Humanity Against Cruelty to Animals in Historical Literature, Timeline of Animal Rights History

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Siddhartha Guatama (Buddha, Sakyamuni), "the great Hindu profit…proclaims [abstinence from animal food] as a great moral truth, based upon…universal justice and compassion" (Howard Williams, Ethics of Diet, "Sakya Muni"). In The Lankavatara Sutra, "a distinctive and influential philosophical discourse…Buddha preaches (Encyclopædia Britannica Online, s.v. "Lakavatara Sutra") to "cherish the thought of kinship with [living beings] and refrain from meat-eating:…for the sake of love and purity…and for the fear of causing terror to living beings". He denounces not those who eat flesh, but those who pay for or profit from the destruction of "sentient beings" as "evil minded, evil-doers…[condemned] to the most horrifying hell". "Thus," he concludes, "meat-eating I have not permitted to anyone, I do not permit, I will not permit" (The Lankavatara Sutra, "On Meat-Eating").

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The Lankavatara Sutra

On Meat Eating

Wherever there is the evolution of living beings, let people cherish the thought of kinship with them, and, thinking that all beings are [to be loved as if they were] an only child, let them refrain from eating meat. (Buddha, The Lankavatara Sutra, "On Meat Eating")

For the sake of love of purity…refrain from eating flesh. (Buddha, The Lankavatara Sutra, "On Meat Eating")

For fear of causing terror to living beings…refrain from eating flesh. (Buddha, The Lankavatara Sutra, "On Meat Eating")

Meat which is liked by unwise people is full of bad smell and its eating gives one a bad reputation which turns wise people away.…There is generally an offensive odour to a corpse, which goes against nature… when flesh is burned, whether it be that of a dead man or of some other living creature, there is no distinction in the odour. When flesh of either kind is burned, the odour emitted is equally noxious. Therefore…who is ever desirous of purity in his discipline, wholly refrain from eating meat. (Buddha, The Lankavatara Sutra, "On Meat Eating")

When I teach to regard food as if it were eating the flesh of one's own child…how can I permit my disciples…to eat food consisting of flesh and blood, which is gratifying to the unwise but is abhorred by the wise, which brings many evils and keeps away many merits…and is altogether unsuitable? Thus…meat-eating I have not permitted to anyone, I do not permit, I will not permit. (Buddha, The Lankavatara Sutra, "On Meat Eating")

If…meat is not eaten by anybody for any reason, there will be no destroyer of life. …In the majority of cases the slaughtering of innocent living beings is done for pride and very rarely for other causes. Alas… one addicted to the love of [meat-] taste should eat human flesh! (Buddha, The Lankavatara Sutra, "On Meat Eating")

Meat is not agreeable to the wise: it has a nauseating odour, it causes a bad reputation, it is food for the carnivorous;…it is not to be eaten. (Buddha, The Lankavatara Sutra, "On Meat Eating")

To those who eat [meat] there are detrimental effects, to those who do not, merits;…meat-eaters bring detrimental effects upon themselves. (Buddha, The Lankavatara Sutra, "On Meat Eating")

Let the Yogin refrain from eating flesh as it is born of himself, as [the eating] involves transgression, as [flesh] is produced of semen and blood, and as [the killing of animals] causes terror to living beings. (Buddha, The Lankavatara Sutra, "On Meat Eating")

Let the Yogin always refrain from meat. (Buddha, The Lankavatara Sutra, "On Meat Eating")

From eating [meat] arrogance is born, from arrogance erroneous imaginations issue, and from imagination is born greed; and for this reason refrain from eating [meat]. (Buddha, The Lankavatara Sutra, "On Meat Eating")

For profit sentient beings are destroyed, for flesh money is paid out, they are both evil-doers. (Buddha, The Lankavatara Sutra, "On Meat Eating")

One who eats flesh, trespassing against the words of the Muni, is evil-minded; he is pointed out in the teachings of the Sakya as the destroyer of the welfare of the two worlds. (Buddha, The Lankavatara Sutra, "On Meat Eating")

Those evil-doers go to the most horrifying hell; meat-eaters are matured in the terrific hells such as Raurava, etc. (Buddha, The Lankavatara Sutra, "On Meat Eating")

[The meat-eater] is ill-smelling, contemptuous, and born deprived of intelligence. (Buddha, The Lankavatara Sutra, "On Meat Eating")

Meat-eating is rejected by me in such sutras as the Hastikakshya, the Mahãmegha, the Nirvãna, the Aṅglimãlika, and the Lãnkãvatãra. (Buddha, The Lankavatara Sutra, "On Meat Eating")

[Meat-eating] is condemned by the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Śrāvakas; if one devours [meat] out of shamelessness he will always be devoid of sense. (Buddha, The Lankavatara Sutra, "On Meat Eating")

As greed is the hindrance to emancipation, so are meat-eating, liquor, etc., hindrances. (Buddha, The Lankavatara Sutra, "On Meat Eating")

There may be in time to come people who make foolish remarks about meat-eating, saying, "Meat is proper to eat, unobjectionable, and permitted by the Buddha." (Buddha, The Lankavatara Sutra, "On Meat Eating")

[Meat-eating] is forbidden by me everywhere and all the time for those who are abiding in compassion. (Buddha, The Lankavatara Sutra, "On Meat Eating")

Therefore, do not eat meat which will cause terror among people, because it hinders the truth of emancipation; [not to eat meat—] this is the mark of the wise. (Buddha, The Lankavatara Sutra, "On Meat Eating")

Links to the Primary Source
document the authenticity of quotations while providing more in-depth insight into the ideologies of humanity against cruelty to animals and additional historical perspective on the continuing struggle for animal rights, animal welfare and the protection of animals.

"On Meat Eating" chap. 8 in The Lankavatara Sutra, translated by Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki (London: 1932; Online Edition: do1@yandex.ru, 2005)

1883 | Howard Williams, Sakya Muni, in The Ethics of Diet [First Edition: London & Manchester, 1883] 2nd ed. (London & Manchester, 1896; Online at Animal Rights History, 2006).

EncyclopÆdia Britannica Online, s.v. "Lakavatara Sutra
"¹ The Lakavatara Sutra, "a distinctive and influential philosophical discourse…that is said to have been preached by the Buddha" himself.

"Unidentified artist. Death of the Historical Buddha (Nehan) [Kyoto, Japan] (12.134.10)," in Timeline of Art History, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. (October 2006)

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