Vegetarianism and Animal Ethics in Contemporary Buddhism

ISBN-13: 9781138493360 / Angielski / Miękka / 2018 / 224 str.

Stewart, James

Opis

Buddhism is widely known to advocate a stance of total pacifism towards all sentient beings, and because of this, it is often thought that Buddhist doctrine would stipulate that non-violent food practices, such as vegetarianism, be mandatory. However, the Pāli source materials do not encourage vegetarianism and most Buddhists do not practice it. Using research based on ethnographic evidence and interviews, this book discusses this issue by presenting an investigation of vegetarianism and animal ethics within a Buddhist cultural domain.

Spis treści

Introduction 1. The Lion and the Cow: Food, Ethics and Non-violence towards animals in Sinhala Myth and History. 2. Eating, Drinking, Killing – Vegetarianism and animal welfare in Sinhala literature. 3. Food of Compassion: Vegetarianism in modern Sinhala Buddhist lay communities. 4. The Disciple’s Diet: Clerical views on vegetarianism and animal ethics. 5. Milk of Life: Cow Veneration and Milk Consumption in Sinhala Buddhist society. 6. Meat Aversions: Vegetarianism, Health Food and Medicine in Sinhala Society. 7. Food Politics: Ethnic Conflict and Hālal Abolitionism in Sri Lanka. 8. Conclusion

O autorze

James John Stewart is Research Associate at the University of Tasmania, Australia. His research focuses on applied ethics in South Asia especially animal welfare and food ethics in Sri Lanka