Karma and the vegetarian diet
It is a natural inference to realize that if we must suffer suffering or pain by hurting others in thought, word, or deed, what is the risk we run when we cause the death of another, including lesser creatures? This law of reaction of our actions forms the basis of the teachings of the saints, Masters and
religious founders of various religions. We can now understand why Buddha, Mahavira, Guru Nanak, Moses, the Greek philosophers, the ancient Hindu sages, and other enlightened beings implored their followers to be vegetarians.
There is a powerful teaching story from Buddhism that illustrates the basis for the belief that a vegetarian diet is the one to adopt for those interested in spirituality. This story about the importance of a vegetarian lifestyle comes from the Jataka Tales of the Buddhist tradition.
In ancient times, some groups of people had the custom of offering dead animals as a ritual called “Feast of the Dead”. As the story goes, a teacher told his students: “It is time to find a goat to offer for the Festival of the Dead. Find a goat and take it to the river to bathe it. Then place a garland of flowers around its neck.” . .” The students set out to find the goat, take it to the river, and obey the teacher’s instructions. As the students bathed and decorated the goat, the goat began to laugh happily. After a few moments, it began to cry. The students were puzzled and They asked the goat, “Why did you laugh and then start crying?” The goat replied, “Ask me this question in front of your teacher.” The students took the goat to their teacher and told him what had happened. The teacher asked the goat the same question: “Why did you laugh and then cry?”
The goat explained, “In one of my past lives I was a teacher like you. I also wanted to give a banquet to the dead, so I killed a goat. As a result of killing that goat, I had to be reborn and was killed five hundred times except one, cutting off my head, just as he had done to the goat. This is my five hundredth and last birth. I laughed with joy because after this day I will be free from that evil deed I had done.”
Then the teacher asked him to explain: “But what made you cry?” The goat said, “I cried because I am worried about you now! When I thought about how when you kill me, you will also have to be killed five hundred times in your future lives, I cried because I felt sorry for you.”
The master worried about this impending fate and assured the goat, “Don’t worry. I won’t kill you.” The goat explained, “It doesn’t matter. Whether you kill me or not, I’m supposed to die today.” The master insisted that he would protect the goat, while the goat told him, “Protection cannot save me. I cannot escape payment for my actions.” The teacher ordered his students to follow the goat wherever he went making sure that nothing hurt him.
As the day progressed, the goat got hungry. The goat said, “I’ll eat some leaves from the bush that grows by the top of that rock.” The goat climbed to the top of the rock. As she ate, lightning struck the rock. Part of the rock broke off and fell on the goat’s neck. He was instantly killed.
The teacher, hearing of the death of the goat, turned to his students and said: “If people knew the payment they would have to make for their works, they would never harm any living creature, whether human or animal.” The students and the teacher decided not to kill any more living beings.
This is a powerful teaching story that helps us understand why so many religions rely on the concept of a vegetarian diet as the spiritually safest. No matter what one’s religious belief or spiritual belief, there are some underlying commonalities. Those common beliefs are that there is a creative power or force, whether it is called God or any other name, and that we are soul, a part of the Creator. Most religions also believe that animals also have a conscience or soul, which makes them a part of God as well. Therefore, the spiritual basis of vegetarianism is not to take the life of any other creature. One of the principles is not to harm any living being.