BUDDHIST DIET: Vegetarianism 1

I was never a vegetarian in my youth. My mother was, for as long as I can remember, a fish eater but not a meat eater. My father ate meat, and so did I. When I left home, I continued to eat meat. When I became a mother, I continued to eat meat. In fact, it has only been recently that I have almost stopped.

Firstly, meat-eating was ingrained in my lifestyle. I grew up in a family where it was acceptable, and neither encouraged nor discouraged. I learned to nutritionally improve my diet during my twenties and thirties, but did not consider dropping the animal products.

It was not because I was told that it was wrong to eat meat that I have almost stopped, nor that many Buddhists do not. I am the type that has to personally analyze the choices, rather than just follow the trends sheepishly - which luckily is encouraged within Buddhism.

It was because feelings arose naturally from deep within me that I began to head in the direction of vegetarianism. I listened to my inner core instead of my outside mind, family traditions, or current choices, and found a leaning away from eating certain products.