Going Veg - A Healthy way of Living

According to the teachings of Buddha, it is a great sin to slaughter animals. Lives are equal, every living beings want happiness and does not want sufferings.  

I happened to watch one of the programs on National Geographic Channel. They were filming the diverse culture around the world. On that day their focus was on the life of Nomads in Tibet. Nomads totally depends their livelihood on cattle, normally they rare yaks and sheep. Starting from the food they take to clothes they wear and the shelter they live in, all from those animals. They showed the lifestyles of nomads and the intimate relation that they have with animals. There was one family, a father, mother and a son, probably of 7-8 years old. Mother was preparing something inside the tent and father with the help of his son were preparing their meal outside. They brought a sheep from a herd and father suffocated it to death. A son watches the scene as it will be his responsibility too later. As father worked on carcass with his sharp knife, he was saying prayers. The commentator said, these prayers are for sending the soul of that dead sheep to rest in peace (Heaven). I was surprised by this act. In fact this is their way of living and I do not intend to defame them. I just found that paradox interesting.

Not only nomads, even those living in urban areas totally depend on meat. They also make offerings to gods which I think is not a good practice (God would never demand meat/anything). People know it is sinful to take meat but they go for it every day. Human beings are very complicated. I once watched an episode on Bhutan Broadcasting Service, a Jangchubshing program, His Eminence Gyalwa Dokhampa said, "the humans are the most confusing beings; they sacrifice their health to garner wealth and later sacrifice their wealth to regain health. And also they live as if they are going to live forever and die as if they have never lived". This is very true. Human beings talk something, believe something and act very differently. 

Even from scientific point of view, eating meat is not a healthy way of living. Too much of it will cause many life style diseases. Moreover it was also proven that effect of climate change will be reduced directly or indirectly if all people stop eating meat. Also many kinds of zoonotic diseases are at higher risks to be transmitted to humans if we depend too much our livelihood on meat.

  

If we go veg, it is cheaper at first and very nutritious. Green vegetables are good for our health, it causes no harm but helps build strength in our body. There is no risks of falling ill having consumed vegetables. Even from religious point of view, it is not a sinful to take vegetables compared to meat. Therefore I would like to urge all my friends to go veg and lead a healthy life. In Bhutan, on the first and the fourth month of the Bhutanese calendar, the sale of all kinds of meat is banned. This is mainly to encourage people going veg. Green vegetables are healthier than the red meats. Go veg and lead a green life.