Cow Dhamma in
Brief
Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahato
Sammāsambuddhassa
To teach the Dhamma on the virtues of cows, in line
with the Sutta Pitaka, to all the devotees in Upper and Lower
Burma, I have translated the Pāli Text.
This discourse from the Suttanipāta (vv.284-315)
describes the good conduct of a Brahmin.
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Draught animals, such as cows and buffalos, are
likened to the parents of human beings. Because they give
service to mankind, they resemble man’s mother and father.
In fact they are man’s parents, brothers, sons and
daughters. The Buddha declares them to be man’s own
relatives.
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Human beings depend on the labour of cows and
buffalos for food. With the service of these animals man
sustains his life. Since agricultural work is done by them
they give life, beauty, happiness, and strength to human
beings every day. With four great benefits for human beings,
their help is inestimable, the Buddha declares.
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When respect is paid to these life-giving animals as
parents and relatives, all the good deities look after human
beings. The deities regard them as their relatives as they
show love to animals. Thus the deities protect them from
disease, danger, and calamity. They also protect the cows
and buffalos from these dangers. This is the teaching of the
Buddha.
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When gratitude, love, and compassion are little or
none at all, men use animals for their needs without
compassion. They strike or whip them hard, torturing them in
various ways. Finally, they kill and eat them.
Due to
that ingratitude and unrestrained greed, deities hate human
beings because they lack love and compassion. Individual
guardian deities hate individuals. Village deities hate
villagers. Town deities hate town dwellers. National deities
hate nations. As a result they do not look after the welfare
of human beings, and fail to protect them. The opportunity
is ripe for the work of demons. New diseases, epidemics, and
dangers appear among mankind. All sorts of calamities bring
disaster to many people. This is the teaching of the
Buddha.
The above explanation is based on the Sutta
Nipata with direct and inferred
meanings.
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The Buddha taught in the Nārada Jātaka that, while
cows and buffalos may be used for service when they are
strong, when they are old and feeble they must be cared for
properly. During their working lives they must be well-fed,
and treated with love and compassion. They must not be
killed when they are no longer useful.
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The Sarabhanga Jātaka. Everybody is expected to
observe the five moral precepts (not to kill sentient
beings, not to steal, not to commit adultery, not to lie,
not to take intoxicants and drugs). Every bhikkhu must
observe 227 Vinaya rules scrupulously. All Buddhists, by
this observance of morality, become pure in body and speech,
which is the main function of morality. One becomes a moral
person by leading a moral life.
The characteristic of
wisdom is the ability to teach others in accordance with the
Dhamma as taught by the Buddha. The aim of teaching Dhamma
is to develop civility, knowledge, understanding, and
wisdom. He who obtains this qualification is called a wise
man (pandita). A wise man, who is learned in the
texts and able to teach others, obtains wisdom — a necessary
factor of a good man.
The characteristics of a good
man (sappurisa) include the open acknowledgment of
gratitude owed to others, and revering the good qualities of
others. This qualification makes one a good person. Besides
these two fundamental qualifications, a third one is the
need for a soft and gentle mind, or a good heart. These are
the basic qualities of a good man.
In the teaching
of the Buddha, the Vinaya concerns morality, the Abhidhamma
pertains to wisdom, and the Suttanta concerns the qualities
of a good person (sappurisa). Thus we can classify
three basic aspects of life. However, they may not be
coexistent as one would wish them to be. Some individuals
may possess morality, but they may lack wisdom and goodness.
So they may not be wise persons or good persons. Some
persons are wise, but because they lack morality, they are
not good. Others are good, but they may lack morality and
wisdom. Some possess both morality and wisdom, but they are
not good-natured. Some persons are blessed with morality and
goodness, but they lack wisdom. Others possess wisdom and
goodness, but they do not have morality.
Some people
possess all three basic qualifications: morality, wisdom,
and goodness. A few individuals lack all three good
qualities. Those who possess all three good qualites are
very rare.
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The Temiya Jātaka mentions that those who take
shelter and sleep under a tree must not break its branches
with bad intention. For the tree becomes his best friend, a
helper deserving gratitude. If one destroys the branches of
the tree, one violates the duty of friendship, harming one’s
benefactor. One lacks the basic requirement of a good man.
