There was a retreat in a Buddhist centre recently, which concluded, so I’ve heard, with a ‘pizza train’ celebration – many large vegetarian pizzas ordered lined up on a row of tables like a ‘train’. The retreat had mindfulness and compassion in the family as recurring themes.
Sadly, many are still not aware that most common dairy cheese these days is possible only by forcing calves to leave their mother cows, whose milk is meant only for their offsprings, not for humans to steal for making into cheese. Do you see the irony? Mindfulness of this is missing. Compassion thus too. And animal families are neglected.
What’s more, both mother and child cows get slaughtered eventually for meat, hide, gelatine and such. And most cheese is treated with mammal rennet too, which is extracted from young unweaned calves’ stomachs. A whole train of cruel acts are involved in production.
So what if the pizzas are labelled vegetarian? So long as they are not vegan, demand for them still lead to breeding, suffering and deaths. I dread the possibility that the retreat participants might fall in love with the pizza feast idea and organise more similar ‘celebrations’ among their family and friends. Out of compassion, let’s spread the truth about cheese!
Related Articles:
An Offering of Greater Kindness
http://thedailyenlightenment.com/2010/12/offering-of-greater-kindness
Very good article highlighting the ‘cruelty to animals’ in the dairy industry and that compassionate people (whether Buddhist or not) stop eating dairy products when they see the truth of suffering.
The Five Buddhist Precepts include ‘Undertaking to abstain from Killing’ and ‘Undertaking to abstain from Taking what is not given’. The cows don’t give us their milk (or their calves, or lives…).
(Question: Should “So long as they are vegan” read “so long as they are not Vegan”?)
Good points shared, Linden!
Thanks, the article corrected.
😉
Soy Cheese…anyone?
http://www.tofutti.com/cheese.shtml