Curse : Ice-Cream

I wrote this to appeal against the sale of ice-cream (especially for pleasing kids) during a Buddhist carnival...

Is veganism advocated in the Buddhist teachings? Consider this passage from the highly revered Surangama Sutra, spoken by the Buddha - “How then can those who practise great compassion feed on the flesh and blood of living beings? If bhiksus do not wear garments made of silk, boots of local leather and furs, and refrain from consuming milk, cream and butter, they will really be liberated from the worldly…” (See more at http://moonpointer.com/bvf.php?itemid=384 )

The problem with dairy products…

“Cattle reared for milk production are exploited and made to suffer, just like animals reared for meat. They suffer from lameness, mastitis (inflammation of the udders) and other illnesses and – worst of all – they are forcibly separated from their calves just days after they are born so that humans can drink their milk. Cows are not some kind of special animal that produces milk automatically: just like every other animal, including us, they only produce milk to nurse their young. Male dairy calves, meanwhile, are useless to the dairy industry and are usually shot at birth.” (See more at http://www.viva.org.uk/goingvegan/index.php )

Cows become beef and leather after their milking days too. On the behalf of the voiceless cows, I sincerely hope sale of ice-cream will not be brought up as an option for consideration for sale. Many of us have already been conditioned to like dairy ice-cream since young. For the sake of the cows, let’s not pass down this curse to the next generation. (There are vegan ice-cream options - such as many sorbets, and Rice Dream - http://www.tastethedream.com/products/rd_frozen.php [available at Cold Storage outlets])

Related Articles:

The Curse of Dairy Chocolates -
http://www.moonpointer.com/index.php?itemid=1858
The Curse of Dairy Cakes -
http://www.moonpointer.com/index.php?itemid=2054

Creature : Future Feature?

Every fish
Has a wish
Not to be on a dish

- HM Ong

No creature
Wants a future
As a menu feature

- Written for all other non-fish animals

Meat : Meet It Alive

Yi: As I love to eat, I have a very soft spot for food. Tried to be a vegetarian once, for 3 months. But when new year celebrations approached, I was a goner. It started with a few pieces of BBQ pork. Then it led to roasted duck drumstick, then prawns, then... It just went on and on and never stopped. Aiya... 3 months' efforts just gone like that...

Sa: Well, being free of meat-eating for three months is better than never ever being free of it. At least you realised you could do it. You just need greater effort. Why not “meet your meat” upclose (see www.meat.org ) - to develop softer spots for animals, instead of for their flesh. I became vegan mainly for the health of the animals – not mine – though it’s good for human health too.

It’s easy to cut down animal produce when we see clearly how much they suffer for our greed. A Buddhist friend finds it a good idea to visualise meat as once part of a whole live animal. When these images come to mind, a drumstick is no longer just a drumstick - it was the leg of a duck, who needed it, who wanted to live, who loved his life as much as we do!

Veganism : Mahayana Buddhism

There are many kinds of vegetarianism. For example, some “vegetarians” avoid all meats, other than fish. Some eat eggs, and some take dairy products. The list of categories extends on… The focus of this article is on what might be the ultimate form of vegetarianism. It’s quite a mouthful, but I call it “raw organic Mahayana Buddhist veganism” (ROMBV). Eating raw food saves more energy and produces less pollution – as less fossil fuels are used for cooking. Eating organic is friendlier to the health of the planet – as pesticides are causing havoc to both environmental health (plants and animals) and human health (of the farmers especially). Veganism is of course, the avoidance of all animal-related products – including eggs, milk, honey, leather, gelatine… because most exploited animals are eventually killed.

Is veganism advocated in the Buddhist teachings? Consider this passage from the highly revered Surangama Sutra - “How then can those who practise great compassion feed on the flesh and blood of living beings? If bhiksus [monastics] do not wear garments made of silk, boots of local leather and furs, and refrain from consuming milk, cream and butter, they will really be liberated from the worldly…” (See more at http://moonpointer.com/bvf.php?itemid=384) The above can be seen as the Mahayanist urge to be vegan - out of great compassion.

more...

Pizza : Vegan Ones

I'm not much of a foodie (as I'm more particular about not eating animal stuff than eating tasty food), but I have some good news to share with Singaporean vegans. You can buy oven-cooked pizzas easier now - at Jason's Market Place at the basement of Raffles City. For non-Singaporeans, maybe you already have them available where you are - or you can request for your supermarts to carry them perhaps?

Rice Crust Spinach Pizza:
http://www.amys.com/products/product_view.php?id=193

Roasted Vegetable Pizza:
http://www.amys.com/products/product_view.php?id=103

More veggie and vegan products from Amy's Kitchen:
http://www.amys.com/products/search_results.php?form_vegan
Hope there will be more of them at a store near you.

