I hope that all vegans or aspiring vegans have the opportunity at some point in our  lives to live in a vegan community for a while.  I have had this opportunity a few times and it’s been transformative.  Many of the difficulties we encounter in living a vegan lifestyle, for our families and ourselves, arise because we are basically alone in a culture that is hostile to our values.  I found when I was immersed in large-scale vegan communities, contradictions and complications evaporated in a remarkable feeling of inner wholeness.

Photo: generationVegan

Veganism is not “veganism.”  That’s all looking from the outside.  We live, serve, and give thanks for this precious life arising through All of Us.  It may look like and be called veganism, but it is not an option.  It is simply the expression of our own true nature: seeing beings to be respected rather than things to be used.

Photo: Animal Place

When love is born in our hearts, we want only the best for others, for we directly see them as ourselves.  The imprisoning illusion of a fundamentally separate self, struggling against other selves for its own rewards, is transcended, and our life becomes dedicated to bringing peace, joy, and fulfillment to others.  This brings us our greatest joy, and is the flowering of the highest form of love, which is compassion.

We must, if this process is actually happening in us, be drawn toward veganism, and it is in no way a limitation on us, but the harmonious fulfillment of our own inner seeing.

As we evolve spiritually, we become more awake to the truth of interbeing, that all living beings are profoundly interconnected, and that by harming others, I harm myself because the life in that apparent ‘other’ is the same life that lives in this apparent ‘me.’  As our hearts open to deeper understanding, our circle of compassion thus automatically enlarges, and spontaneously begins to include more and more ‘others.’  Not just our own tribe, sect, nation, or race, but all human beings, and not just humans, but other mammals, and birds, fish, forests, and the whole beautifully-interwoven tapestry of living, pulsing creation.  All of Us.

Anthropologists refer to the five prohibitions as the five universal taboos, which cross-culturally prohibit, against other humans, the actions of killing, stealing, lying, sexual misconduct, and forcing drugs or toxic substances on others.  In our culture today, we are evolving toward an understanding of these prohibitions that includes animals as well: seeing that just as it is a violation to harmfully interfere with Spirit’s experience of being a human, it is also a violation to harmfully interfere with Spirit’s experience of being an animal.

Photo: Animal Place

In the Japanese language there is a beautiful word, “shojin,” roughly translated into English as “abstention from animals foods and products for religious or spiritual reasons.”  The existence of this word reveals the culture’s recognition that abstaining from the use of animal products is a valid dimension of religious practice and of spiritual aspiration.

Photo: Beets Living Foods Cafe

It seems there are three main reasons why people continue to eat animals in spite of the horror and tragedy this behavior generates.  The first and essential reason is that eating animals is not a behavior people have ever chosen freely.  It has, instead, been forced upon them, starting at an early age.  People have been indoctrinated to do it. The second reason is because of social pressure. Being so gregarious, we humans like to fit in and be part of the group, and this militates strongly against questioning the eating of animal foods. The third big reason is that people like the taste: they get a certain pleasure that they are loath to give up. Fortunately, these three fundamental reasons for eating animal foods are all ultimately invalid and indefensible.  Indoctrination, social pressure, and the self-centered pursuit of pleasure have been behind all the atrocities we humans have committed, and when we shine the light of our awareness and truth on them, they are seen for the weak, erroneous delusions that they truly are.

The great philosopher Schopenhauer, in criticizing how some Christians treat animals, wrote, “Shame on such a morality that fails to recognize the eternal essence that exists in every living thing, and shines forth with inscrutable significance from all eyes that see the sun.”  All of us are celebrations of infinite mysterious Spirit, deserving of honor and respect.

In the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, the Buddha says to the assembled monks, “If one sees that there is much meat, one must not accept such a meal. One must never take the meat itself. One who takes it infringes the rule.” This is very clear, and as another example, in the Brahma’s Net Sutra, he says, “ Disciples of the Buddha, should you willingly and knowingly eat flesh, you defile yourself.” These teachings are repeated strongly in many other sutras, including the Lankavatara Sutra and the Surangama Sutra, both of which are foundational Mahayana Buddhist scriptures. The cardinal precept in Buddhism is not to kill, and animals are always explicitly included in this injunction.

Each and every one of us makes our world.

Question everything this culture says, throw off the chains of harming and stealing from fish, birds, and other mammals, and join the vegan celebration!