On January 2, 2008, Venerable Elder Master Sing Hung was interviewed by Ms. Coco Li, reporter of the Fairchild TV Station. During the interview, the Venerable talked about the rationale and benefit of being a vegetarian from a Buddhist perspective. This article is a translation of a part of the complete record of the interview.

Why Veganism?

When Sakyamuni Buddha attained Buddhahood under the Bodhi tree, with stars sparkling in the sky, he proclaimed, “Amazing! Amazing! All living beings have innate Buddha-nature. They do not realize it because of their igorance and defilement.” Although all living beings in the universe come in different forms and shapes, their intrinsic nature is not different from that of the Buddha. Both are impeccable and immaculate.

In accordance with the Buddha's teachings on compassion, wisdom and equanimity, Buddhism promotes veganism in the hope of arousing people's mind to cherish the life of all sentient beings. If everyone could implement the Buddha's teaching of compassion into their everyday life, I believe the whole world would become peaceful and blissful.

I am going to talk about the Buddhist concept of veganism from four viewpoints:

1. “All sentient beings are equal and no different.”

The Buddhist teachings often emphasize that “the mind, the Buddha, and all sentient beings are the same; there's no difference among them”. All sentient beings have the potential to attain Buddhahood. Thus, in principle, the nature of the Buddha is equal to the nature of all living beings. Meanwhile, human beings and all other creatures have the same type of innate nature. They all want to live and fear death.

As stated in the Dharmapada Sutra, “All living beings fear death and hurt. By understanding that other beings are the same as you are, one should not kill or harm any life. If one can always provide others with safety and never abuse life, one must be able to avoid calamity in this life and also be safe and peaceful in the next life.”

In order to implement and practice the Buddhist principles of compassion and respect for all lives, Chinese Mahayana Buddhism advocates veganism. This practice allows all living creatures to live freely in Nature, the merits of which will bring about harmony and world peace.

2. “Loving-kindness and Compassion”

Loving-kindness and compassion are the foundations of Buddhism. “While loving-kindness can bring happiness, compassion can save sentient beings from sufferings”. One of the fundamental Buddhist methods of self-cultivation is called “the four immeasurables”. It is about extending one's love, compassion, joy and equanimity to all beings. ‘Love and compassion' in Buddhism refers to the idea that all living beings, no matter friends or foes, are equal and worthy of respect. They should be allowed to coexist harmoniously. This is the most essential virtue that every Buddhist practitioner should value and possess.

The idea of “coexistence” represents the virtues of love, compassion and harmony. All sentient beings include not only humans, but also other creatures that have a life. We are all connected to one another in the world of ecology; we are interdependent; we should cherish any life just like our own. If we harm or even kill other living beings just for maintaining our own physical bodies, it is a violation of the Law of Coexistence and a defilement to our virtue of love and compassion.

By emphasizing the practice of veganism, Buddhism teaches people to respect all lives, to detach their mind from selfishness, and to nurture the seed of “love and compassion”, that is intrinsic by nature. Not only should people do no harm to other living beings, but also they should protect them and relieve them from sufferings.

3. “The Idea of No Killing in Ancient Admonishment”

There are many Buddhist verses teaching people to value and respect any life as their own, and never harm other sentient beings just like they themselves do not want to be harmed. For example, “With the same flesh and skin, who said the life of an animal is valueless? Ultimately, humans and animals have the same innate nature with different appearances. Please do not harm the birds perching on the trees, because baby birds are waiting for their mothers in their nest”.

Confucius also said, “I cannot bear to eat meat by hearing the wail of animals being slaughtered; I also cannot bear to see it die if I ever see it alive”.

Thus we can see that both Buddhist and Confucian philosophies educate people to treat all sentient beings, kin or non-kin, with equal love and compassion.

4. “No Killing and World Peace”

From a Buddhist perspective, no killing is a prerequisite for world peace. Sufferings and calamities are caused by the “ten non-virtuous actions” (i.e. killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, divisive speech, abusive speech, idle speech, covetousness, hatred, and ignorance).

The “ten non-virtuous actions” can be transformed to “ten virtuous actions” instantaneously at the moment when one changes one's mind, just like changing from an intent to kill to a decision to love.

Ancient wisdom tells us, “For hundreds and thousands of years, the stew in the pot has boiled up a resentment that is very hard to level. If you want to know why there are calamities and wars in the world, just listen to the wails from a slaughterhouse at midnight. World peace cannot be achieved unless all sentient beings stop consuming meat.”

All the wars and calamites in this world are caused by killing and harming lives. If everyone can stop killing and start protecting life, then harmonious coexistence will be achieved. What I said above are all from the great teachings of Sakyamuni Buddha.