Spirituality & religion
The path of the masters
Whether or not various doctrines or beliefs encompassed compassion
to animals or even the follower's own health, the link between vegetarianism
and spiritual development seems as old as human spiritual awareness.
Frequently, in relation to spiritual development - whether within
or outside the context of formalised religions - meat eating is
linked with baseness and coarseness, the weighing down of the soul
to earthly things. Since ancient times, in all cultures of the world,
spiritual leaders have espoused vegetarianism as the way to refine
and lighten the soul, and move towards spiritual evolution or enlightenment.
As old as human civilisation
Some of the world's oldest and strongest religious traditions contain
explicit teachings about vegetarianism. Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism
place slightly different emphases on this basic teaching, with Buddhism
emphasising compassion to all beings, Jainism emphasising Ahimsa
(the principle of harmlessness to all beings) and Hinduism highlighting
the Divine within every creature.
Thus we find in the Hindu Yogashastra:
"In happiness and suffering, injury and grief, we
should regard all creatures as we regard our own self, and should
therefore refrain from inflicting upon others such injury as would
appear undesirable to us if inflicted upon ourselves."
and in the Manusmriti the explicit prohibition:
"If one has a strong desire for meat, he may make
an animal out of clarified butter, or one out of flour, and eat
that. But let him never seek to destroy a living being."
In Jainism, we find the following:
"Non injury to beings is the highest religion -
harmlessness is the only religion." (Jain maxim)
"All breathing, existing, living, sentient creatures
should not be slain, nor treated with violence, nor abused, nor
tormented, nor driven away. This is the pure unchangeable Law."
(Sutrakritanga)
And in Buddhist literature:
"The eating of meat extinguishes the seed of great
compassion." Mahaparinirvana
"All beings seek for happiness; so let your compassion
extend itself to all." Mahavamsa
(For more citations from the literatures of these religions,
see our Great vego quotes page.)
Vegetarianism and the newcomers
The scriptures of the newer religions - Judaism, Christianity and
Islam - may not contain explicit instructions to their followers
to pursue vegetarianism. However, the scriptures of each of these
religions contain references to food which imply that caution must
be used (to say the least) with regards to the consumption of animal
substances. The Jewish doctrine gives detailed instructions for
handling milk and meat, while Islam contains specific teachings
about how animals must be killed and handled after slaughter.
There is also evidence that the "inner circles" in each
of these religions - their most informed, enlightened followers
who were entrusted with the most sacred teachings - were often vegetarian.
These include the Essene Christians, (of whom Jesus is said to be
one), as well as saints such as Saint Francis and Saint Augustine;
and the Sufis, or mystical inner order, of Islam.
If this is so, why do the scriptures of these religions not include
clearer instructions to their followers about abstaining from eating
meat? Is it because there were more urgent priorities to worry about
at the time of the prophets (eg basic survival, or learning to stop
slaughtering and torturing humans)? Is it because the clergy were
keen to maintain their lifestyle including copius eating of meats?
A topic offering much scope for further exploration - watch this
site for further developments or visit one of the many related
websites on vegetarianism and Christianity, Judaism, and other
religions.
See also:
Articles - But Jesus Ate Fish!
For citations and references supporting
this page, please see
REFERENCES - Vegetarianism & Spirituality
Page updated: March 2008