This is the teaching of the Buddha in the Temiya
Jātaka.
Breaking branches and felling trees, even
with an evil, ungrateful mind, is not the evil deed of
killing, because trees are not sentient beings. However, the
evil mental state of ingratitude prevails. Hence the
transgressor commits an evil deed. To maintain the virtues
of a good person, gratitude must be shown even to lifeless
things. One must show reverence and respect even to trees,
which gives rest, protection, etc. The maintenance of
gratitude for all living beings, and even for lifeless
things, is too important to ignore. A tree should not be
regarded as inferior, because ingratitude is always a
serious defect in the eyes of a good person. One must always
maintain gratitude because ingratitude means to adopt a
wicked person’s attitude. As regards living beings, even
more regard must be given to the acknowledgement of
gratitude.
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In the Mahābodhi Jātaka a heresy known as Khatavijjā
Ditthi is mentioned. This wrong view says that those who
take shelter or sleep under a tree may uproot that tree if
they derive benefit from doing so. It means the end
justifies the means. Since ingratitude is present it
expresses a wrong view. This belief acknowledges no
indebtedness.
Gratitude
Appreciation of benefit obtained from others is called
gratitude (kataññutā). It means acknowledgment of
benefits received, or sincere appreciation. Benefits may be
obtained from persons or things. There are two classes of
benefactors: well-known or high class persons; unknown or low
class persons, or beings of low dignity, power, and
status.
Most people exaggerate the benefit received from
well-known or high class persons. They will acknowledge a
benefit of one hundred pounds for one pound, one thousand for
one hundred, because the status of their benefactor is high.
However, a low class person’s gift or service usually remain
undeclared. If the beneficiaries do acknowledge any
indebtedness, they seldom tell the whole truth. One thousand
pounds benefit is mentioned as only one pound. This is the
attitude of wicked or cunning people. They are not good
Buddhists. All sincere persons of good-will acknowledge their
gratitude in the following way: the benefit received from
well-known persons is a hundredfold whereas that of ordinary
persons is a thousandfold. Since they emphasize gratitude,
they speak in glowing terms for services received from
ordinary people. This is the nature of bodhisattas and other
good persons. |
Cow Dhamma in
Detail
1. Comparison of Cows to Parent or
Relatives
Soon after a child is born, soft pressed rice is given
with cow’s milk. So cows give life twice daily. Since then a
human being’s life is dependent on cows and buffaloes. As
draught animals, they help to produce rice and other food so
that a man becomes wealthy. A wealthy man can donate schools
and monasteries, or build pagodas. These charitable deeds are
possible with the aid of draught animals. Cows give both life
and wealth to human beings.
The immense debt of gratitude must be seen in the
labour and service of cows. Their help resembles that of our
parents. Since one readily acknowledges the immeasurable debt
of gratitude due to one’s father and mother, one should be
able to declare the same thing regarding cows. The debt one
owes to them is obvious. So the Pali text states, “Cows and
buffaloes are like a man’s father and mother.”
The Buddha also declares that “... draught animals
resemble brothers, sons, daughters, and relatives.” No good
man will kill or torture his own relatives. Nor will he allow
others to kill or torture them. He cannot bear to see them
killed, because he loves his relatives.
Likewise a good person, knowing the power or debt of
gratitude one owes to others, will not torture his draught
animals. If news of torture and killing is known, he will feel
sad. He may become angry. One would not eat the flesh of one’s
relatives if they are killed by others — one will not relish
eating their meat at all. One will feel sorry for the dead
animals. The habit of gratitude and compassion suppresses any
pleasure of eating beef. Compassion will also arise. One’s
indebtedness is acknowledged by thoughts, words, and
deeds.
2. Providers of Life, Beauty, Bliss, and
Strength
No explanation is necessary as the meaning is
obvious.
