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Comment by Lut Moerman on December 30, 2011 at 15:41

Thanks Sujatin, to share this with us just before New Year. All those suffering of animals, nature and of people in the southern countries.I hope your message will reach much people. What can we do to reach more people with this message ? I see daily very much people eating much animals. I don't have the impression that my vegetarian diët inspires people around me...

Namo Amida bu

lut

Comment by Sujatin on December 28, 2011 at 14:16

Christopher Titmus: Why become a vegetarian or vegan:

East and West, Buddhists have often failed to recognise the importance of a vegetarian or vegan diet as a real contribution to the reduction of suffering for animals, birds and fish. Many people assume Buddhists are vegetarian as part of their philosophy of kindness and compassion for all creatures. Sadly, this is far from the truth.

Buddhists, who are vegetarian or vegan, are a small minority including monks and nuns. There is certainly much emphasis in the Buddhist world of respect and kindness for all sentient beings but there has been neglect of this ethic in terms of diet. There are voices in the Theravada, Tibetan Mahayana and Zen tradition, as well as in the West, campaigning for people to adopt a vegetarian or vegan diet out of compassion for all creatures.

Why become a vegetarian or vegan

1. Out of compassion for creatures with a face – animals, birds and fish.
2. Creatures killed for food experience fear, terror and pain in factory farms, trucks and crates used for transport of animals and birds, and time waiting to be killed in the abattoir.
3. UN estimates that more than four billion animals worldwide  are killed every month. USA slaughters 20% of these animals. Animal and birds are killed for consumption and animal experiments. They also die due to loss of habitat, fur trade, hunting, shooting, sport and lethal injection for sick pets. The seas are plundered worldwide killing billions in total of whales, sharks, dolphins, sea fish, river fish, fish farms, lobsters, crabs etc. Mammals and fish also die due to recreational sport, pollution, oil spills etc.
4. If the crops used to feed farm animals fed human beings instead, it would put an end to hunger in the world.
5. Poor nations in Africa export grain to the West to feed farm animals.
6. Land used for grain will feed 12 times as many people as the same amount of land used for grazing for farm animals.
7. Many countries feed growth hormones to certain farm animals such as calves and cows. These hormones can also make their way into the food chain for humans at the dinner table at home and in restaurants. Mixed with grain, crushed male chickens, who cannot lay eggs, crushed meat and bone products have been used to feed cows. Farm animals are vegetarian.
8. Vegetarians and vegans generally live healthier and longer lives, weigh less, with much less possibility of obesity, heart attacks and various kinds of ill health due to poor diet.
9. With massive destruction of wildlife, half of the world’s rainforest have been destroyed to clear ground especially to graze cattle to make beef burgers. 90% of the soya grown on former rainforest land is used to feed animals. The burning of the forests causes up to 20% of all green-house gases that contribute to climate change.
10. It takes 2,500 gallons of water to produce one pound of meat.
11. Protein is present in rice, soya, humous, tofu, almonds, wholegrains, spirulina, tahini, beansprouts, peanut butter etc. Much protein in meat is lost in the lengthy cooking process. The meat industry has campaigned intensely so the West obsesses about fear of protein deprivation.
12. Farm animals experience the same kind of sensitivities as babies and very small children.

MAY ALL BEINGS LIVE IN PEACE AND HARMONY

Comment by Aramati on July 16, 2011 at 19:50

Hi Avou,

I think it would be great to post the meal prayers on the Triratna Sangha notice board. It would be deligtful for more people to have the opportunity to enjoy them.

Comment by Avou on July 16, 2011 at 17:46

Thank you Aramati for posting this!  Sorry I've been so long with my comment, as I believe this posting was partly in reply to my request for the meal prayers.  I am very much enjoying using them for that moment of mindfulness and consideration before tucking in.  Would it be ok to post the prayers on our Triratna Sangha notice board?  We're always saying what a shame it is that no one knows any Buddhist Eating prayers, especially when we share meals at the centre or on retreat.

