Buddha Said, One Should Not Kill A Living Being

Buddha said, “One should not kill a living being, nor cause it to be killed, nor should one incite another to kill. Do not injure any being, either strong or weak, in the world.”

Buddha asks, “All beings tremble before violence. All fear death, all love life. See yourself in others. Then whom can you hurt? What harm can you do?”

Buddha said, “Eating meat destroys the attitude of great compassion.”

The overwhelming majority of Buddhist writings and teachings support universal compassion between non-humans and humans in Buddhist philosophy. There is no clear distinction between non-humans and humans in Buddhist philosophy and all species are subject to the same Karmic process. Thich Nhat Hanh writes: “A human being is an animal, a part of nature. But we single ourselves out from the rest of nature. We classify other animals and living beings as nature, as if we ourselves are not part of it. Then we pose the question, ‘How should I deal with Nature?’ We should deal with nature the way we deal with ourselves. . . ! Harming nature is harming ourselves, and vice versa.” (Hanh 41)

Basic Buddhist Precepts With Regard to Non-Human Animals

The first two precepts of the Buddhist Golden Rule maintain a moral way of living, and says:

1. To abstain from taking the lives of living beings.
2. To abstain from taking that which is not freely given.

The first precept, is based on compassion and prohibits killing, hurting or harming animals or another living being, for any reason including for food. The second precept forbids (direct) stealing, actions supporting stealing, and actions analogous to stealing, which can be related to animals in the stealing of their newborn babies, their milk that was meant for and destined to nurture their newborn offspring, and stealing their lives from them, by killing them. These basic precepts are a guide for living a moral way of life:

• Buddhists try to do no harm to animals
• Buddhists try to show loving-kindness to all beings — to human and non-human animals
• The doctrine of right livelihood teaches Buddhists to avoid any work connected with hurting or killing animals
• The doctrine of karma teaches that any wrong behavior will have to be paid for in a future life — so cruel acts to animals should be avoided (including the eating of meat or any foods made from animals)
• Buddhists treat the lives of human and non-human animals with equal respect, they have equal nature, and are sentient

The film Animals and the Buddha, produced by Dharma Voices for Animals, examines the relationship between humans and animals in various Buddhist traditions.

Buddhists See Human and Non-Human Animals as Closely Related

• Both have Buddha-nature
• Both have the possibility of becoming perfectly enlightened
• A soul may be reborn either in a human body or in the body of a non-human animal

Buddhists believe that is wrong to hurt or kill animals, because all beings are afraid of pain, suffering and death:

• One must not deliberately kill any living creature either by committing the act oneself, instructing others to kill, or approving of or participating in acts of killing – that includes the eating of animal foods that have been killed for your consumption.
• To completely abstain from the act of killing directly and indirectly, eat only pure vegan food.

Experimenting on Animals

In Buddhism, it is morally wrong to cause harm to any non-human animal. So in experimenting using animals a Buddhist approach may require:

• Accept the karma of carrying out the experiment
  • the experimenter will acquire bad karma through experimenting on an animal
• Experiment only for a good purpose
• Experiment only on animals where there is no alternative
• Design the experiment to do as little harm as possible
• Avoid killing the animal unless it is absolutely necessary
• Treat the animals concerned kindly and respectfully

Good Buddhist conduct requires the “putting away the killing of living things” and not destroying life in any way:

• All beings tremble before danger, all fear death. When a man considers this, he does not kill or cause to kill.
• All beings fear before danger, life is dear to all. When a man considers this, he does not kill or cause to kill.
• He who for the sake of happiness hurts others who also want happiness, shall not hereafter find happiness.
• He who for the sake of happiness does not hurt others who also want happiness, shall hereafter find happiness.
  – Dhammapada 54

Buddhism and Vegetarianism

• The Mahayana tradition was (and is) more strictly vegetarian than other Buddhist traditions.

Learn more about Buddhism and veganism at The Dharma Voice for Animals. This Dharma organization maintains a global mission to bring awareness to a more compassionate way of eating and living. To learn more about their mission, they have produced a video at www.dharmavoicesforanimals.org.

To find out more about how to take a path of non-violence, visit The Vegan Society.

Learn more about The Five Precepts and The Ten Precepts.

Buddha Asks, How Can We Hurt Another Creature?

Credits:

Quote image from the VeganRabbit.com

Animal image courtesy of Pixabay, at www.pixabay.com

Buddhism Tenets from BBC/Ethics/Animals. http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/animals/.

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