3. Deities Protect Good People
As explained earlier, the qualities of a good person
include gratitude. Gratitude is revered by deities such as
Sakka, the king of gods. They always appreciate this noble
quality. They know that cows resemble one’s own parents. Cows
possess honourable features and human beings owe them a great
debt of gratitude. Those who kill them and eat their meat
violate the essential virtue of a good man. This transgression
of virtue is subtle and deep. It destroys the deepest ethical
rule, which is hard to understand by superficial thinking. The
deities, being of higher nature, know the importance of
gratitude. Killers of draught animals and eaters of their
flesh attract the hatred of good deities. Man exhibits
callousness because of intense greed and delusion.
Every country needs a government. A country that lacks
a government suffers from anarchic chaos. Robbers, murderers,
and rebels gain supremacy and wreak havoc in various parts of
the country. When a stable, strong government is duly
established, disruptive elements have no chance to make
mischief. They therefore remain in peace. Whenever authority
is absent, miscreants rob and kill as they like. A strong
government means peace and security. Likewise, when a country
is looked after by good deities, demons and ghosts cannot do
evil to the population. Bad deities have no chance to wreak
havoc among the people. In times when people show no
gratitude, even good deities are displeased, and they neglect
to look after the world. Then demons, ghosts, and bad deities
take their chance for evil-doing. They spread disease,
epidemics, calamities, etc., and when the victims die they
suck their blood and eat their flesh.
4. Deities Fail to Protect Ungrateful
People
The fourth point indicates the neglect of good
deities, such as personal deities, home deities, village
deities, city deities, etc., who neglect their duty to protect
the welfare of human beings. Then demons spread old and new
diseases among men and animals. This is the detailed
explanation for third point too. Man’s ingratitude makes the
world a bleak place.
Villagers and farmers usually earn their livelihood
with the labour of cows and buffaloes. So one can say that
half of the wealth derived from the land belongs to animals.
If a single field produces one hundred baskets of paddy, half
of this is owed to animals. If a person earns one pound by
fast conveyance, half of this is the property of the oxen.
Therefore owners must feed their animals properly and treat
them kindly. They must use the labour of animals only after
treating them with due consideration. They must treat them as
if they are their friends, brothers, or sons. In short, in
earning a livelihood, love and kindness must prevail so that
the half-share due to them can be used by the owners
themselves. Otherwise owners do not have the right to use
their own half of the money earned. When old, animals must be
left in peace and rest so that their debts to man are repaid.
They must be properly fed in old age.
We have shown the teaching of the Narada Jataka in the
sense indicated above. Without this good procedure, those who
use all the money for themselves incur debts due to animals.
It means that the owners and users must suffer in their
countless future lives, to repay their burden of debt. These
debts can multiply in countless ways through the long journey
in samsara. Fools who do not believe in future existences,
brazenly torture and eat draught animals. They mercilessly
abuse the labour of cows and buffaloes so that the animals
suffer as if in hell. Far-sighted persons should take this
warning with all due seriousness.
5. The Teaching in the Nārada Jātaka
A tree, under which we shelter, becomes our
benefactor, though it is an insentient thing. Having enjoyed
protection from a tree, one must not destroy its branches or
leaves. Wanton destruction means ingratitude just like using
our best friend. Moreover, one commits the fault of breaking
the virtue of a good person. This teaching of the Buddha is as
well-known as the sun and the moon. All persons should,
therefore, treat draught animals with kindness, remembering
their virtues and services. One should abstain from eating
their meat, to fulfil the duty of gratitude. This factor of a
good person must be maintained at all costs. Wherever human
beings kill and eat their benefactors, they originate wars,
conflicts, and atrocities. The calamity of war is due to this
serious evil called ingratitude.
The term “Satthantara Kappa” means the calamity of
war. A single slaughter-house kills at least one thousand cows
each day, and over thirty thousand cows are butchered every
month. In a year, more than three hundred thousand cows are
slaughtered — over three million in ten years. In the whole
country, the appalling slaughter of cows, each day, month, and
year should be considered. For the animals, the greatest
calamity befalls them without respite, day and
night.
The butcher’s money becomes capital for the
meat-traders and slaughter-houses. The consumer’s money also
goes to them. With this huge income, meat-traders again buy
animals for slaughter. They establish more and more
slaughter-houses. In a single country there may be more than
one thousand slaughter-houses. With the financial-support of
meat-traders and consumers, the slaughter of animals is
supported by meat-eaters everywhere. So the calamity of a
single cow’s death is caused by man. Man seldom considers the
fact of indebtedness.
