by Pratimoksha, Bodhisattva, and Vidyadhara vows and
precepts. The precepts connected with the consumption of food constitute
three gradual steps in a single path. For this reason, even the
meat qualified by threefold purity, which the Sharavakas are permitted
to eat, is proscribed for practitioners of the higher vehicles.
The reason for this is to prevent the higher and very important
precepts from being impaired. The flesh of animals that have died
by any of the ten natural kinds of death is not denied to the Sharavakas.
But in the higher vehicles, in order to draw carnivorous spirits
onto the path, and so that practitioners do no harm, whether directly
or indirectly, to living beings, every kind of meat is strictly
forbidden, at all times and under all circumstances. There are no
special conditions under which it may be eaten.... One should eat
in moderation even the food of sages, which is like medicine. One
should always refrain from meat, in the knowledge that it is unwholesome
food.
*
Vidyadhara-pitaka constitutes, according to Gyalwa Longchenpa and
other authorities, a fourth collection of teachings, namely, the
tantras, which is added to the Tripitaka (the three collections
of the Abhidharma, Sutra, and Vinaya).
(Source:
FB, p. 74-75)
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