[Buddha-l] Insight into Anti-Muslim Violence in Sri Lanka

[Dan Lusthaus]

> I
> have never been present when a chicken was slaughtered following the 
> Judaic
> kosher rules, but I suspect that I'd
> be equally repelled.]

I'm a vegetarian, so I find the whole idea of eating animals repulsive, but 
simply as point of fact, kashrut laws require painless, instant death. If 
the animals suffer, the meat will not be kosher. The animal must be "pure," 
disease free, etc. Kosher meat, btw, is acceptable to muslims as Halal, 
which is why many muslim immigrants to the US often move into orthodox 
Jewish neighborhoods -- the kosher butchers. Conversely, however, halal meat 
is NOT considered kosher, because the killing and preparations do not meet 
the kosher standards.

Among Buddhists, Chinese and Korean Buddhists (esp clerics) observe 
vegetarian diets. The rest (Theravadin countries, Tibetans, Japanese, etc.) 
consume meat, though there are subsets that embrace vegetarianism. The Dalai 
Lama encourages others to adopt a vegetarian diet, and some contemporary 
Tibetans are attempting it, but he himself has been forbidden by his doctors 
from following it himself.

Dan