On the other hand, cows and buffaloes give rice,
wheat, barley, etc., to mankind. Farmers rely on them. With
their labour, they sustain the life of man every day. Yet
callous human beings exploit them by creating
slaughter-houses, and devise all ways of killing them for
their meat. So these animals suffer the calamity of death due
to the ingratitude of man. In the entire world, millions of
cows are butchered for food every day.
6. Morality, Wisdom, and Goodness
In the Vinaya Pitaka there is no prohibition to
refrain from eating meat. For the monks, if they have not
seen, heard, or suspected that the meat was killed for them,
they can eat it. They are free from any offence. However, mere
freedom from offence does not make a good monk. The essential
factors of a good monk must be observed. The vinaya rules do
not forbid meat or beef as long as the above three factors are
absent. However, the vinaya rules only govern impurities of
the bodily and vocal spheres. They concern only one of the
four types of purification. A bhikkhu also has to follow the
remaining three Pārisuddhi Sīla. As these three — controlling
the senses, purity of livelihood, and reflection on the use of
requisites — belong to the Sutta Dhamma, a monk should conform
to it so that all four purities are attained.
Here it is important to relate morality to goodness. A
bhikkhu, when he observes all four purities, attains only the
qualification of a moral person. He also needs to enrich his
mind with a liberal spirit such as appreciation and
acknowledgement of gratitude. This enrichment of the mind or
mental sphere ensures that a good heart emerges along with
good conduct. Many individuals lack this mental factor
although they possess morality. The qualities of a good person
must be cultivated.
A further explanation of this point may be helpful. If
a monk is well-versed in vinaya and observes the discipline,
he is classified as a moral monk. Yet he may be of rough mind,
full of pride, stubborn, rebellious against his teachers,
giving no support to the needy and no help to his elderly
parents. He is always scolding and complaining. Jealousy and
envy prevail in his heart. He exhibits egoism and conceit,
wallowing in fame and wealth.
From his practice of the Pātimokkha Sīla, he is a
moral person in this respect. However, he is very far from the
basic characteristics of goodness as mentioned in the Metta
Sutta (the fifteen points of becoming a good person). So,
though moral, he is not good. Those types of monks, learned in
the scriptures but proud and conceited, can only be called
learned bhikkhus. However, they are not good in the sense
indicated above.
This standard can also be applied to the laity. Those
laymen who observe five precepts can only be classified as
moral persons. For example, they observe the ‘non-killing’
precept by refraining from killing sentient beings, not having
any intention to kill. Although by his acts some insects,
pests, and other animals may suffer death, he escapes from the
transgression of this precept as his intention is based on
‘non-killing’. There is in this case, no evil deed even though
death occurs to pests and animals. With other intentions he
perpetrates a deed that involves death to others, such as
clearing fields, burning rubbish and groves. By so doing small
pests are killed, but his aim is to clear the jungle or
overgrowth, so he escapes evil in this act. He burns the
fields, causing death to some sentient beings, but having a
different intention, he escapes the evil of killing. Although
thousands of insects may die, he has no responsibility for
their death as his aim is to clear the fields or rubbish. It
is right. He does not violate the first precept. He is still a
moral person, because he has no intention to kill. However, if
he knows that burning his fields or groves entails death to
small animals, if he does this, he lacks love and compassion.
So he is not a good person.
Some people carefully observe all five precepts, but
they neglect to support their parents. They fail to pay
respect to them. They scold learned men. They decide cases in
a partial way. They oppress their inferiors. As they keep five
precepts they are called “moral.” However, since they lack
gratitude, humility, dutiful conduct, etc., they are not good
persons at all. They lack the important factors of love and
compassion.
If one knows that meat is served for one’s enjoyment,
without seeing the act of killing, without suspicion or
without direct involvement, ethical conduct is not sullied. So
meat-eaters, although they know that cows are killed for food
and that butchers prosper with the increasing demand, do not
break the five precepts. It is just like the persons who,
wishing to clear the jungle, burn bushes, trees, and groves,
killing insects and animals in the process. Since they have no
intention to kill, they are innocent.
