乾县铁佛寺移动版

QUESTION: But I still think that a Buddhist should be vegetarian.

ANSWER: If there were a person who was a very strict vegetarian but who was selfish, dishonest and mean, and another person who was not vegetarian but who was thoughtful to others,  honest, generous and  kind, which  of these two  people would be the better Buddhist?

QUESTION: The person who was honest and kind.

ANSWER: Why?

QUESTION: Because such a person obviously has a good heart.

ANSWER: Exactly. One who eats meat can have a pure heart just as one who does not eat meat can have an impure heart. In the Buddha's teachings, the important thing is the quality of your heart, not the contents of your diet. Many people take great care never to eat meat but they may not be too concerned about being selfish, dishonest,  cruel  or  jealous.  They  change  their  diet  which  is  easy  to  do  while neglecting to change their hearts which is a difficult thing to do. So whether you are a vegetarian or not, remember that the purification of the mind is the most important thing in Buddhism.

QUESTION: But from the Buddhist point of view, would the person who had a good heart and was vegetarian be better than the person who had a good heart but was a meat eater?

ANSWER: If a good-hearted vegetarian’s motive in avoiding meat was concern for animals and not wanting to be involved in the cruelty of modern industrial farming, then he or she would definitely have developed their compassion and their concern for others to a higher degree than the meat eater would have. Many people find that as they develop in the Dhamma that they have a natural tendency to move towards vegetarianism.

QUESTION: Someone told me that the Buddha died from eating spoiled pork. Is that true?

ANSWER:  No,  it  is  not.  The  scriptures   mention  that  the   Buddha’s  last  meal consisted of a dish called sukara maddava. The meaning of this term is no longer understood but the word sukara means a pig so it may refer to a preparation of pork although it might just as easily refer to a type of vegetable, a pastry or something else. Whatever it was, the mention of this food has led some people to think that eating it caused the Buddha’s death. The Buddha was 80 at the time he passed away and he has been ailing for some time. The reality is that he died of old age.

9. GOOD LUCK AND FATE

QUESTION: What did the Buddha teach about magic and fortune telling?

ANSWER: He considered such practices as fortune telling, wearing magic charms for  protection,  fixing  lucky  sites  for  building  and  determining  lucky  days,  to  be useless superstitions and he expressly forbade his disciples from practicing such things. He called all these things 'low arts'. He said;

‘ Whereas some religious men, while living of food provided by the faithful, make  their living  by  such  low  arts,  such  wrong  means  of livelihood  as palmistry,  divining  by signs,  interpreting  dreams…  bringing  good  or bad luck… picking the lucky site for a building, the monk Gotama refrains from such low arts, such wrong means of livelihood.’ D.I,9-12

QUESTION: Then why do people sometimes practice such things and believe in them? (责任编辑：admin)