Theravada Buddhism and Vegetarianism: A Review and Study Guide

By: Bhikkhu Mahinda

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

This book aims to comprehensively survey and review the Sutta piṭaka teachings in terms of the role of vegetarianism in Theravāda Buddhism. To accomplish this, a two-pronged strategy was employed. First, most of the known English translations were scanned to identify related teachings. Second, the built-in word search function within CST was used to search for keywords related to food, meat, and so on. These teachings were then organized in a framework that consisted of both selected limbs of the Noble Eightfold Path and topics of interest.
In addition to a survey of the teachings, we have also tried to identify what the then-contemporary people understood of the teachings. One such source is Emperor Ashoka and his edicts while the second source is one of the Jātaka depicted on the Bharhut Stupa.
The final chapter provides both a standard for judging what is beneficial and what is not as well as guidance on what not to do and what to do. A comprehensive set of indices and a Pāḷi-English glossary round-out the book, helping the reader to follow-up with extra reading and/or learn Pāḷi for herself.
This is a completely reworked edition, with numerous textual and grammatical changes. New content has been added and existing content has been updated. Many Pāḷi terms have been modified and now they have been standardized across all the books I have authored.
It is sincerely hoped that this book will help all the seekers of welfare understand the teachings as they relate to food, help generate the right view, and help quicken their journey to the ambrosial taste of Nibbāna.