Religions and Veganism – Eating Meat Is Never Right, Part 1 of 2

The fundamental teachings of all spiritual Masters and religious scriptures guide us toward the realization of our higher Self, or oneness with God. These teachings also say that such an attainment can only be achieved if we have compassion and loving kindness towards all of God’s creations. Having mercy for our animal co-inhabitants means abstention from meat-eating. This way of life is also known as Ahimsa, or non-violence, and it includes adopting a plant-based diet as the basis for nurturing the seed of care in the hearts of all humankind. During the world premiere of “The Real Love: The Musical,” in California USA, Supreme Master Ching Hai shared deep insights into the detrimental impact of meat eating to the consciousness and spiritual level of humans.

“You see, eating animal flesh, meaning we are decreasing our love in our being, from our structure, holy structure. We are born from God, we were holy, we were true human, we were true children of God. But if we eat the animals, then the mixing of blood type and genetic code between human and animals makes us lose our status as the crown of creation. As pure humans, the children of God, we are under direct connection with the Light, with the mighty Master power of the commanding center of the universe. We have absolute command over all under Heaven, because we were pure, and we’re children of God. But as we keep putting different elements into our beings, even physically, it will affect our spiritual structure as well. Because we became mix-ling, mixing structure, not pure, we became hybrid, vulnerable to attack from the dark force, because we are not pure anymore. Thus, this kind of mix-ling creature could be annihilated, because this mix-ling creature sends very confusing energy, confusing message into the center of the universe. It’s not recognized as pure human. So we could be eliminated, out of the physical realm, to be recycled, to be screened out for pureness again and to be reused. But this process can be very painful and torturous, over long periods, could be hundreds of thousands of Earth years.”

In this wise reminder to reclaim our original noble purity through a diet that is animal-free, the words of Supreme Master Ching Hai also resonate with spiritual teachings throughout the ages. Veganism is openly mentioned in scriptures from Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, and many other religions.

01.    “Be ye the embodiments of justice and fairness amidst ALL CREATION.” ~ The Kitáb-i-Aqdas (Bahá'í Faith)

02.    “Man’s food is intended to be grain and not meat.” ~ The Promulgation of Universal Peace (Bahá'í Faith)

03.    “God determined the food of every living being, and to eat contrary to that determination is not approved.” ~ ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (vegetarian) (Bahá'í Faith)

04.    “All meats eaten by living beings are of their own relatives.” ~ Lankavatara Sutra (Buddhism)

05.    “By ignorantly and adversely […] killing animals for consumption… they bring down curses upon themselves […]” ~ Ksitigarbha Sutra (Buddhism)

06.    “[…] Offering to the deities meat […] of animate beings is like offering a mother the flesh of her own child; this is a grievous sin.” ~ The Supreme Path of Discipleship (Buddhism)

07.    “If living beings […] cease to kill, they will not be subject to the continual round of births and deaths.” ~ Surangama Sutra (Buddhism)

08.    “Eating meat destroys the seed of compassion.” ~ Mahaparinirvana Sutra (Buddhism)

09.    “All meats are like the dead bodies of human beings.” ~ Lankavatara Sutra (Buddhism)

10.    “A state that is not pleasing or delightful to me, how could I inflict that upon another?” ~ Samyutta Nikaya (Buddhism)

11.    “Wherever roams, the beings in the waters, on dry land or in the sky are frightened. They even swoon or die.” ~ Mahaparinirvana Sutra (Buddhism)

12.    “If a man can control his body and mind and thereby REFRAINS FROM EATING ANIMAL FLESH and wearing animal products, I say he will really be liberated.” ~ Surangama Sutra (Buddhism)

13.    “If any of my disciples still eats meat, know that he is of the candela’s lineage. HE IS NOT MY DISCIPLE and I am not his teacher.” Candela means killer or murderer. ~ Lankavatara Sutra (Buddhism)

14.    “Meat eaters have so many countless offences, thus vegans have masses of countless merits and virtues.” ~ Lankavatara Sutra (Buddhism)

15.    “Those who, for meat and blood Slaughter living beings, Will in the Eight Hot Hells be burned.” ~ Lord Milarepa (vegetarian)

16.    “[…] ‘Humanity’ means to behave humanely, not to kill or cause harm to humans and animals, to eventually include trees and plants, and learn to treasure life.” ~ The Book of Truth (The Bhikshu Sangha Buddhist Association)

17.    “People who eat meat will fall into the horrible paths of transmigration and suffer boundless pain.” ~ Surangama Sutra (Buddhism)

18.    “Meat-eaters cause the celestial beings to avoid them and other sentient beings to be afraid of them.” ~ Surangama Sutra (Buddhism)

19.    “Celestial beings never go near people who eat meat as their mouth always has a foul smell.” ~ Lankavatara Sutra (Buddhism)

20.    “Meat is not good, meat is unclean.” ~ Lankavatara Sutra (Buddhism)

21.    “Though you are not used to vegan food, It is better than a meal filled with blood.” ~ Ten Recommendations for Self-Cultivation (Bửu Sơn Kỳ Hương Buddhism)