Comment by Jnañamati on December 17, 2009 at 8:29

Well its now two weeks since I made the decision to have only a vegan diet, then yesterday, unwittingly I found myself savoring the lingering sweetness of a gulab jaman from a box that someone had brought to the house as a gift. Whoops I thought about an hour later when I saw the remains of the box sitting in the fridge and had just popped another into my mouth - these are made from condensed, or boiled down cow's milk! A minor lapse then, and a reminder that I have now to think even more carefully about what I put into my mouth without thinking. Namo Amida Bu, Namo Quan Shi Yin Bosat

Comment by Jnañamati on December 10, 2009 at 12:05

A very successful cake recipe from Delia Smith which is not presented as vegan in her recipe it has lard, butter and milk. However it has no eggs and as you will no doubt gather it is easy enough to substitute the lard and butter with vegan (baking) margarine and to us soya milk rather than cows milk. At the beginning of this years Bodhi retreat I decided to take the step to eat a vegan only diet and have enjoyed reading other peoples thoughts about this. Of course I do have the advantage of sharing kitchen duties with Zee-Zee who is a mine of knowledge about all things vegan, so at the moment I have no concerns about taking in the right nutrients etc. If I am worried it is when projecting forward to the times in the future when I will be away from the Buddhist House.
We are currently grappling with trying to produce homemade soya yogurt. Thus far the recipes we have used have not worked. So if there is anyone else who has a method that has proved successful I would be grateful to hear from you.

Vegan Marmalade Cake
1 rounded tablespoon chunky marmalade
80z/ 225g plain wholemeal flour
1 tsp baking powder
4oz/ 110g dark brown soft sugar
4 oz/ 110g vegan margarine, cubed and softened slightly
Grated zest of 1 lemon
Grated zest of 1 orange
1 tsp ground mixed spice (I used ¼ tsp each of ground cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, ginger and cardamom)
4oz/ 110g dried mixed fruit
5 fl oz/ 150ml soya milk, plus more if needed
1 tsp cider or white wine vinegar
1 tbsp demerara sugar, for sprinkling 
1. Preheat oven to 350F/ 180C. Grease a 7” round tin or a 450g/1lb loaf tin. Line the bottom of the tin with greaseproof paper.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder and sugar. Rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. I did this in my food processor by blitzing all the dry ingredients to mix them evenly, then throwing in the cubed butter and pulsing the mixture just until it resembled coarse breadcrumbs
3. Next, add the orange and lemon zest, mixed spice(s) and dried fruit.
4. Stir everything together well and then add the milk, a little at a time, followed by the vinegar. Stir until the ingredients are evenly distributed and finally stir in the marmalade. You should have a good dropping consistency so that when you tap the mixture on the side of the bowl, it drops off easily. Add more milk if necessary.
5. Spread the mixture evenly into the prepared tin and sprinkle the top evenly with demerara sugar.
Bake for 60-75mins until the cake has shrunk slightly from the sides and when a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Leave to cool in tin for 10mins before turning onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Namo Amida Bu

Comment by Aramati on May 14, 2009 at 21:18

Response to Steve Berkoff’s question “Any suggestions for a vegetarian weight loss program?”

I have lost weight successfully by a modified counting calories system. I found counting calories directly too tedious. So I counted “points” instead. Each point was worth 50 calories and I measured to the nearest quarter point.

This meant most fruits and vegetables were either a quarter or half a point, and adding up a column of halfs and quarters is much easier than bigger numbers. (Effectively it puts the least significant digit into base 4).

I made a page of my most eaten foods with their points. For fruit and vegetables I had how big a portion was half a point. For most other foods I listed the points in a 100g, except for things like oils, margarine and jam where I listed the points in a teaspoon full.

I weighed my self each day first thing in the morning and averaged the weight for the week. I found this was the easiest way to see the trend as I found water retention and other variables made other methods not show it up.

I found all this counting and measuring kept me on track, because it made me very conscious of what I was eating. But it would depend on your personality whether this would work for you.

Comment by Aramati on May 14, 2009 at 20:50

Response to Susthama's comment "I don't know how to go about bringing it to Leicester's attention but will look into it."

There are local council elections coming up in Britain in May. It is vegetarian week in Britain next week too. So it is an idea time to raise the issue. We could ask each of the candidates that are standing in our local patch whether they would support Narborough District Council going vegetarian. The local council office can provide a list of candidates.

Comment by Susthama on May 14, 2009 at 20:24

Hi Lut,

I hope other cities follow this initiative too. I don't know how to go about bringing it to Leicester's attention but will look into it.

Comment by Lut Moerman on May 14, 2009 at 19:24

Yes Susthama, Ghent must be the first city in the whole world who takes this initiative. The reason is that the production of meat is making so much polution, especialy now that people in counties like China etc.. begin to eat meat we need several planets for the food of all the animals. Next year even the schools in Ghent will have one veggie-day a week. Thursday will be the veggie-day. I hope many people will follow , and other citys too...

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