Meat-eaters do not possess the factors of gratitude
and compassion, and they are far from becoming good persons.
The deed of eating is not a profound act. What is significant
though, with grave consequences, is the financial help given
to the slaughter-houses and meat-suppliers. The suppliers can
maintain their businesses due to the purchasing power of the
meat-eaters. Butchers kill more and more animals to meet the
increasing demand, day and night. This fact is known to
all.
The above case resembles the case of a moral farmer,
who supports five people and who burns the fields and groves,
thereby killing thousands of pests and animals. One is
ethical, but at the same time one is not good. Even monks who
try to observe the vinaya rules gain purity of body and speech
only. They must observe the vinaya rules since the Buddha
alone is competent to promulgate them. The vinaya rules are
issued from the Buddha’s authority, that is the power of
command. Monks breaking the vinaya rules incur the guilt known
as rebellion against the Buddha’s command (navitikkamma). This
danger is always present. So when the Buddha allows meat with
the three-fold purity to be taken by the monks, the monks have
to obey. Moreover, the monks have to beg for food, relying on
the help of the laity. They cannot refuse what has been
offered on their daily almsround.
Impracticability of Vegetarianism
Everywhere, vegetarians constitute a small minority.
If the Buddha prohibited meat for the monks, the majority of
monks would unavoidably violate this vinaya rule. Then
transgressions would increase in the course of earning a
livelihood. Those monks who insist on vegetarian food would be
opposed by the populace, and their livelihood would become
restricted. People will find difficulty to meet their
requirements. Its impracticability prevented the Buddha from
promulgating vegetarianism in the Vinaya Pitaka.
In the Vinaya Pitaka, meat-eating is allowed if the
right kind of meat is given. The observance of the vinaya rules¹ is limited for it purifies only bodily and vocal
misconduct. It does yet reach the sphere of purification of
mental evils which encompass a wide range. In the Sutta
Pitaka, ethical precepts and practices reach the mental realm.
It covers all mental evils. Only when mental evils are
purified, goodness arises. A person now becomes good, not
merely moral or ethical. This attainment is possible because
the factors of gratitude, loving-kindness, compassion,
sympathetic-joy, and equanimity prevail in the heart. The
heart must be cleansed of evil things to become
good.
The above explanations have been briefly made in the
first point also. Right understanding is necessary regarding
the gratitude owed to cows and buffalos. Morality alone is not
enough — mental purity must be the goal.
Thirty-Eight Blessings
To acknowledge indebtedness or gratitude is to follow
the Mangala Dhamma (the thirty-eight blessings). When these
Mangala Dhammas are known and understood, craving for meat,
such as beef, etc., will diminish in due course. Everyone
should try to avoid eating the flesh of animals, especially
that of cows and buffalos. One should study the Sutta Nipata,
Temiya Jataka, and Narada Jataka in which the importance of
gratitude is taught by the Buddha, even towards trees and
animals, so that this moral precept is not violated by wrong
view. Magnanimity must prevail in the world. Indebtedness must
be seen everywhere.
7-8. Importance of Gratitude
Even animals have gratitude for their mothers and
feeders. They show love and gratitude when food is given to
them. Even wild animals become tame if people feed them with
kindness. They love their benefactors and show loyalty and
devotion. It is strange that meat-eaters do not love cows—
showing them no civility. It is remarkable that meat-eaters do
not show gratitude even though they eat the flesh of animals.
Yet animals show love and gratitude to human-beings. They do
not receive kindness and gratitude in return, even though they
serve the people. Human-beings do not show much
humanity.
Even the factors of gratitude, love, and compassion
can arise in fierce animals such as lions, tigers, snakes
etc., who live in the wild. Those who live in the villages
become tame and show gratitude toward human beings. Yet these
three virtues are often absent among the people. Buddhists
should display these three factors of goodness. Those who live
by the labour of animals must cultivate the three good factors
habitually.
