vegetarianism

this is my 13th day being a vegetarian. it's the same with bee. it's a commitment i made this year as part of the build up towards celebrating vesak.

in the first few days, bee told himself he should also avoid garlic. and when i asked why, he explained that going vegetarian as a buddhist means having to also avoid garlic altho he was not very clear of the reasons. well, i don't buy that. to me, all the different practises such as cannot take beef (as a respect for the cow who tills your land), cannot take starfruit (as it represents the heart of the buddha), cannot take garlic (as it is deemed an antiseptic and kills bacteria) etc etc etc are largely self-imposed and are to a large extend culturally influenced. and i do not prescribe to these.

to me, my thoughts about going vegetarian is very simple, very fundamental - that i should avoid taking lives and/or reduce the demands for people out there to kill/ take lives (butchers, fishermen, etc). simple as that. that, to me, is the fundamental reasons behind why i want to go vegetarian as i celebrate vesak this year. and of course, if this fundamental reason is not clear, we will invariably end up with questions such as if you really want to be a vegetarian, then why have vegetarian pork?

:-)