The History of Buddhist Thought c10.88

c10.88

This remained the rule, and Hiuen Tsiang tells how on his travels he met communities who “eat only the three pure aliments”, but he himself refused to accept them.¹ A custom had grown up in Mahāyāna of abstaining from all meat, probably due to rivalry with the stricter rules of other sects. This motive is quite clear in the *Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra*, which has a whole chapter on meat-eating. It points out that even the followers of heretical systems forbid it, and the followers of Buddha’s teaching should avoid censure. But it also gives good reasons against the practice, one may be eating one’s nearest relative, the practice is not good for health, and most of all it causes pain to living creatures. The three permissible conditions of the Vinaya are expressly condemned.