Those who have little faith but plenty of delusion,
differentiate between high and low-class persons in the matter
of gratitude for benefits received. Their minds are not clear
and steady. Thus they will often acknowledge and speak in
praise of gratitude received from high-class persons, though
the amount is small. They exaggerate the facts to honour
people in high positions in an ingratiating way. The
high-ranking person is praised out of all proportion. A
dignified person is acknowledge with thanks a thousand-fold,
although the deed is small, wild hyperboles are made by fools
to those of high-status.
Fools do not show any appreciation when they receive
help from low-class persons and beings, even though the
benefit is great. They belittle the amount of benefit
received. A thousand pounds worth of benefit is reduced to
only twenty-five. Sometimes they totally ignore the help
received from others. If their benefactors lack position,
power, wealth, etc., they show even less gratitude. They
dismiss the debt of gratitude that is due, concealing the
benefit received. They do not help their benefactors when they
are in need. They now shun them. They are glad when their
benefactor dies because they do not want to repay their debt.
So the gratitude owed to animals is often denied. One
seldom reflects on or acknowledges one’s debts to animals, not
even to the smallest extent. As cows have no status, being
dumb animals, people neglect to show any gratitude. The virtue
of gratitude therefore diminishes, promoting vanity and folly
among mankind, and callousness spreads. People become partial
towards the upper class and biased against those of lower
class. Dignified persons receive undeserved praise and
exaggerated gratitude, while low-class benefactors are
belittled, or totally ignored. Because it imparts
righteousness, the importance of gratitude even towards trees
was taught by the Buddha. The Pali text “Yassa rukkhassa
sayara” teaches us to preserve gratitude even for non-sentient
things like trees. People should not destroy trees as they
enjoy shelter under them. People should not say unkind words.
This is the teachings of the bodhisattas and the Buddhas. They
habitually practise this virtue.
Among the various good deeds deserving gratitude, the
giving of sustenance ranks in the highest class. So man owes
gratitude to cows in the same way as to parents. Cows are like
our fathers and mothers. It is very strange that man, having
enjoyed the services of animals at will, still delights in
eating their flesh. Old cows are killed or sent to
slaughter-houses. The gratitude that is prevalent among
animals is absent among mankind. People lack genuine faith,
and hold wrong views to the fullest extent. It is hard to
realise the truth of gratitude. Seeing meat-eaters, one can
know their lack of loving-kindness and compassion. Lacking
loving-kindness and compassion, they discard also a sense of
gratitude, a fundamental characteristic to become a good
person.
Love and Compassion
When gratitude arises, love and compassion are sure to
follow in its wake. Seeing meat, one will see the flesh of
ones’ own parents. Cows’ flesh is comparable to the flesh of
one’s own brothers and sisters, sons and daughters. Visions of
one’s parents will appear in the mind. So instead of eating,
one will certainly cry. One will not touch beef. Since past
thankfulness reappear now. This is the way of a good person’s
heart and conduct.
On the other hand, if owners use the labour of draught
animals, and then eat their flesh, the honour and dignity of
animals is reduced to the lowest order. Although man owes
limitless gratitude to cows, not the least acknowledgement
appears. Man’s lust for eating meat overwhelms all gratitude.
When one remembers how the Buddha honoured the Tree of
Enlightenment for seven days by showing his gratitude, such
behaviour towards cows becomes incomprehensible. The depth of
folly is unfathomable, if ingratitude reigns
supreme.
8. The End Justifies the Means
Those who hold Khattavijja Ditthi think that the end
justifies the means. They have a selfish outlook, and only
pragmatic considerations of usefulness or benefit prevail.
Meat-eaters also belong to this group. The Buddha’s teaching
is based on love and compassion, which are the outcome of
gratitude. It cannot discard the outlook and behaviour of
indebtedness. The right attitude must not be lost. Everyone
should consider the service rendered by cows. The next
consideration must be based on the following thought: “If cows
were high-status persons or honourable, how one’s gratitude
would multiply! Though they derive great service and milk from
them, people do not rate them highly, let alone speaking in
praise of cows. If only cows had rank and
position!”
If cows were high ranking persons, everyone would show
the gratitude due to them. People would show love and kindness
to the fullest extent. Torture and killing of cows would not
be allowed. Even the sight of their flesh would arouse pity.
