By Wakeupnow, on 19th February, 2009 Recently when I was in Kuala Lumpur (KL) to speak at a conference, I had the opportunity to speak to a group of 50~60 nice folks from Kelantan, Malaysia. Very friendly and lovely bunch I must say.
I noticed that some of the locals in KL were eating live seafood and so I quizzed them on how that relates to the first precept of non-killing. After a very lively discussion, we concluded that eating live seafood crossed the line for non-killing. Consider how the fishes were happily swimming around in the tanks … ok, maybe not so happily … but nonetheless, alive and swimming. Then someone may come along to the restaurant and order a meal, resulting in one or more of them being killed for our consumption. At that point, it became clear that the meal was quite the cause of death or at least the reason. So far so good, as far as understanding how we relate to the first precept of non-killing.
Then someone pointed out that sometimes, actually most of the time, only one person do the ordering, so perhaps he is the only person bearing the karma of killing. I threw it open to the . . . → Read More: How about that fish?
By Wakeupnow, on 4th June, 2008 Daily Exercise II From the earlier Daily Exercises (Vesak Exercises), one should have determined certain traits about oneself. One should become aware of certain patterns in one’s life that may be beneficial or harmful. With that in mind, it is then time to move to the next stage: Practice!
1.Practice Day 2.Practice Week
. . . → Read More: Daily Exercise II
By Wakeupnow, on 13th June, 2007 Simply put, no. One does not have to be a vegetarian or vegan for that matter, to be a Buddhist.
Vegetarianism as a pre-requisite to being a Buddhist is a misconception that had been advocated directly or indirectly in the Chinese Mahayana tradition.
I’ve received many queries and responses from lay people about vegetarianism. Some wonder if it is a pre-requisite to be a vegetarian to be a Buddhist. Others wonder if it is a precept or by-clause under the No-Killing precept. All these questions plus some exchanges with a fellow Buddhist who is a vegan spur me on to write this post.
Here is a summary:
To be a Buddhist, it is optional to be a vegetarian. To observe the First of the Five Precepts of “abstaining from Killing”, one does not have to be a vegetarian. It is still optional to be a vegetarian even if one observes the Five Precepts. To observe the Bodhisattva vows under the Chinese Mahayana tradition, it is *compulsory* to be a vegetarian.
Foot note to #3, it is not compulsory to be a Bodhisattva even if you follow the Chinese Mahayana tradition. It is only at a later stage that the Bodhisattva . . . → Read More: So does it mean that one have to be a vegetarian to be a Buddhist?
By Wakeupnow, on 13th September, 2006 So I’ve been asked many times, if drinking red wine counts towards flouting the fifth precept (See “Five Precepts” … to be added later), and time and again, I gave a resounding yes. Drinking wine, beer, alcohol, or taking any form of intoxicants dulls one’s mind, impairs judgements, if not now, then develops one’s inclination towards such mental states in the future, be it tomorrow, next week, year or life.
After the jump below, a real story of how one’s drinking totally messed up another’s life. Warning: The link contains graphic images that may be gory to some and are unsuitable to minors, adults with heart conditions, pregnant ladies etc. You’ve been warned.
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