Lately I have been thinking about consumption. Meat consumption. And for some reason, only recently, I have grown uncomfortable with the amount of meat I consume here in Korea. We have been out to quite a few delicious restaurants which serve an abundance of pork, chicken and fish products. Last week we went out for Korean BBQ. And it was delicious. Yet, I had a moment I've never had before, a moment of disgust and guilt. I've heard about the meat industry's connection to global warming. I've heard about the animal cruelty that takes place in the modern meat industry. I've met many many people in my sociology and global studies cohorts in college who went vegg-o for their own various reasons. It never appealed to me. At all.
But for the first time last week, it felt absolutely unnatural to eat meat. This could be for a number of reasons. Perhaps I'm on overload. Another night we went out for "chicken soup" and were served our very own cornish game hens, boiling in a pot of onion broth.
I was heavily involved in an environmental organization before coming to Korea, and learned a bit about global warming and the threat to our earth's well-being. With this awareness, it is difficult to consume meat and dairy products knowing how it contributes to the fate of our planet.
I haven't decided to become vegetarian yet, but here a few things I've been reading and I think they are worth mentioning:
The Case for Vegarianism:
UNESCO reported that each day about 40,000 children die because of hunger or lack of nutrition. Meanwhile, corn and wheat are largely grown to feed livestock (cows, pigs, chickens, etc.) or to produce alcohol. Over 80 percent of corn and over 95 percent of oats produced in the United States are for feeding livestock. The world’s cattle alone consume a quantity of food equivalent to the caloric needs of 8.7 billion people, more than the en-tire human population on earth. Eating meat and drinking alcohol with mind- fulness, we will realize that we are eating the flesh of our own children.
Climate change:
The livestock sector has major impacts on the atmosphere and cli- mate. It is responsible for “18 percent of green- house gas emissions measured in carbon dioxide equivalent, which is a higher share than transport.” This means that raising animals for food generates more greenhouse gases than all the cars and trucks in the world combined.
About global warming, Thay recounted to Times Magazine the story about the couple who ate their son’s flesh—the story told by the Buddha in the Son’s Flesh Sutra. This cou- ple, with their little child, on their way seek- ing asylum had to cross the desert. Due to a lack of geographical knowledge, they ran out of food, while they were only half way through the desert. They realized that all three of them would die in the desert, and they had no hope to get to the country on the
other end of the desert to seek asylum. Finally, they made the decision to kill their little son. Each day they ate a small morsel of his flesh, in order to have enough energy to move on, and they carried the rest of their son’s flesh on their shoulders, so that it could continue to dry in the sun. Each time when they finished eating a morsel of their son’s flesh, the couple looked at each other and asked:
“Where is our beloved child now?” Having told this tragic story, the Buddha looked at the monks and asked: “Do you think that this couple was happy to eat their son’s flesh?” “No, World Honored One. The couple suffered when they had to eat their son’s flesh,” the monks answered. The Buddha taught: “Dear friends, we have to practice eating in such a way that we can retain compassion in our hearts. We have to eat in mindfulness. If not, we may be eating the flesh of our own children.” is on a massive scale and its potential contribution to their solution is equally large. The impact is so significant that it needs to be addressed with urgency” (page XX).
Land degradation:
Presently, livestock production accounts for 70 percent of all agricultural land and 30 percent of the land surface of the planet. Forests are cleared to create new pastures, and it is a major driver of deforestation.
As a spiritual family and a human family, we can all help avert global warming with the practice of mindful eating. Going vegetarian may be the most effective way to fight global warming.
This is the practice of the
five remembrances:
1) I will have to grow old;
2) I will have to get sick;
3) I will have to die;
4) One day I will have to lose the things I cher-
ish today, and the people I love today;
5) When my body disintegrates, I cannot bring
anything with me except my actions of body,
speech and mind—they are the only inherit-
ance that I can bring with me.
When we can practice accepting these
truths in this way, we will have peace, and we
will have the capacity to live healthy and
compassionately—no longer causing suffer-
ing to ourselves and to others.
FIVE FOOD CONTEMPLATIONS
by Thich Nhat Hanh
Here below are our Five Contemplations recited
before meals:
1. This food is the gift of the whole universe—the
earth; the sky; numerous living beings; and
much hard, loving work;
2. May we eat and live in mindfulness so as to be
worth to receive this food;
3. May we recognize and transform our unwhole-
some mental formations, especially our greed,
and learn to eat with moderation;
4. May we keep our compassion alive by eating in
such a way that we reduce the suffering of living
beings; preserve our planet; and reverse the pro-
cess of global warming;
5. We accept this food in order to nourish our
brotherhood and sisterhood; build our Sangha;
and nourish our ideal of serving living beings.