Considering thus, much gratitude will be heaped on them with
love and compassion. With this strong pure mind the teaching
of “Yassa rukkhassa sayara” will be implemented. Hence the
factor of a good person is realised.
The Power of Lust
Lust for food compels some to eat even dogs and crows.
At first, no one wishes to eat crows, since they are regarded
as unclean. Dogs eat dirty things. Yet one enjoys pork,
chicken, etc., though pigs and chickens eat bad things too.
Without familiarity, no one will eat human flesh, but once
people started, it would become a daily dish. Soon after a
child is born, parents feed it beef, chicken, etc., so people
enjoy meat, instead of loathing it. Similarly, if there were
such a custom, people would eat their own father and mother
with relish, or they would enjoy the flesh of their own sons
and daughters. Once any food becomes familiar, even the flesh
of dogs becomes tasty. The power of lust has no limits. Lust
for food, like lust for sensual pleasures, continually wants
to try new dishes. Man can become as lustful as a dog. The
unrestrained carnal lust for sex and food is obvious in
animals. The root cause is lust, with no special distinction
between men and animals. So by reflecting on gratitude, one
should avoid eating the flesh of cows and buffalos.
The Blessing of Gratitude
In the Sutta Nipata the Buddha teaches: “yatha mata
pita bhata, aññe vapi ca ñataka.” The meaning is that cows and
buffalos, being providers of rice and other food, are givers
of life. They are comparable to one’s mother and father. If
people can eat their parents’ flesh, they will also eat meat.
If they will not eat their parents flesh, they should refrain
from eating meat. If one heard that a man had eaten his
parents, he would be regarded as an inhuman monster, maniac,
or cannibal. Similarly, on hearing that people eat the flesh
of cows and buffalos, one can judge that they are monsters,
maniacs, or barbarians. Why is this? Because one’s parents are
one’s life-givers and benefactors. So too are cows and
buffalos. The flesh of one’s benefactors must not be eaten.
People would rightly blame those who ate their parents,
brothers, or sisters as barbaric cannibals. The same criticism
should be levelled at meat-eaters because cows give us life.
We owe them a great debt of gratitude, similar to that due to
our parents. We should love these animals, considering their
services to mankind. They are worthy of our noble love and
pity, considering their enormous service for
mankind. |
Appeal For Cows
Venerable Ledi Sayādaw wrote this “Appeal for Cows” in
1886,
on the request of the elders of Monywa.
This age witnesses brutality and inhumanity due to the
maturing of past evil kamma. Catastrophes have arisen just
like that suffered by the Buddha’s relatives who were murdered
by Vitatubha in revenge. Both the guilty and innocent, old and
young, suffered brutal death. The whole Sakyan nation
disintegrated. The Buddha appealed three times to Prince
Vitatubha to let them live in peace, but the past evil kamma
of the Sakyans was too great to be offset even by the Buddha’s
repeated intervention. They had done serious kamma in the
past, which now had to ripen. The Dhammapada Commentary [to
verse forty-seven] relates this story in detail. The moral is
that not even God can forgive evil kamma. Only good kamma of
the highest type purifies bad kamma.
As for the vengeful prince, he too suffered bad
consequences as he was drowned in the river. He became food
for fishes and turtles. His anger ruined him at last. Thus to
revenge a wrong means both parties have to suffer for their
evil deeds. The Buddha teaches that mankind experiences
progress and prosperity when it acknowledges the factor of
gratitude. Man must develop the four Brahmavihāras — the
Divine Abidings — for prosperity and longevity. The Dhamma of
gratitude is fundamental for the practice of love, compassion,
sympathetic-joy, and equanimity.
Those who harm cows or eat their flesh suffer poverty
and downfall. Due to their ingratitude, they face various
dangers in the present. The future dangers to be incurred, are
determined by their present deeds.
The traditional four protectors of the world are the
four Brahmaviharas. They imply loving regard for others,
whether men or animals. The world’s situation is getting worse
with famine, terrorism, wars, natural disasters, drug use,
etc. Even in Buddhist countries, harsh treatment of cows,
killings of cows, eating of beef, etc., can be seen.
