Meat: To Eat or Not Is the Craving

“If someone eats meat and attaches to its taste then that is craving. If someone who doesn’t eat meat sees someone else eating it and feels averse and angry, abuses or criticizes them, and takes [what they see as] their badness into their own heart, then that makes them more foolish than the person they’re angry with. They’re also following craving.”

Luang Por said that monks were free to decide for themselves as to whether or not they ate meat; but whatever they decided, the most important point was that their actions be guided by Dhamma rather than attachment.

“If you eat meat, then don’t be greedy, don’t indulge in its taste. Don’t take life for the sake of food. If you’re a vegetarian, don’t attach to your practice. When you see people eating meat, don’t get upset with them. Look after your mind. Don’t attach to external actions. As far as the monks and novices in this monastery go, anyone who wants to take on the practice of abstaining from meat is free to, anyone who just wants to eat whatever is offered can do that. But don’t quarrel. Don’t look at each other in a cynical way. That’s how I teach.”

This reflection and recollection by Ajahn Jayasaro is from the book Stillness Flowing, pp. 296-297.