By the way, for those unaware, many forms of cheese are non-vegan in two ways. Not only is cheese made from milk from cows who live tortured lives, who are forcibly impregnated to give milk (and separated from their young, and slaughtered for beef, leather and such later), animal rennet is used to create cheese too. If the latter is a valid condition, the cheese is not even considered vegetarian. (The above pizzas listed use either no cheese or vegan cheese.) If you have not tried it yet, try ordering pizzas at restaurants without cheese (if it is non-vegan). You'll be surprised that they can still taste pretty fine!

Violence : Dark Reality

Sometimes, we come across such warnings in the media on violence or goriness - “Parents are strongly cautioned - this is graphic footage not suitable for children.” Interestingly, some adults turn away from such images upon seeing or hearing such warnings. Makes me wonder if it means these adults are really children at heart - who are not mature enough to face the dark side of reality.

A friend made a rather good Buddhist documentary that involves the message of vegetarianism. Some who had seen it suggested that there should be warnings of the few short gory scenes of slaughter in the film. My take is that such warnings are not necessary. Because the scenes are really short and mild by today's standards.

Apart from the subjectivity of goriness, the placement of such warnings would also make the squeamish avoid viewing the film entirely. This might seem a little harsh - but isn't it high time those who continually avoid the reality of how their meat is produced face the horrible truth? Am not suggesting extremism here - because the scenes are really mild - though quite a few have already turned vegetarian while making and watching the film! When we are overly sensitive to the feelings of humans, we are not sensitive enough to the innocent animals - who die in the billions daily for those who have never seen how they die to satisfy their tastebuds.

Additional Notes: To be compassionate also means to let the world be aware of the cruel reality of killing. It is less compassionate to pretend it does not exist, or to not let more know about it - so as to not support such violence. The intention of the filmmaker was not to be cruel by not helping to save the killed animals, while filming them. The intention was to help save many more animals from being killed - by letting the world witness the hidden cruelty behind dishes of meat. It is proven that many who see such scenes more readily become vegetarians - not so much out of fear or disgust, but empathy. This would be an ideal result of the documentary.

Related Articles:

How We Lose Sensitivity to Violence
http://www.moonpointer.com/index.php?itemid=31

The “Good” of Blood & Gore?
http://www.moonpointer.com/index.php?itemid=147

Vegetarianism : Isn't Pointless

More than 15 years ago, I came across a free Buddhist book during my secondary school days. It was passed around in my Religious Knowledge class. I came across the chapter on vegetarianism in it and was so disgusted that I tore it up and trashed it. In retrospect, that was extreme – as the rest of the book was pretty good. For this, I have to apologise to the author – to whom I am sending this post. I should have sent him this back then.

That said, I did think about the harm the chapter could indirectly do to many animals. Then again, perhaps I should had removed only that chapter. To know the reasons for my unhappiness, please see below – which is a comparison of an early edition of the chapter, juxtaposed with the latest edition, with my comments between. The Q&A author was not vegetarian previously, but now is (though not yet 100%) – which probably explains the extensions in the text.

more...

Vegetarianism : Any Karma?

Below are excerpts from a book, that is, very sadly, typical of some Buddhists' (including teachers) short-sighted views on the great value of vegetarianism. Some comments alternate in between, which have been sent to the author.

Excerpt: In the early Buddhist teachings, it was not taught that we must become vegetarians. If you want to become a vegetarian, that is very good. However, if you do not want to become a vegetarian, you should know when meat is not allowed. The type of meat allowed to be eaten has three conditions: when you do not (1) see, (2) hear, and (3) suspect, that the animal was specifically killed for you. With these three conditions, you do not experience the direct kamma of killing the animal because there was no intention on your part to do so, although there may be worldly cause and effect involved.

Comments: Indeed, “you do not experience the direct kamma of killing the animal”, but they is indirect kamma involved - as the animal was killed via the supply and demand cycle of meat. The kamma is less, but logically, it is nevertheless there.

more...

Animals : Real Welfare?

Q: What do you think of saving endangered animals?

A: I think the sense of “being endangered” should be broadened. Humans tend to decide what animals are endangered by the species, but not by individual animals of the species. E.g. the life of every single chicken killed and eaten WAS clearly endangered – even though the species on the whole is not endangered – as they are bred in the millions – to be killed every day. I see this as the TRUE clear and present endangerment of animals – in the millions!

Humans are generally speciesist (being “racist” about different kinds of animals) – selective about which animals to “love”; and which others to “love” - as their food. This clashes with the Buddhist ideal of compassion with equanimity for all beings.

More on being endangered: http://moonpointer.com/index.php?itemid=808
More on saving the endangered: http://moonpointer.com/index.php?itemid=572

more...