Non-Buddhist countries encourage the meat-trade, forsaking the
precept of non-killing.
People should avoid occupations such as trading in
arms, livestock, meat, poisons, and intoxicants. These moral
principles, though well-known throughout the world, are seldom
observed. People lack compassion, so they become evil. Their
greed for wealth and power ever increases. So they resemble,
even now, hungry ghosts (petas). Seeking only their selfish
ends, they behave like animals. They are too proud. Although
their livelihood depends on the services of animals, they
kill, torture, and eat them. They even make sport of them.
Cows are man’s best friends. Butchers and meat-traders go to
hell, their ingratitude being so great.
Meat-eaters can incur the same guilt as butchers and
meat-traders if they approve of killing. If one praises the
prosperity of livestock farmers and meat-traders, one’s kamma
is just like a butcher’s with the attendant evil results.
Sometimes approvers and supporters can incur more blame than
the perpetrators. It depends on the state of mind. The serious
fault here is that one destroys justice and righteousness.
One’s view is also wrong, which is the greatest error in the
world. These facts are explained in the Vibhanga and its
commentary.
Buyers depend on sellers, who in turn depend on
buyers. Buyers help sellers by enjoying their produce.
Especially in the matter of food, sellers have to depend on
buyers. Money is used for further killing. So some animal
species are endangered due to increased killing.
Man is driven by lust for food. Man enjoys meat eating
as he likes without regard for the Dhamma. His greed compels
him even to eat cows’ flesh, blind to the serious evil of
ingratitude. In earning his livelihood he overlooks
wrong-doing. For his immoral livelihood he gets serious
effects in the lower worlds in future for the sake of benefit
in the present life.
Some people maintain that meat improves the human body
and brain. Meat is essential for our health, they say.
However, the Pali text says that health is dependent on
balanced living, free from excesses. Whether meat is essential
is not the point. Those who eat meat without restraint suffer
from diseases. Such cases are mentioned in Sutta Pitaka,
Dhammapada Commentary, Jataka Commentary, etc. So one should
not make excuses, nor should one follow the way of gourmets.
One’s diet should be based on vegetables, ghee, and milk, with
a little flesh for protein. Health is improved by moderate
eating.
Although one may not avoid eating meat, one should try
to practise the virtues of contentment and simple living. All
bodhisattas hold these virtues in highest regard since they
lead to supreme enlightenment. The moral for everyone is to
curb the passion for tasty food to gain concentration and
wisdom. Overindulgence increases mental distraction. The
bodhisatta, even when the king of crows, though by nature he
had to eat other animals, tried to limit his eating habits. He
expressed vows and good determination to reach a higher state
of mind.
Since animals are dumb they cannot defend themselves,
and have to suffer in silence. Wealth is obtained through the
labour of cows yet many fail to show any indebtedness. People
should remember that paddy, groundnuts, sesame, vegetables,
etc., are obtained by tilling the land with cows. Farmers need
the cow’s help. Lacking a sense of gratitude they willingly
eat the cow’s flesh. If cows could speak, this barbaric crime
would be exposed.
Consider the various ways that cows help to serve the
welfare of the country. The cruel nature of meat-eaters also
shows the evil of unrighteousness. Unjust people, forsaking
gratitude, feed cows with insufficient or poor food. Cows are
better off to die in a den of tigers than to live with
ungrateful people. The cow’s sad fate under unjust men is too
painful to describe. While living, excessive labour gives them
little rest. When they die, or when they are killed, they
become food for mankind. Kindness should be shown to them to
maintain justice. Righteousness should be observed by mankind.
When evil rules the world, acts of ingratitude become
manifest. Through kindness towards animals, especially man’s
helpers, calamities will be avoided. Right thinking persons
have a duty to love cows. We must respect justice in our
choice of food. This is not a minor matter. The seriousness of
injustice has been shown in the teaching of the
Buddha.
Based on right understanding and compassion, man
should avoid eating beef. It is vital to acquire the virtues
of a good man, not only wisdom and morality. The world is in
turmoil and conflict. A sense of indebtedness and gratitude
towards the environment and animals must be realised by human
beings. Living in harmony with nature is the only way to
achieve peace and prosperity. |
