Reviews
Review by The Vegetarian
(May/June 1984) of
A Buddhist Case for Vegetarianism by
Roshi Philip Kapleau
The first precept of Buddhism is to
refrain from taking life, but like the old testament commandment �Thou
shalt not kill�, it tends to be interpreted in many ways. Adherents to
the Theravada version of the Buddhist scriptures maintain that the
Buddha only forbade monks to eat meat if they knew the animal has been
killed expressly for them. The Mahayayana version condemns meat-eating
completely and the author argues that this is more likely to follow
the Buddha�s intentions, especially as he was born in India and the
doctrine of �ahimsa� was influential in the India of that period.
The book goes on to discuss the modern reasons for vegetarianism and
the description of American slaughterhouses and factory farms is in
itself a poignant appeal for our way of life. The illustrations in
this book are worth mentioning as they have been specifically chosen
to depict the natural dignity of animals and their basic relationship
to man, being for the most part beautiful photographs of oriental
sculptures.
(Reviewer not named)
Reproduced with thanks.
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