22.    “Recite Buddhas’ Names, keep the precepts and the vegan diet. Being also vegan in your heart is even better.” ~ Prophet Huỳnh Phú Sổ (vegan)

23.    “Eating fruit and vegetables, suffering not therefore the bad karma (retribution) caused by the mouth.” ~ Live in the World, Enjoy the Tao (Trúc Lâm Zen Buddhism)

24.    “Those who observe the precepts don’t injure any of the myriad life forms of Heaven and Earth.” ~ Venerable Patriarch Bodhidharma (vegan)

25.    “...The most important thing is to stop killing... because animals also have souls and understand like humans.” ~ Teachings of the Saints (Cao Đài-ism)

26.    “Of what use is satisfying your taste if your heart lacks compassion?” ~ True Teachings of the Three Vehicles (Cao Đài-ism)

27.    “Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them.” ~ 1 Corinthians, Holy Bible

28.    “But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.” ~ Genesis, Holy Bible

29.    “Thou shalt not kill.” ~ Exodus, Holy Bible

30.    “I will have mercy and not sacrifice.” ~ Matthew, Holy Bible

31.    “It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.” ~ Romans, Holy Bible

32.    “[…] When we abstain [from eating meat], do so because ‘we keep our body under, and bring it into subjection.’” ~ Origen of Alexandria (vegetarian)

33.    “One can hardly have virtue if one enjoys meat meals and feasts.” ~ Saint Basil the Great (vegetarian)

34.    “It is contrary to human dignity to cause animals to suffer and die needlessly.” ~ Catechism of the Catholic Church

35.    “The superior man, having seen the animals alive, cannot bear to see them killed and die […]” ~ Mencius (vegan)

36.    “To have peace, humanity must first have peace with the animals […]” ~ Master Nguyễn Thành Nam (vegan) (Nam Quốc Buddhism)

37.    “[…] If ye cease not offering and eating of flesh and blood, the wrath of God shall not cease from you.” ~ Gospel of the Holy Twelve (Essenes)

38.    “Woe to the hunters for they shall be hunted.” ~ Gospel of the Holy Twelve (Essenes)

39.    “Let not a man make himself abominable with any living creature or creeping thing by eating of them.” ~ The Dead Sea Scrolls (Essenes)

40.    “He who eats the flesh of slain animals, eats of the body of death.” ~ The Essene Gospel of Peace (Essenes)

41.    “Since you cannot bring killed animals back to life, you are responsible for killing them. Therefore you are going to hell [...]” ~ Adi-lila (Hinduism)

42.    “People who are not compassionate towards animals cannot be compassionate toward humans.” ~ The Principles of Bishnoism

43.    “[…] Heaven cannot be attained if creatures are killed.” ~ Manusmriti (Hinduism)

44.    “You must not use your God-given body for killing God’s creatures, whether they are human, animal or whatever.” ~ Yajur Veda (Hinduism)

45.    “Meat-eaters take repeated births in various wombs and are put every time to unnatural death through forcible suffocation.” ~ Mahabharata Anusasana Parva (Hinduism)

46.    “Prajapati says that eating meat of any sort is a geat evil and abstinence from doing so is highly meritorious.” ~ Yamasmriti (Hinduism)

47.    “All that lives will press palms together in prayerful adoration of those who refuse to slaughter and savor meat.” ~ Tirukural (Hinduism)

48.    “By not killing any living being, one becomes fit for salvation.” ~ Manu-samhita (Hinduism)

49.    “Ahimsa (non-violence) is the highest Dharma.” ~ Mahabharata Shantiparva (Hinduism)

50.    “Protect both our species, two-legged and four-legged.” ~ Rig Veda Samhita (Hinduism)

51.    “Protection of animals is considered a sacred duty.” ~ Charak Sanhita (Hinduism)

52.    “Non-injury to living beings is the highest religion.” ~ Ahimsa Paramo Dharmah (Hinduism)

53.    “Forbidden to you (for food) are: DEAD MEAT, BLOOD, THE FLESH OF SWINE and all that on which hath been invoked the name of other than Allah…” ~ Holy Qur’an

54.    “For you therein are many fruits of which you shall eat.” ~ Holy Qur’an

55.    “We have sent blessed water down from the sky to grow gardens, harvestable crops and tall palm-trees with clusters of dates as sustenance for My servants.” ~ Holy Qur’an

56.    “Do not allow your stomachs to become graveyards of animals!” ~ Hadith (Islam)

57.    “Whoever is kind to ALL creatures of God is kind to himself.” ~ Hadith (Islam)

58.    “Allah will not give mercy to anyone, except those who give mercy to other creatures.” ~ Hadith (Islam)

59.    “A true monk should not accept such food and drink as has been especially prepared for him involving the slaughter of living beings.” ~ Sutrakritanga (Jainism)

60.    “To kill any living being amounts to killing oneself.” ~ Bhagavati Aradhana (Jainism)