Vegetarianism : No Dilemma

Below is an article in “my paper” (mypaper.sg) today (17 June 2008 ) titled “A Meaty Dilemma: Vegans and meat eaters debate on who is to blame for grain shortage” (which was “inspired” by the “debate” as recorded at http://moonpointer.com/index.php?itemid=2268 and tries to “summarise” it) by Cheryl Lim. It seems to incline toward the vegetarian cause, other than the few viewpoints near the end…

ARTICLE BEGINS: On one end of the ring are the vegetarians. At the other are the meat-lovers. And a spat is brewing over whether rearing of animals for meat is efficient, or whether the practice could be contributing to the shortage of grains. Vegetarians, like the president of Vegetarian Society Singapore (VSS), Dr George Jacobs, 56, are saying meat-eaters are partly to blame for the shortage. Dr Jacobs, who wrote in to the Straits Times forum on June 7, argued that grains used to feed animals reared for meat should be used to feed humans in the first place – basically, it's inefficient to produce and eat meat. But meat-lovers who wrote in to rebut Dr Jacob and those whom “my paper” spoke to strongly disagree.

more...

Vegetarianism : Better for All

There was a response (Vegetarianism not the answer to world hunger) to the letter (Vegetarianism can help in food and climate crises). Here are six replies -

Vegetarianism the More Sustainable Diet
http://www.straitstimes.com/ST%2BForum/Online%2BStory/STIStory_246699.html : 12 June 2008

II REFER to Tuesday's letter, ‘Vegetarianism not the answer to world hunger’ by Mr Ng E-Jay which highlighted that ‘over two-thirds of the feed for animals consists of substances that are undesirable or completely unsuitable for humans’. If true, this precisely underlines the glaring imbalance of resources that meat produce demands, while the poor starve for more affordably priced crops that could be otherwise grown in abundance. While monoculture agriculture ‘produces environmental problems by altering the delicate balance of natural eco-systems’, vegetarianism does not call for monoculture - as balanced vegetarian diets require various crops.

Due to the meat trade, the above-mentioned ‘delicate balance’ is already in danger - which is why the Food and Agriculture Organisation's 2006 Livestock's Long Shadow report stated: ‘The livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global.’ As such, the livestock industry is already unsustainable.

The letter, ‘70 per cent of grain in US goes to meat industry’ (June 7) by Mr George Jacobs stresses the great inefficient use of resources in animal-breeding as a means to create food. And at the alarming rate which more of the richer nations are increasingly consuming meat, this inefficiency will only worsen if left unchecked. The current global greed for meat is unprecedented - it is nothing natural; a man-made disaster in the making. Realistically, any global decrease of meat demand is likely to be gradual - not leading to sudden changes in eco-systems (or economy) - especially when the world's diet goes even greener with advances in research.

In January, Mr Rajendra Pachauri, head of the United Nation's Nobel Prize-winning scientific panel on climate change, had already advised the world unequivocally: ‘Please eat less meat. This is something that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was afraid to say earlier, but now we have said it.’ It is time to heed this urgent message: increased vegetarianism is the more environmentally, and thus, economically sustainable diet in the long run. It was written in the letter, ‘Vegetarianism can help in food and climate crises’ (June 7) that ‘the food and climate crises are closely interrelated and solvable, in part, by vegetarianism’. While vegetarianism may not be the complete solution for the food and climate crises, it is nevertheless important in improving both human and planetary well-being. - Sng See Ann

See another reply letter below -

more...

Vegetarianism : In This Life

loveusnoteatus.com

Since young, I never felt quite right eating deceased animals. There was always some sense of guilt - though I couldn't quite place it then. When I read about vegetarianism in detail, at about the age of 18 (to prepare for a talk on Buddhism and environmentalism), I became vegetarian - right after giving the talk - with great relief too - as if I finally got enough good reasons to become vegetarian. The friend that I gave the talk with did not turn vegetarian for long though - probably because I was the one doing the bulk of the research. I was the one facing and digesting the hard facts. From this experience, I came to believe that if one takes enough interest to look mindfully and deeply into the advantages of vegetarianism and the disadvantages of meat-eating, one will naturally turn vegetarian. Most of all, is to see the suffering animals go through - which is hidden from view most of the time. It's time to meet your meat - at www.meat.org - before they became mere meat.

I thought I was an accidental vegetarian (who later became vegan) - since I stumbled into the rationale of vegetarianism via the subject of environmentalism - and was always amazed at how I could turn vegetarian overnight. Later, I got some hints that the sudden change probably was a carried-over effect from a previous life. My mother told me that she did not feel like eating meat when I was in her tummy. Maybe I was already vegetarian in the immediate past life, and this habit affected her appetite while I was part of her body. This might explain why I never felt easy eating meat. All I needed were solid reminders of the reasons to go vegetarian - to “revive” this past life habit. Family pressure to eat meat was simply brushed aside with the rational facts for the vegetarian cause I learnt. There was simply no turning back - and my family knew it.

