As drafted for a Buddhist friend, for a Buddhist organisation, as requested…
‘Hello Venerables & Committee Members, it would be great if we could encourage all to have vegan meal offerings on events like Kathina (Robe-Offering) Day. Our Venerables are very compassionate, giving us opportunity to cleanse our defilements. If we have vegan meals, our merits will be even greater, as we will be actively avoiding adding demand for killing through our purchases.
In the basic requirements of Threefold ‘Pure’ Meat, meat eaten must not be suspected to be killed for oneself. But if anyone buys meat from supermarkets, they are already the direct suspects of who the animals were killed for – because they cannot be killed for vegans, who will never buy meat. Where there is demand, there will be supply. Thus we should not offer Venerables meat as they are not considered ‘pure’. As mentioned at http://thedailyenlightenment.com/2016/05/you-animals-and- the-buddha :
“Bhikkhu Bodhi (the famous Pali sutta translator) gave this simple example to explain how the individual consumer’s purchases sustain demand for murder – ‘… if somebody goes into a market, say on a Tuesday, and orders a piece of chicken at the sales counter, somebody [there] will click some kind of calculator, which will determine on Tuesday, that a piece of chicken was sold, which will send out a message for next Tuesday, that we have to meet the same quantity of chickens to satisfy our customer base. Even though you order the chicken on Tuesday, you are not responsible for the death of the chicken that is providing that meal on [that] Tuesday, but in an indirect way, you can be sending a signal that next Tuesday, a chicken should be killed to provide food for the customers…’ Note that even if one buys animal products in a more ‘random’ manner, in terms of place and time, one’s ongoing purchases still contributes to the overall demand for killing. Every buy is a functioning vote for more murders.
He also said the following – ‘It has always been my preference to be vegetarian since I became a Buddhist. Compassion has always been defined very simply with the same fixed expression… It is the quality of the heart…. of a good person [that] trembles with the suffering of others, and it is the wish to alleviate the suffering of others. So, it would seem to me, sort of intuitively, that if one has this deep quality of compassion, that one doesn’t want others to suffer, and one knows that either ordering meat or consuming meat is going to, through some chain of causation [cause and effect], bring about even the cruel upbringing, [imprisonment, exploitation] and slaughter of animals, that out of compassion, one would adopt vegetarianism. So that is why it seems to me that if one takes up the ethical principles of Buddhism, in my own reflection, and tries to be strictly consistent with them, it would seem to entail an obligation to observe vegetarianism, at least in countries where one has an option [which is largely every nation these days, due to ease of food transport, even for highlands like Tibet].’”
Venerable also mentioned that we should have pure attitudes to create and receive merits. Being in charge, you can help us create more merits for everyone. Thank you for listening to this feedback, for the welfare of all sentient beings big and small. May all animals be free from fear and pain. May all beings be well and happy.’