26 Responses to Make It Simple…

1. 

   Samfoonheei on Jun 9, 2021 at 2:57 pm

   Worth to be on a vegetarian for many reasons such as health , making a positive environmental and ethical impact and saving animals life. For some people, eating vegetarian is a way to be healthier and for others, eating this way has more to do with religion, animal rights, or environmental concerns. Many studies have shown that vegetarians are less likely to get chronic diseases such as heart disease, cholesterol and diabetes. A vegetarian diet reduced the risk for cancer in general I would say that. But what is important basically is not to harm animals, give them a chance to live.
   Thank you Rinpoche for this simple meaningful sharing.

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2. 

   Edward Ooi on Jun 17, 2014 at 1:16 am

   Most people when they watch a video about animals being threaded badly. They would say that they feel sorry for them, but when they eat them they would say that animals taste good. This action is just like saying you love animals in front of them and then you stab them in the back. Now that I think of it, animals have more feelings for each other than us. We cheat or lie to each other.

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3. 

   Edward Ooi on Dec 9, 2013 at 11:12 pm

   Dear Rinpoche, there was a time where I convince one of my friend to become a vegetarian. He said: he said he wants to stay as a meat eater because God or Buddha gives us food and we shouldn’t waste it or else we will go to hell. But I was not being influenced by him thinking. Now, I feel much more easier to control myself from eating meat and I feel happy being a vegetarian.

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4. 

   beatrix ooi on May 6, 2013 at 8:26 pm

   I agree with this totally. If killing humans are not okay, then why is killing animals alright? They are living beings as well, just like us. And if we are not kind to the animals, and how are we going to practise compassion and be kind to human beings?
   Thank You for sharing Rinpoche.
   Love, beatrix.

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5. 

   Julien Roth on Jan 14, 2013 at 7:34 pm

   I totally agree with the this. Its no difference when you yourself kill the animal than when you eat meat. Eating meat causes the killing, because people know that you eat meat, therefore they will kill more animals to sell them to you. So there is really no point in telling yourself that you don’t want to kill animals and you still eat meat. Being a vegetarian would solve everything.

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6. 

   Julia Tan on Aug 4, 2012 at 5:00 pm

   Many people think meat provide the nutrition that couldn’t get from vegetarian food. Hence they do not feel good by being a vegetarian. In fact what is the biggest issue here is not about the nutrition but how much you attached to meat. Especially Chinese, they feel prosperous by having meat on their dinning table. Only the poor has no money so that they have no meat to eat. Hence without meat is a sign poverty. It’s another wrong perception. What is that to be prosperous about if everyday you are killing lives to feed yourself?

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7. 

   tsemtulku on Mar 17, 2011 at 3:24 am

   In everything we do, there is positive and negative effects due to the nature of our existence. It is 100% correct you don’t eat meat. HH the Dalai Lama, the highest authority within Tibetan Buddhism recommends we do not eat meat, so that is all we need to remember. Buddha said, we should not lie, or get attached to drinking, singing, dancing, intimacies,entertainments and that we should spend our energies to become enlightened. Are we doing all die and not just the meat part?? People tend to pick what is convenient from the Buddha’s teachings to suit themselves. If we are going to follow Buddha’s teachings or quote, we may ask are you following everything Buddha says? If you are not, then rejoice when others follow the best they can and as much as they can. Since it is the right path for 21st century Buddhists to follow the no meat path, let’s do it. We have so much variety of food. Let’s eat the no meat diet and get on with our practice and basically compassionately go passed the criticisms. It is very simple, do not kill. So hence animals will not die in front of you to eat them…There is no good karma in eating meat..full stop, but definitely there is good karma refraining from eat. Many of the tantras when engaged in the practice prohibit meat as taught by Vajradhara. Many rituals we do in the great Monasteries prohibit meat so the rituals are more effective…..Many who are not monks or not living in the monasteries would never understand that. Reading from books, net or from dharma centres would never be the same as in the monastery. Again, eating meat does not gather good merits for our spiritual practice, avoiding does. Listen to some of wonderful Tenzin Palmo’s views on not eating meat. She is the great yogini who meditated for the longest time in the mountains.TR

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8. 

