Self Righteousness breeds aversion

Recently I heard a talk by Sayalay Susila from an internet website. She talked about karma and rebirth, how karma can influence our last thought moments before death and how this can determine the realm that we are going to be born into. Sayalay used to illustrate her points with stories from the suttas and also0 personal account from meditators at Pak Auk monastery. There is an example she related that really struck me.

One of the meditators (not known whether male or female because the talk was in mandarin) at Pak Auk monastery recalled one of his past lives in which he was born as a cow. He also recalled his life prior to the cow’s. In the previous life, he was a yogi who was practising vegetarianism. As a vegetarian, he used to criticize  meat eaters especially beef eaters. As a result of his aversion towards beef eaters, he was born as a cow. As a cow, it used to shed tears as it regretted its past actions that had created  unwholesome karma that lead to its rebirth into a woeful realm.

Sayalay said that being a vegetarian is good, too, but they should not criticize those who are not vegetarians. In doing so, they are creating aversion and even hatred in their hearts, which is actually the root of unwholesome karma.

This story struck me because of the dogmatic views held by some vegetarians and vegans who believe that being vegetarian is  an obligatory Buddhist practice. If you do not subscribe to this view, you lack true compassion as you directly or indirectly caused the death of animals. The Buddha did not mention that we must be vegetarians. This is  especially relevant for Buddhist monks who go on pindapat or alms round. They have to eat whatever food that has been placed into their alms bowl. They can’t be choosy or demand specific food from the devotees.

In Mongolia, the main diet is bread and meat. So if you are a vegetarian and when you are in Mongolia, you will only have plain bread for your meals. This was what happened when a Buddhist conference was held in Mongolia. Some of the vegetarian monks ate only bread;  fortunately nit was only for a few days.

Being a vegetarian has its advantages but it should not lead to aversion towards the non-vegetarians