Buddhist Vegetarianism

Buddhist vegetarianism refers to dietary practices observed by significant portions of the Buddhist community, particularly within Mahayana monasticism and household traditions, as well as by some practitioners belonging to other branches of Buddhism. Attitudes toward vegetarianism vary widely across Buddhist schools, shaped by scriptural interpretation, monastic rules, cultural influences, and ethical reasoning. While certain Mahayana sutras advocate strict abstention from meat, other traditions, especially within Theravada, do not require vegetarianism and instead emphasise intention and ethical conduct over dietary regulation.

Early Buddhism and Historical Foundations

Some of the earliest surviving references to Buddhist ethical practice appear in the Edicts of Ashoka, issued around 257 BCE by the Mauryan emperor who became a prominent patron of Buddhism. These inscriptions record the prohibition of animal sacrifices within the empire and express Ashoka’s personal commitment to a vegetarian lifestyle. Although the edicts do not explicitly confirm whether the monastic community as a whole adhered to vegetarianism, Ashoka’s endorsement indicates that vegetarian practices were known and likely encouraged among lay followers.
Early Buddhist scriptures describe the Buddha’s acceptance of alms food without discrimination, reflecting the original monastic model in which monks relied entirely upon what householders provided. This setting shaped later doctrinal divergences concerning the permissibility of meat consumption.

Divergent Views Among the Three Buddhist Vehicles

Buddhist perspectives on vegetarianism fall into a spectrum ranging from absolute prohibition to conditional acceptance. Many Buddhists interpret the First Precept—refraining from taking life—as grounds for avoiding meat, whereas others maintain that eating meat does not inherently violate this precept if the individual does not participate in the act of killing. Scriptural injunctions found in various Mahayana texts form a major foundation for vegetarian practices across East Asia.

Theravada Perspectives

Theravada tradition does not mandate vegetarianism for monks or lay practitioners. The Pali Canon records the Buddha’s refusal of Devadatta’s proposal to make vegetarianism compulsory within the Sangha. Instead, monks are instructed to accept alms food offered with good intention, including meat, provided that it has not been specifically slaughtered for them. This guideline is reiterated in texts such as the Jivaka Sutta, where the Buddha states that monastics may eat meat if it is “threefold pure”—meaning the individual did not see, hear, or suspect that the animal was killed for their sake.
Despite this permissive stance, Theravada monastics were prohibited from consuming the flesh of certain animals, including humans, elephants, horses, dogs, snakes, lions, tigers, leopards, bears, and hyenas. The rationale was to avoid provoking dangerous animals or to prevent reputational harm to the Sangha. In modern practice, some monastics—particularly within the Thai Forest Tradition—voluntarily adopt vegetarianism, and a minority of lay Theravadins in countries such as Thailand and Sri Lanka also follow vegetarian diets.

Mahayana Perspectives

Mahayana Buddhism places vegetarianism within a broader ethical framework centred on compassion, non-harm, and the cultivation of the Bodhisattva ideal. Numerous Mahayana sutras advocate strict abstinence from meat, presenting vegetarianism as an expression of deep compassion for all sentient beings.
A central text in this regard is the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra, where the Buddha is depicted as prohibiting all forms of meat and fish and instructing that even vegetarian food contaminated by meat must be cleansed before consumption. The text emphasises that to eat meat extinguishes the “seed of Great Kindness” and contradicts the Bodhisattva’s commitment to non-harm. Similarly, the Agulimaliya Sutra presents a dialogue in which the Buddha teaches that all beings share the same fundamental spiritual essence, and thus eating the flesh of another is akin to harming oneself.
Other influential texts include the Lankavatara Sutra, which strongly denounces meat consumption, and the Brahmajala Sutra, Surangama Sutra, and Tathagatagarbha scriptures, all of which reinforce vegetarian principles. These teachings shaped the development of vegetarian monasticism in East Asia, where monastic communities cultivated their own food or purchased provisions directly, thereby eliminating reliance on alms that might contain meat. As a result, vegetarianism remains dominant in Chinese, Vietnamese, and most Korean Mahayana traditions, though some Korean lineages influenced by Japanese practice may permit meat-eating.

Ethical and Doctrinal Themes

Vegetarianism in Buddhism is often linked to several core ethical and philosophical ideas:

• Compassion (karuna): Mahayana doctrine holds that consuming animals generates fear among sentient beings and undermines the Bodhisattva’s duty to alleviate suffering.
• Interconnectedness: The belief that all beings share the same spiritual essence or dhatu reinforces the moral imperative to avoid harming others.
• Non-harm (ahimsa): Dietary choices are viewed as an extension of the precept against taking life.
• Karmic consequences: Some texts warn of negative karmic outcomes associated with killing or consuming animals.

These principles underlie the Mahayana claim that true Buddhist vegetarianism must be accompanied by observance of ethical conduct; dietary practices alone do not constitute moral purity.

Cultural Development and Monastic Practice

Historical developments contributed to the entrenchment of vegetarianism within Mahayana monasticism. As monasteries in China and neighbouring regions grew more self-sufficient, monks were no longer dependent on alms and could maintain strictly vegetarian kitchens. This shift supported a stable tradition of meat-free monastic life, which remains prominent in East Asian Buddhism today.
Conversely, in regions where alms-based monasticism continued to be central—such as in Southeast Asia—Theravada traditions preserved the more flexible dietary practices recorded in the earliest scriptures.