   tsemtulku on Mar 16, 2011 at 12:58 pm

   In the tantras such as Tara, White Tara, Vajrapani, Manjushri, Saraswati, Tsongkapa, Dukkar, Avalokitesvara, Oserchenma, Maitreya, etc, it is highly recommended you do not eat meat/eggs when you engage in their sadhanas, practice, retreats. When you do Tara Pujas (Drolchok), you are suppose to avoid meat or you shouldn’t engage in the pujas. In the Monastery, countless times we have to do Tara puja or engage monks to do for us, they have to avoid meat before coming..it was strict. If you are doing Naga pujas, you have to avoid meat and it is a must. There are many types of beneficial naga pujas such as Lutor, Lusang, etc that you avoid meat totally. There’s a very powerful Naga vase (Lubum), which my guru made and I have one for years now, and it is specifically for generating wealth for dharma activities. If you keep this vase, make proper offerings, then with the motivation of dharma, your financial resources will increase to fund the dharma works. 10 years ago, when I was literally down to a few dollars and struggled financially very badly, I called my Guru for divination, he said to get a Naga vase and then with some time it will be ok. He taught me how to make offerings and what to offer and not offer and one big no-no is meat. He said avoid meat…or in my thinking no wealth…LOL. Well I didn’t offer meat, after that yearly I can see growth in Kechara.So no meat in this case was worth it for growth to benefit others.

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9. 

   tsemtulku on Mar 16, 2011 at 12:32 pm

   It seems eating vegetables and eating animals are both bad, in that case cut one out completely. Why do both. Our karmic ripening makes us take rebirth always in situations that we cannot avoid all situational karma as a natural by product. But we have a choice to make it less. No matter what we do or how we exist at our ordinary levels, we will accummulate negative karma. So we have to choose conscioiusly to lessen them. His Holiness Dalai Lama, many Tulkus/Geshes/monks in Gaden tells us go vegetarian. The beautiful Master Thich Nhat Hanh and the sacred Nun Rev Chen Yen of Taiwan (http://tw.tzuchi.org/en/index.php? ) with hundreds of centres around the world and the whole accomplished Mahayana Buddhism of China forbids meat.The current Karmapa banned all meats in the Monasteries. Before it was meat and vegetables/rice. Now no more meat. The trend is no meat.

   I may have people object, but that is ok, as a Buddhist teacher for the rest of my life I will advocate a no meat diet, produce books, blog posts, works and inspirational examples toward Vegetarianism. If that lifestyle offends/angers others or they feel their spirituality is being put down because of that, I do apologize. But that is not my intent, but it is their perceptions speaking or their perceptions of my motivation for speaking about no meat..If it really upsets them, then they don’t have to visit my posts, my writings and my ideas…LOL…simple as that… In this day and age, when you say things ppl like, then they praise you as a great person, great Rinpoche, great teacher, if you say something slightly off, no matter how they ‘liked’ you in the past, it changes. It’s reflective of the times and dynamics of this day and age. As my guru says, if you practice/teach dharma these days, you become a white crow. LOL..

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10. 

    Anila on Mar 15, 2011 at 5:13 pm

    For some people going vegetarian is simple and easy and for some it is not. I think the reason behind that is because of the habituation of your diet when you were growing up. Some children when growing up will be fed meat by their parents with the logic that is for the child’s health. Then it becomes an attachment and a eating habit. Today we can find substitute which is comparable to the real meat and also have the same taste if you can’t get away from the attachment of eating meat. Of course you can’t change your meat eating diet over night. But it can be done gradually if you have the intention of doing it. It is more simple and easier if you are a Buddhist for getting over the thought of eating meat. If you can feel compassion and the suffering for the animal being slaughtered and that if you were that animal, you would think again before touching the meat.

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11. 

    Martin Bosnev on Mar 15, 2011 at 3:26 am

    This girl had almost the same expirience as me:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI4LYE5_jY0
    The difference is that she lives in USA where they eat ready made food while in my country we usually cook most of our food.

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12. 

    Martin Bosnev on Mar 15, 2011 at 3:19 am

    I mean: by eating meat substitutes or whey protein smoothies or synthetic amino acids (not amino acids extracted from meat which would be the same as eating meat) – you can avoid any meat cravings – once and for all !!!

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      tsemtulku on Mar 15, 2011 at 11:52 am

      Dear Martin, I like what you said here. TR

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        Martin Bosnev on Mar 15, 2011 at 4:25 pm

        Thank you very much dear Rinpoche!!!

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13. 

