The Śākyamuni Buddha may have permitted monks to eat meat under very limited circumstances. There are three instances in which meat may be eaten: when it is not seen, not heard, and not suspected. The Buddha and monks got their food either by going on donations or by being invited to the houses of their supporters and in both cases they ate what he was given. In early Buddhism we should be remember that the First Precept prohibits killing. It also makes anyone who causes another to take a life equally culpable. Eating meat is the cause of killing animals and it is clearly a violation of the First Sila. Why do Mahāyana Buddhism advocate vegetarianism? The main reason is maitrī-karuṇa(compassion), and because we cannot bear to eat the flesh of living beings. The Mahā-parinirvāṇa Sūtra tells us that if we eat the meat of living beings, we are destroying the seeds of compassion. And In the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra says, how can the Bodhisattva who desires to approach all living beings as if they were himself and to practice the Buddha-truths, eat the flesh of any living being that is of the same nature as himself? At the conclusion of this study, I say that practice of compassion and mercy toward all beings in the world must necessary lean on Ahiṃsā(non-violence) and vegetarianism.
目次
I. 서 론 230 II. 불교의 생명관 231 1. 연기론적 생명관 231 2. 윤리적 생명관 235 III. 대승불교의 육식관 239 1. 초기불교와 육식 239 2. 대승불교에서의 육식 242 IV. 자비의 실천으로서의 채식 250 1. 참다운 자비의 실천 250 2. 생태적 관점에서의 채식 253 V. 결 론 257 . 영문초록 260
