{"id":101824,"date":"2020-05-01T15:31:47","date_gmt":"2020-05-01T22:31:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=101824"},"modified":"2020-05-01T15:31:47","modified_gmt":"2020-05-01T22:31:47","slug":"an-appeal-to-buddhists-strive-to-become-vegetarians-at-least-in-the-month-of-vesak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/05\/01\/an-appeal-to-buddhists-strive-to-become-vegetarians-at-least-in-the-month-of-vesak\/","title":{"rendered":"An Appeal to Buddhists- Strive to become Vegetarians at least in the month of Vesak"},"content":{"rendered":"

by<\/strong> Mrs. M. Weeraratna<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Note <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article was\nwritten by Mrs. Muriel Weeraratna in 2017 under the title ‘Buddhists must\nbecome vegetarians in the month of Vesak’ . She passed away on October 21, 2019\nat the age 98 years (40 days days short of her 99th birthday anniversary). <\/strong>The\nviews expressed in the article based on a high planetary sense have become\nincreasingly relevant in the current epoch of the Coronavirus which had its\nbeginning in the Wet Markets of Wuhan, China where rare wild animals are\nkilled in full view of the public and smaller animals are some times even\neaten alive. The world is paying a heavy price for abuse of animals. Is the\nCoronavirus pandemic a form of Karmic Retribution for slaughter of animals?\nTime to draw the appropriate lessons from this tragic crisis and move forward\non a footing of compassion and loving kindness to all living beings as the\nBuddha taught continuously during his lifetime.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The practice of religion requires effort. It calls for personal\nsacrifice, self \u2013 restraint and discipline. Above all such practice must be\nover arched by compassion and kindness based on a clear moral footing. Then the\npractice becomes noble in character.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we look around our society\nwe see Muslims conduct an annual fast during the month of Ramadan. Not even a\ndrop of water is taken during the time of fasting. The purpose is to simulate\nthe pain and suffering and develop an insight into the plight of the poor who\ndo not have enough food to eat and drink and therefore are forced to go hungry\nand thirsty regularly. Fasting helps one to better equip himself \/ herself\nmorally and generate empathy for the disadvantaged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The celebration of Vesak is not\nmeant to make one indulgent. Vesak is the day that commemorates the themagula \u2013\nBirth, Enlightenment and Parinirvana of the Buddha. It is a day for observance\nof Sil (meditation and quiet reflection on a disciplined footing). If Islam can\npromote empathy for the poor through fasting, likewise Buddhists can show\ncompassion and loving kindness for all those beautiful innocent animals who are\nslaughtered, by becoming vegetarian at least for the month of May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The consumption of flesh food\ninvariably results in the slaughter of innocent animals. Buddhists can lessen\nthe number of animals killed by not partaking flesh food at least during the\nmonth of Vesak i.e. May. There is enough Vegetarian and Vegan related food in\nthe market today. No can go hungry by not eating meat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The First Precept \u2013 Reverence\nfor life including that of non \u2013 human sentient beings must be inculcated in\nevery child in school. Life is dear to all (Dhammapada). Peace and\nReconciliation should not be confined to only one (human) species.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mrs. M.\nWeeraratna
\nColombo 05<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Mrs. M. Weeraratna Note  This article was written by Mrs. Muriel Weeraratna in 2017 under the title ‘Buddhists must become vegetarians in the month of Vesak’ . She passed away on October 21, 2019 at the age 98 years (40 days days short of her 99th birthday anniversary). The views expressed in the article based on a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[165],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-senaka-weeraratna"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101824\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}