吃肉的长远过患
【中英文连载】
WHY VEGETARIAN?
》《素食的意义》
It would be best if one can be vegetarian for life. If it is too difficult to do now, try for as long as you can, say, one, two, three years or longer. If that is also not possible, one can set aside certain time to be vegetarian, such as during the following four months of the Tibetan calendar:
January 1-15 (the most auspicious time of the year)
April (Note: April 8, the birthday of Shakyamuni Buddha)
June (Note: June 4, Buddha’s turning the wheel of the Dharma)
September (Note: September 22, Buddha’s return from Land of Thirty-three Heavens after teaching his mother and other gods there)
如果能够终生吃素是最好的。暂时做不到，能坚持多久就坚持多久，一年、二年、三年……如果实在做不到，就在一年中的神变月（藏历一月一日至十五日）、藏历四月（藏历四月初八是释迦牟尼佛的诞生日）、藏历六月（藏历六月四日是释迦牟尼佛转法轮的日子）和藏历九月（藏历九月二十二日是释迦牟尼佛天降的节日）这四个月内吃素。
If it still is not doable, just make the 10th, 15th, 29th and 30th of each month the days to be vegetarian. No matter how one chooses to do, the most important is to pledge as follows, “Due to various reasons, I am not able to remain vegetarian for long, but I will hold firmly my promise to be vegetarian in these four days (or four months). May the merit of this promise help me refrain from eating any meat in all my future lives.”
如果连这一点也做不到，那么也可以在每月的初十、十五、二十九、三十这四天不吃肉。一定要发愿：“我现在因为种种原因不能吃长素，但我在这四天（或四个月）里不吃肉，以此四天（或四个月）吃素的功德，愿我以后生生世世不再吃肉！”
Nowadays, many people think that eating meat is man’s right and thus justified. But from a long-term perspective, the problem of meat eating is much more serious than others as it concerns matters of grave consequences, i.e. the possibility of being reborn as a carnivore. By then, one will have no choice but to take other beings’ lives. Being vegetarian in most parts of the world is really quite easy as vegetables and other nutritious foods are in abundance. Today, even non-Buddhists are promoting vegetarianism. Why don’t we Buddhists do the same? Besides，the Chinese Buddhists’ fine tradition of upholding vegetarianism can also be preserved and advanced with our help.
现在很多人以为吃肉是理所当然的，但是，从长远来看，吃肉的问题比其他任何问题都重要，因为它涉及一个非常严重的后果，就是要做肉食动物，而那时就别无选择地要杀生。在内地吃素毫无问题，有许多蔬菜和营养品。现在不要说佛教徒，就是不学佛的人也在推广素食，那么我们为什么不推广呢？而且，汉传佛教吃素的优良传统，也需要我们来继承和发扬。
未完待续
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