Question about the Twenty-Five Conducts of Kalachakra

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agarlanwhite
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Joined: Wed Sep 04, 2019 6:23 am

Question about the Twenty-Five Conducts of Kalachakra

Post by agarlanwhite »

Hello all!

So, I received the generation-stage Kalachakra empowerment from Shar Khentrul Rinpoche online, and there are a variety of vows as part of the empowerment. Part of the empowerment involves a commitment to practice the Twenty-Five Conducts of Kalachakra.

So I have a question about one of these precepts: To "avoid eating the meat of an animal which we know or suspect was killed specifically for our own consumption."

How do practitioners of Kalachakra, such as the Dalai Lama (although maybe the Gelug Conducts are different), usually practice this precept, in a world in which nearly always we get meat from far away. Or how do you practice it personally?


For my own part, I used to be vegetarian, until one of my teachers saw that my energy was ungrounded and suggested that I eat meat. Since then I have eaten meat because my body seems to actually need it for heath. And I've been trying to buy meat from places like Grocery Outlet, which in Oregon is a store that sells extra stock from supermarkets; or to when possible have meat from animals that had happy lives and were treated in an ethical way (like free-range, and so forth). Sometimes I do have meat from food carts or restaurants where the source is uncertain. In that cause I recite a mantra for the animals involved to be reborn in a happy realm.

Here's the quote of the precept from Khentrul Rinpoche's commentary "Unveiling Your Sacred Truth":

"2. Eating unseemly meat: Some belief systems consider it virtuous if the meat they consume is killed by themselves, but from a Buddhist perspective this kind of activity is non-virtuous and “unseemly”. This precept calls on us to avoid eating the meat of an animal which we either know or suspect was killed specifically for our consumption."

Thanks so much!

Sherab
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Aemilius
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Re: Question about the Twenty-Five Conducts of Kalachakra

Post by Aemilius »

To "avoid eating the meat of an animal which we know or suspect was killed specifically for our own consumption."

This principle comes originally from the Sutras and the Vinaya. You will find hundred thousand pages of interpretations and opinions about it in the net easily. Try "meat eating in the Vinaya and Sutras", for example.
svaha
"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Sarvē mānavāḥ svatantrāḥ samutpannāḥ vartantē api ca, gauravadr̥śā adhikāradr̥śā ca samānāḥ ēva vartantē. Ētē sarvē cētanā-tarka-śaktibhyāṁ susampannāḥ santi. Api ca, sarvē’pi bandhutva-bhāvanayā parasparaṁ vyavaharantu."
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1. (in english and sanskrit)
Dharmaswede
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Re: Question about the Twenty-Five Conducts of Kalachakra

Post by Dharmaswede »

Since you received it from Khentrul Rinpoche, you may want to watch his talk "Karma, Meat and Vegetarianism":
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