    Martin Bosnev on Mar 15, 2011 at 3:10 am

    Dear Rinpoche,
    I want to share my very little experience with vegetarianism. I found that eating mock meat or soya meat is crusial for me if I want to feel satiated and be vegetarian long term. I feel great since I eat soya meat.
    Once upon a time I did the mistake to replace the meat in the food with eggs and milk products – but I was constantly hungry and overeating and as a result I gained a lot of weight. I was gaining 2 kg each month as a result of wrong diet (diet with very little essential amino acids). Now my weight is much more stable as a result of eating soya meat which contains 60% of proteins. I think many people are reluctant to become vegetarian because they feel need for meat – but the reason is that they just need proteins(with essential amino acids) and they SIMPLY DON’T KNOW THAT. I hope many people will read this and start to eat a more reasonable vegetarian(vegan) diet. Every recipe with meat can be done with that soya meat (and why not gluten meat – I never had the chance to try it) – it only needs some more spices. The end result is very tasty and you don’t feel lack of meat at all. My family got fascinated by some soya meat dishes and we started to eat them regularily instead of meat (they still haven’t give up the meat completely). But I want to say that eating mock meat can be very tasty if it is prepared well !!
    I hear that some people take liquid synthetic essential amino acids or Whey Protein powder in the form of smoothies –
    in order to have a healthy vegan diet – so this also is a solution!

    I hope this info can help to some begginers vegetarians and vegans!
    Best regards,
    Martin

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      tsemtulku on Mar 15, 2011 at 11:54 am

      Dear Martin, Nice write up… I will blog it..thanks..if you have more to write up on this send it to me here, I will add it to the post and it will benefit ppl. TR

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14. 

    joey wong on Mar 14, 2011 at 5:31 pm

    i’ve managed to minimize my meat consumption to once a month, and i will keep working on it until even that is eliminated.

    concurrently working on reducing/eliminating 2 of my favorite animal products: eggs and milk, by seeking suitable replacements…

    hope i can go meatless for the next few months before i declare myself to be a full time vegetarian!

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      Josh Akers on Mar 15, 2011 at 2:30 pm

      Good job friend.

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15. 

    kenny wong on Mar 14, 2011 at 2:38 pm

    Dear rinpoche,

    I have been observing that you have been going on and on for the last 6 months or more on the subject of NOT eating meat.

    Thank you for drilling this thought into our minds rinpoche with your persistancy in this subject matter. Now, everytime I look at a mouth watering rack of BBQ ribs, my mouth will still water and the feeling of guilt will kick in. You can only ignore your own feelings for so many times.

    I have since adopted a semi meatless diet. ie (I go meatless for a few days a week) with the motivation that in the future i can really have a meat free diet. It is difficult but not impossible. I will try my best rinpoche…

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      Tom on May 1, 2011 at 4:26 pm

      It is easy enough to avoid meat. There are many things that are way more flavorful, some breads for instance. You can get really good bread really cheaply from the hypermarkets, they taste great.

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16. 

    tsemtulku on Mar 14, 2011 at 2:11 pm

    Never have prayers coming OUT of ur mouth & then slaughtered meat going in YOUR mouth. It’s the same mouth!! ~ Tsem Rinpoche

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17. 

    tsemtulku on Mar 14, 2011 at 2:06 pm

    In any Mahayana/Tantric practice, First you take refuge, then you generate bodhicitta and so on… How to do that while meat is digesting in your gut? ~ Tsem Rinpoche

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18. 

    tsemtulku on Mar 14, 2011 at 2:06 pm

    U can be strange, different, unique, urself, weird, colorful, happy, out of it or whatever, JUST DON’T EAT MEAT!!

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19. 

    tsemtulku on Mar 14, 2011 at 2:05 pm

    If you are really committed to tantric practice and to gain attainments in this day and age, you must stop eating meat immediately. Can you do that everyone? If you cannot, check if you have attained anything from your practice so far.Do not talk of higher practices, see if you have mastered the ‘lower’ practices. If you find the lower practices, challenging your mind, transforming your attitudes, and generating the mind to work for others difficult, then tantra should wait….this is my general thinking from 20 years of teaching and answering questions. Tantra will add to your heap of guilt, commitments that you are not ready for and list of things you find difficult to do, but stuck with it…

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20. 

    tsemtulku on Mar 14, 2011 at 2:05 pm

    Everyday you eat meat, you are not really practicing compassion which is the core of dharma. So don’t complain if more negative situations arise because you are not practicing dharma~Tsem Rinpoche

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21. 

    tsemtulku on Mar 14, 2011 at 2:04 pm

    All actions are accountable, recorded & return. Hence do everything with awareness for others always. ~Tsem Rinpoche

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