[Buddha-l] Buddhas Meditation

[Franz Metcalf]

Dan et al.,

Regarding the (im)moral view "eating meat with non-attachment is  
preferable to being attached to vegetarianism," Dan wrote it was  
humbug. Pretty nearly, I'd say. But not completely. Dan, you yourself  
added that this view focuses on

> the suffering to be avoided is one's own discomfort...
> rather than the suffering that killing animals causes the
> animals.

Exactly. But I really *do* think that the state of mind of the person  
engaging in actions which cause harm and suffering matters. As you  
imply, there *can be* suffering there. Does this internal suffering  
matter as much as the gross external suffering to the animal?  
Absolutely not. To confuse the two is like confusing the moral roles  
of the SS and the Jews in the Vernichtungslagern. People *do* this and  
you are right to condemn this example of a like though vastly lesser  
practice. And Buddhists in the 20th century did a great deal of it,  
which, again, we must condemn--and you have. Still, one *can* strive  
to reduce the internal suffering while one strives to reduce the  
external suffering. I see these processes as potentially  
interdependent. Too little time to explain, and a dicey path, but what  
path worth walking isn't dicey?

Franz