法苑珠林 93.48

93.48

The third clarifies that a person who eats meat destroys others' faith; therefore one should not eat meat. As that sūtra states: "If one eats meat, sentient beings then lose all faith, and then say that there is no one in the world who can be trusted, severing the roots of faith. For this reason, Mahāmati, a bodhisattva, to protect sentient beings' faith, should not eat any meat at all. Why is that? Because there are people in the world who, seeing meat being eaten, slander the Three Jewels, speaking thus: 'Within the Buddha's Dharma, where could there be true śramaṇas or brāhmaṇas cultivating pure conduct? Abandoning what noble ones originally should eat, they devour sentient beings like rākṣasas, halting my Wheel of the Dharma and extinguishing the noble lineage.' This is all due to the fault of meat eaters. Therefore, Mahāmati, my disciples, to protect against evil people slandering the Three Jewels, should not even give rise to thoughts of desiring meat, let alone eating it."