Meat-Eaters Sever the Seeds of Great Compassion and Buddha-Nature; All Sentient Beings Will Turn Away from Them on Sight

You teach sentient beings in the world to cultivate samadhi, and then to sever the taking of life. This is called the second definitive, pure, and luminous instruction of the Tathagata, the Buddhas of the past, and the World-Honored One.

Here the Buddha offers a summary, telling Venerable Ananda that he should circulate this true Dharma to later generations, so that everyone may come to know: if you wish to cultivate the Mahayana samadhi, the next step is to sever the taking of life!

As explained here, the first matter to be cut off is the mind of lust, the second is the mind of killing. Only this can be called the "Tathagata"—here the Tathagata refers to the Buddha of the present world—while "Buddhas of the past" refers to the Buddhas of bygone ages. This is the definitive, pure, and luminous teaching of all Buddhas, past and present.

As we can see, within the Mahayana sutras, it is rare for the Buddha to censure the eating of meat with such severity. Cases as stern as the Shurangama Sutra are indeed few; the Buddha generally addresses the matter only in passing. Of course, the question follows: for what reason does eating meat cause one to become a great rakshasa?

The Brahmajala Sutra states this very clearly: "A person who eats meat cuts off the seed of the great compassionate Buddha-nature, and all sentient beings, upon seeing them, will turn away and depart." It means that although a person may originally possess a heart of great compassion, by eating meat day after day, that compassion will gradually vanish, often without their even realizing it. Therefore, when some people say, "Let wine and meat pass through my entrails, while the Buddha sits within my heart," this saying is in fact entirely unreasonable. When wine and meat are passing through your entrails, the Buddha is slowly ceasing to sit in your heart; it is the rakshasa who has taken his seat there. How can it be that the Buddha still abides in your heart? Such conduct shatters your great compassionate heart.

This principle is explained with great clarity in the Consciousness-Only school. The Consciousness-Only school teaches that our body and mind, our entire phenomenal world, mutually contain and mutually penetrate one another: the mind influences the physical body, and the physical body likewise influences the mind. For example, in the Zongjing Lu, Great Master Yongming Yanshou relates a small story. He says that when the Buddha was in the world, there was a group of bhikshus cultivating in a mountain forest. At that time, everyone was observing the summer retreat, applying themselves diligently for ninety days, and many of them attained the first, second, third, and fourth fruits of the path. While they were practicing, many monkeys came by. Seeing the bhikshus applying themselves with such diligence, sitting in meditation one and all, the monkeys rejoiced and brought them abundant fresh flowers and fruit as offerings. After the bhikshus completed their ninety days of practice, achieved the holy path, and departed, it was not long before non-Buddhist ascetics also came upon the place. "Ah, what a fine environment this is!" they said, and they settled there as well. The monkeys who had previously made offerings to the bhikshus returned, and seeing these new practitioners cultivating as well, they again brought flowers and fruit to offer them. But when the monkeys looked more closely, they noticed that something was different about these people compared to those before! The bhikshus had all sat upright and proper, but the non-Buddhist ascetics practiced in all manner of postures—some stood on one leg, some lay flat on the ground, and so on.

At first, the monkeys paid little attention, but after watching for a while, they grew very angry: How could they behave like this! Unable to bear it any longer, the monkeys swarmed down in a group and forcibly seated these ascetics properly—crossing their legs, forming the dhyana-mudra with their hands, and compelling their eyes to close. At first the non-Buddhist ascetics naturally resisted, but after some time, they thought, "Ah, this method is actually quite good—it is easier to gather the mind!" As a result, owing to sitting in the full cross-legged posture, the non-Buddhist ascetics swiftly attained the first, second, third, and fourth dhyanas.

In the Zongjing Lu, Great Master Yongming Yanshou therefore says: clearly, the posture of the body will influence the mind. You see, when the non-Buddhist ascetics had not yet assumed the cross-legged posture, not a single one of them attained dhyana concentration; they were all scattered and distracted. Eating meat is merely a physical action of the body, yet our five aggregates, our body and mind, our entire phenomenal world, all interact with one another: the physical body influences the mind, and the mind influences the physical body. Those of you who have studied the Shramanera Precepts may know why one must possess a complete and proper bearing: it is because proper deportment produces the effect of gathering and concentrating the mind.

In this passage, the Buddha's censure and condemnation of the eating of meat by sentient beings in the Dharma-ending age may be said to be exceedingly severe.