Flesh eating demands slaughter, as artificial meat production research has not produced any positive results, yet. Let alone the criminality, global food security is at serious risks; animal farming and flesh consumption are causing a threat to the environment and human health. Refraining from eating meat as at present means saving millions of animal lives a day! Globally, there are 3.5 million cattle, 133 million chickens, and 26 million sheep/goats, lining up for the slaughterhouse daily. Gathering of the so-called ‘Marine Resources’ exceeds billions of tons.
There is a ridiculous but popular misconception that only meat should be avoided and fish is okay; perhaps, they believe that fish are inanimate edible substance. Vegetarianism can work well for the physical well being of every human. Sportsmen turn vegetarians weeks before a competition which make them feel more agile and lively. The Jains and the Marwaris in India do well in life, they are highly educated and affluent. It is due to their way of life which involves not harming a living being.
Meat eaters and body odour:
scientific findings
As in garlic and onions, the bad smell of meat oozes through the skin and becomes a rotten sweat, polluting the air around as the temperature rises. In 2006, a study was undertaken by anthropologists in the Faculty of Humanities, Charles University, Czech on the effects of food on attractiveness, especially, focusing on women’s preferences for the body odour of vegetarian and non-vegetarian men. The researchers, J Havlicek and P Lenochova found that women judged the men fed with a vegetarian diet to be more attractive, more pleasant, and less intense. The study says, auxiliary body odour is potentially a rich supply of information about its producer. They have tested samples for their attractiveness, masculinity, pleasantness and intensity by 30 women and by repeating the same process a month later with the same men, each on the non-veg diet. Results of repeated tests showed that the odour of donors when on the vegetarian was judged as appreciably more attractive, more pleasant, and less intense.
This means that meat consumption has a negative impact on obvious body smell. Why do we not eat non-vegetarian animals [carnivorous] – because of the difficulty in catching them? They are easier to catch; no, it’s because their meat stink is horrifying unlike meat of the herbivore, which is far more suitable for eating, smell wise. Even the odour of pork tastes better compared to a tiger’s meat, which stinks.
Contrary to popular reviews or observations, people following a strict vegetarian diet are much healthier than their meat eating omnivorous counterparts. Suffering from liver diseases, such as hemochromatosis (iron overload), is a leading example where shunning red meat or adopting a more vegetarian-based lifestyle would have a more positive effect on that condition.
How do they get proteins?
WHO affiliated research bodies have found that Protein is a vital nutrient required for the building, repair and maintenance of tissues.
The building blocks of protein or Amino acids can be synthesized by the body or extracted from food. There are over 20 different amino acids in the food we consume, and nine essential amino acids, which we cannot produce, and must be obtained from the diet.
Vegans have no problem in obtaining all amino acids from a plant based diet as long as they eat lots of fruits, legumes, vegetables and grains.
Mahayana and Theravada
traditions
Buddhists who observe vegetarianism have a simple and persuasive argument to prop up their case. Eating meat promotes cruelty and death to billions of animals and a strictly compassionate being would wish to alleviate all this misery.
By declining to eat meat one can do just that. The followers of Mahayana version are mostly vegetarian and Theravadin are not.
However, the position is a little more complex than that. The Theravadins have no dietary restrictions although it is not unusual to find bhikkhus and lay people in Sri Lanka who are complete vegetarians. Others abstain from meat while consuming fish. Chinese and Vietnamese bhikkhus are strict vegetarians and the lay population tries to follow their example though many do not. Vegetarianism is uncommon among Tibetans and Japanese Buddhists.
Responsibility of the seniors
A child will not grasp it so well as to why animals should not be butchered for meat, thus it becomes the responsibility of the seniors of the family to enlighten them and the consequences will be enormous and effective. You cannot prevent everyone from eating meat. It depends entirely on someone’s desire.
If we think the earth is a living thing, it respires, and we will be born again, so you have to continue its life, the universe will give you back what you gave first.
You leave non–vegetarian food for a few months and see the results for yourselves; all good things will start happening.
May all beings be happy!