Eating
meat
by
Shenpen Dawa Rinpoche
(Dudjom
Rinpoche's son)
Many,
if not most of us, eat meat. I’m going to share some important
understandings
regarding the eating of meat. Essentially we are eating one of our
parent sentient beings. An animal has lost its life to feed your
life. You need to remember this. Before you eat, be grateful that the
animal has given its life for you. Renew your determination that by
eating this meat you will practice well and dedicate all the merit to
the animals. It is customary to first offer the meat — even the
whole meal — to all the buddhas. Don’t just start eating. What
you are eating becomes blessed when you offer it. Then think about
all the positive things you will do, all the strength you will have
by being nourished with this meat, this food. Dedicate the merit from
this positive activity to them.
Eating
meat has different meanings depending on your level of development.
For
ordinary practitioners, giving gratitude and merit to the animals is
the only thing they can do. Advanced practitioners bless the meat and
it immediately turns into nectar. Even more advanced practitioners
see that meat they are eating as part of their yidam. In that
process, the animal receives total liberation. Literally, eating the
meat is a blessing. When a great sage or extremely realized
practitioner eats meat, it is not meat. It is liberation because this
person has the power to liberate. To our eyes, it looks like he is
doing something negative, but, in fact, what appears as negative is
actually extremely positive.
When
eating animals, be satisfied by consuming larger ones. That way, one
life feeds many people. Why would you want to eat small animals, like
small shrimp, twenty, thirty or forty of them at a time? A lot of
lives are sacrificed in one shrimp cocktail. Believe me, all these
animals living in the world, in our universe, are here to balance our
ecosystem, not just to feed you. The animals are not in the world so
you can eat them. We eat them out of necessity. If those animals
disappear, it will unbalance the ecosystem. On the other hand, you
need not worry about overpopulation of animals: nature will always
rebalance the ecosystem through a cycle of balance and change.
Some
of you are vegetarians or vegan for your health. Not everyone can be
vegan
or vegetarian. It depends on what four generations of your ancestors
have been eating. Only then can you change the habit to be a
vegetarian. Until then, it is not in your blood system to become
vegetarian. In an earlier time, we were all vegetarians.
That
changed once we tasted the blood of animals. Our habitual system
changed. If your ancestors were meat eaters and all of a sudden you
change to being a vegetarian, you are diminishing your health. At the
beginning, you will feel light, light headed, and weightlessness.
Later, this will become total weightlessness. Eventually a sickness
displays the imbalances in one’s air or lung. Yes, from the point
of view of not taking life, it is good not to eat meat, but from the
point of view of health, it may be essential to eat meat. (source)
Then
particularly as practitioners when you are eating meat, have respect
for the animal that has died and laid down its body for you.
Dedicate the merit. As you see the meat, dedicate it. There are
different ways of eating meat depending on the level of your
practice. The first basic level is to feel sorry for that animal that
has laid down its life for you and that you are now partaking. Say,
“whatever karma I get by taking this meat, may the strength I get
from this being’s life be put into practice so that I can dedicate
it for the benefit of others. Thank you for your gift. It is a gift
that allows me to survive. I will put it into practice and I will
dedicate the merit for all parent sentient beings. Thank-you for
giving me that potential strength.” This is the least you can say
when you eat the meat. If your meditation is a little bit higher than
this then you transform the meat by the syllables Om Ah Hung. Purify
by the three syllables and see the meat as nectar. Don’t see it as
meat. Have respect for flesh and blood. It you want to go one step
higher, as your Yidam, (main practice deity) you consume that
meat as a means of liberation. You see it as a wrathful Buddha’s
display that is now in front of you. For this the three satisfactions
must be present; first, the satisfaction of the being you are
consuming; second, the satisfaction of the Mandala; and third,
the satisfaction of yourself as Yidam. Apply these
satisfactions at this moment. Then, as Yidam, a wrathful
Buddha, consume and liberate that being. Make sure you are able to
liberate the being that embodied the piece of meat you eat. So then,
to be clear here for this, the Mandala is satisfied, you are
satisfied and the animal that has been killed is satisfied. Three
satisfactions must come together. This will only be possible
once you have accomplished your Yidam practice to a certain
extent. (source)
