Reply To: Useful Essays from DRARISWORLD and Other Websites – Part 2

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Jittananto
Participant

JĪVAKA SUTTA

Jīvaka, if anyone kills a living being especially for the Tathāgata or a Tathāgata’s disciple, he makes many demerits( Akusalas) for five reasons:

1. When he says: ‘Go and fetch that living being’, that is the first reason for which he makes many demerits.

2. When that living experiences physical pain and mental suffering on being led along with a neck-halter, this is the second reason for which he makes much demerit.

3. When he says: ‘Go and kill that living being’, this is the third reason for which he makes many demerits.

4. When that living being experiences physical pain and mental suffering on being killed, this is the fourth reason for which he makes much demerit.

5. When he provides the Tathāgata or his disciple with food that is not allowable, this is the fifth reason for which he makes much demerit.

Sutta centrale: Jīvakasutta

  • Here is a sutta discussing the impact of offering inappropriate food to Bhikkhus during almsgiving. Those people accumulate many akusalas. The sutta also discusses the topic of eating meat. This remains a complex issue even today. For instance, my teacher didn’t eat meat, but other bhikkus did. Ultimately, it’s up to each person to decide what is best for them based on their own circumstances. But we must remember that it is immoral to kill living beings and that we could end up in apayas if our taste for meat leads us to commit akusalas. This is another trap caused by the distorted sanna. He makes us believe that there is a delicious taste in this meat. Because of this attachment to taste we are willing to kill animals to satisfy our desires. See Sotapanna Stage via Understanding Perception (Saññā)
  • There was an anagami who had a father who ended up in Avīci hell, the worst of the Nirayas because he was a butcher and died in great suffering. His mind was in extreme Dosa. There are many cases where killing an animal can have devastating consequences. The story is in the Goghatakaputta Vatthu.
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