The Nicefication of Eating Meat

[indolering]

Even his holiness the Dalai Lama says that he will eat meat/fish if it is given to him by a host so as to not offend.
A simple blessing of the animal should suffice.

The Dalai Lama would rather not offend his host, than not participate—by imbibing and therefore condoning—the torture and cruelty of farm animals, or at least the unnecessary slaughter for meat. That doesn't sound very enlightened to me; it sounds human egocentric-based.

I really don't mean to be inflammatory, but try going to slaughterhouse, or even watch an animal being slaughtered while in terror for its life and experiencing mortal pain at the very least, and do a "simple blessing" and tell me if that suffices. 

Yeh, just checked. It's ok.
Drama Queen. :-/

She's not a drama queen - she's an empath and a righteous one at that.  

Diana

That's awesome.  As Matt1 said, there are meat substitutes that can ease the addiction....

That's right, Diana.  It's an addiction, a lifelong habit we grew up with, a habit almost worse than cigarettes, alcohol or sugar.  Humans are herbivores, fortunate enough to survive and perhaps even thrive on animal products.  But just because we're able to eat a variety of foods doesn't mean we should.  What can I say?  A spiritual aspirant seeks to live an ethical life.  A righteous moral code is enshrined within each of us, built up over millennia of incarnations.  Each of us can know right from wrong without outside influence.  There does
exist a universal spiritual morality which pervades the cosmos.  That's my experience.  I don't condemn anyone who participates in animal slaughter - we progress at our own rate.  I try to live by the ancient, universal principle of ahimsa: the principle of non-violence toward all sentient beings.


Your instincts are correct, Mat.  Follow your heart.  Do not be a slave to bad habits.  I know you'll do well.