Non-vegetarians who are reading this might think that being a vegetarian might be difficult - as it might need to be a habit nurtured from life to life. This is not always true - in the sense that even if one was not a vegetarian for 500 past lives, there has to be a turning point, if one wishes to become vegetarian. This life is as good as any other to make that change. And if it is indeed a habit that takes many lives to nurture, this is also as good a life as any other to start nurturing this good habit. You got to start somewhere! And who knows - you might be on the verge of change already! To break the grain of habit might not always be as easy as in my case, but it can be done within this lifetime. And because it's totally worth it, please try - for the animals, for other humans, for the planet, for yourself...

Related article:
Why Vegetarianism is Environmentalism -
http://www.moonpointer.com/index.php?itemid=2265

Crisis : Food & Environment

As published on the Forum page of “The Straits Times” on 7 June 2008:
http://www.straitstimes.com/ST%2BForum/Story/STIStory_245237.html -

Vegetarianism can help in food and climate crises

READING The Straits Times on Wednesday, I realised the food and climate crises are closely interrelated and solvable, in part, by vegetarianism. In the article, ‘UN chief raises spectre of a billion starving people’, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) summit suggested food output must increase 50 per cent by 2030 to head off mass starvation.

In the long run, food output may not need to increase - if breeding of animals for meat is reduced instead. About one-third of all grain is used to breed farm animals for meat - for the relatively rich - while the poor starve. If this grain directly feeds the poor instead, there will be little human starvation. Demand for animal produce reduces grain produce for humans, while reduction of grain for breeding animals will also lower grain costs - due to its corresponding increase in supply. While breeding animals cannot be easily halted due to ongoing demand for animal produce, the UN could urge its gradual decrease.

UN leaders could encourage vegetarianism in their nations, which would not only lessen world starvation by freeing more grain for humans, but also lessen environmental problems. From the FAO's 2006 report Livestock's Long Shadow: Environmental Issues And Options: ‘The livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global. It should thus be a major policy focus when dealing with problems of land degradation, climate change and air pollution, water shortage and water pollution, and loss of biodiversity.’

Also, the world's livestock industry generates 65 per cent of human-related nitrous oxide, which has 296 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide, and livestock are responsible for 18 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions, which is more than that from transport.

The American Dietetic Association has concluded that a vegan diet is both nutritionally adequate and beneficial to health. Clearly, a greener diet fosters the well-being of us, our fellow humans and the planet. Going vegetarian (or better still, vegan) is a simple yet powerful way to play a part in overcoming our planetary crises. As wise consumers, we can increasingly become more vegetarian in our choice of diet to spread the cause. If what we eat can truly change the world for better or worse, please choose well. - Sng See Ann

Comments on the above:
http://moonpointer.com/index.php?itemid=2268

(Some background information of the above is below)

more...

Vegan : Stubborn or Principled?

May: Why do vegans seem to stick stubbornly to their diet?
Jay: Do they?
May: Well, they don't seem to be accepting of other foods.
Jay: Well, they are only as “stubborn” as non-vegans are about wanting to eat animals...
May: Hmmm....
Jay: ... and as “stubborn” as animals are about not wanting to be killed or eaten.
May: Gasp!
Jay: Is that being “stubborn”?

Mother : More Than One

Tam: I can't be fully vegetarian because my mother who cooks at home would be unhappy. I need to be filial.
Tom: What about your other mothers? Wouldn't they be more unhappy collectively?
Tam: Huh? What other mothers?
Tom: “Mother sentient beings” - all the beings who have been reborn as our loving mothers in previous lives at various points in time - which includes all the animals you eat.
Tam: Gasp!
Tom: Not that I encourage it, but I would gladly incur the displeasure of one mother for the sake of countless other mothers. It's the bigger picture - of universal filial piety to all!
Tam: But if I were to become vegetarian suddenly, there would be chaos at home!
Tom: What chaos? Compare it to the chaos in the slaughterhouse - and you will realise how urgent it is to remove yourself from the supply and demand cycle of violence.

Tam: I see your point... but it would cause my mother much inconvenience in cooking.
Tom: Compare that with the inconvenient pain of your other mothers continually going under the knife for your food.
Tam: My mother might not understand.
Tom: I'm not saying you should go home and argue with your mother now. You can just politely refuse meat. And if she doesn't understands, be patient and explain best you can. That's exactly what I did - when I became vegetarian overnight. You can always buy your own food home - to eat with your family.
Tam: That would cost quite a bit in the long run.
Tom: Consider the cost of kinder foods versus the invaluable cost of lives.
Tam: It's so tough - going against the grain of family!
Tom: Well, it's usually tougher to do the better thing at first. But hey! It's always worth it in the long run - for others, and for yourself.