61.    “Compassion to others is compassion to one’s own self.” ~ Bhagavati Aradhana (Jainism)

62.    “A man who guards his soul and subdues his senses, should never assent to anybody killing living beings.” ~ Sutrakritanga (Jainism)

63.    “Those whose minds are at peace and who are free from passions do not desire to live at the expense of others.” ~ Holy Acharanga Sutra (Jainism)

64.    “One should not injure, subjugate, enslave, torture, or kill any animal, living being, organism, or sentient being.” ~ Holy Acharanga Sutra (Jainism)

65.    “Have benevolence towards all living beings.” ~ Tattvartha Sutra (Jainism)

66.    “While the flesh was yet between their teeth, […] the wrath of the LORD was kindled against the people, and […] smote the people with a great plague.” ~ Numbers, Holy Hebrew Bible

67.    “Thou shall eat the herb of the field.” ~ Genesis, Holy Hebrew Bible

68.    “I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.” ~ Isaiah, Holy Hebrew Bible

69.    “Better is dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.” ~Proverbs, Holy Hebrew Bible

70.    “Do not be among those who give themselves to wine-drinking, or among those who make themselves full with meat.” ~ Proverbs, Holy Hebrew Bible

71.    “It shall be a perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat neither Fat nor blood*.” *blood: meaning “flesh,” which has blood ~ Leviticus, Holy Hebrew Bible

72.    “One who destroys a single life is considered to have destroyed an entire world, and one who saves a single life is considered to have saved an entire world.” ~ Talmud (Judaism)

73.    “Those mortals who consume marijuana, flesh and wine – no matter what pilgrimages, fasts and rituals they follow, they will all go to hell.” ~ Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji (Sikhism)

74.    “The highest religion is to rise to universal brotherhood; and to consider all creatures your equals.” ~ Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji (Sikhism)

75.    “If you say that God resides in all, why do you kill a hen?” ~ Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji (Sikhism)

76.    “It is foolish to kill animals by cruelty and call it sanctified food.” ~ Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji (Sikhism)

77.    “You kill life and call it an act of religion. Then what is irreligion?” ~ Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji (Sikhism)

78.    “[…] If blood (or meat) is consumed by a human being, how can his heart be pure?” ~ Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji (Sikhism)

79.    “Our Guru, our Spiritual Guide, only stands by us if we do not eat any meat or dead bodies.” ~ Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji (Sikhism)

80.    “[…] One cannot have pure consciousness when one consumes blood and flesh of other beings.” ~ Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji (Sikhism)

81.    “You kill living beings and worship lifeless things, at your very last moment, you will suffer terrible pain.” ~ Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji (Sikhism)

82.    “Be kind to all beings - this is more meritorious than visiting and bathing at the 68 pilgrimage sites and the giving of charity.” ~ Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji (Sikhism)

83.    “Do not go into the mountain to catch birds in nets, nor to the water to poison fishes and minnows. Do not butcher the ox.” ~ Tract of the Quiet Way (Taoism)

84.    “Those who want to know the truth of the universe should practice reverence for all life […]” ~ Hua Hu Ching (Taoism)

85.    “Buy captive animals and give them freedom.” ~ Tract of the Quiet Way (Taoism)

86.    “How commendable is abstinence that dispenses with the butcher!” ~ Tract of the Quiet Way (Taoism)

87.    “Those plants, I, Ahura Mazda (God), rain down upon the earth, to bring food to the faithful, and fodder to the beneficent cow.” ~ Sacred Avesta (Zoroastrianism)

88.    “[…] Slaughter of the varying kinds of livestock animals is a grievous sin.” ~ Anthology of Zadspram (Zoroastrianism)

89.    “The man […] who considers all creatures on earth as his own self, He attains the Immortal Being, the true God is ever with him.” ~ Saint Kabir (vegetarian)

90.    “This (veganism) movement should cause special joy to those whose life lies in the effort to bring about the kingdom of God on earth.” ~ Leo Tolstoy (vegetarian)

91.    “A man is ethical only when life, as such, is sacred to him, that of plants and animals as well as that of his fellowman.” ~ Dr. Albert Schweitzer, MD (vegetarian)

92.    “The basis of my vegetarianism is not physical, but moral.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi Ji (vegetarian)

93.    “When we eat meat, we absorb elements that belong to the animal kingdom such as fear, cruelty, and so on, and this means that it will be very difficult for us to develop our higher Self…” ~ Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov (vegetarian)

94.    “If animals could talk, would we then dare to kill and eat them? How could we then justify such fratricide?” ~ Voltaire (veg advocate)

95.    “Don’t kill animals. You follow? Don’t kill them to eat.” ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti (vegetarian)

96.    “Animals are my friends... and I don't eat my friends.” ~ George Bernard Shaw (vegetarian)

97.    “For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other.” ~ Pythagoras (vegan)

98.    “The time will come when men will look upon the murder of animals as they look upon the murder of man.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci (vegetarian)

99.    “Vegetables are nature’s way, the natural, the correct, the cleansing.” ~ Edgar Cayce