Does eating meat count as killing, and how should we understand intention, threefold-pure meat, and our attitude?

The program regards killing as unfavorable energy. Buddhism treats it as a serious wrongdoing, and other major groups also counsel against taking life. But eating meat does not mean committing a monstrous crime, and there is no need to frighten yourself excessively over it. Linking vegetarianism with not killing centers on compassion: not killing an animal to satisfy one's own appetite.

The program gives intention considerable importance. Catching and killing a fish because you want to eat it is taking life. Attending a wedding banquet where someone else killed fish to serve you was described as not carrying that concept of wrongdoing. Growing up in a family raising pigs, chickens, or fish and slaughtering them for sale was also described as not necessarily committing the same offense, since a religious hypothesis is that these animals may have come to repay karma. From that perspective it may not seem a wrongdoing. The speaker also compared ancient warfare: if one army did not kill the other, it would be killed. Killing in that wartime setting was therefore described as not bearing the same guilt. Different eras, circumstances, and motives cannot be directly equated.

Intention does not cancel everything, however. The speaker continued that even if slaughter is a family occupation and the animals are undergoing karmic consequences, the worker still takes on some energy under the laws of the energetic world. It is much less than deliberately wanting the animal dead, since deliberate intent brings a stronger rebound. Killing pigs, fish, or chickens in a market can be unavoidable within that occupation or mission and is somewhat different. But ordinary people were advised to avoid bloody environments because their energy is unfavorable. The program recalled Sheng Zhen Men's first location in a market, where chickens were slaughtered daily diagonally opposite the back door; the bloody smell and energy were unpleasant. The speaker said avoiding taking life on any day is preferable.

Another common question is whether an animal's fear at slaughter remains in its meat and enters our bodies. The program's account was that regardless of who kills it or for whose meal, an animal has some fear and attachment at death. The speaker also suggested it may have its own karma and have been born to be killed. Meat was therefore described as carrying unfavorable energy and possibly fear when eaten. Earlier similar ideas spoke of resentment entering through meat and creating a negative cycle. This is a religious understanding. The same episode cautioned that most people do not think so much about this while eating, and the effect may be low. How one thinks can influence how things develop: continually thinking 'I will consume its resentment' may strengthen that thought, while eating with a more accepting mind seems less influential. Humane slaughter that leaves less fear and pain was also said to help.

Someone asked about 'threefold-pure meat.' The program looked it up online at the time, so its account was an immediate rough understanding, not a rigorous scriptural definition: meat you did not kill yourself, not specially killed because you wanted it, and whose killing you neither saw nor heard. One explanation was that not seeing the killing or hearing cries also expressed compassion. The discussion contained two reactions. One was that if eating meat anyway, there was no need to keep thinking about threefold purity: it remained meat, and maintaining inner peace while doing other things well was acceptable. The other was that this approach also expressed compassion. A market buyer may not know whether meat was killed specifically for them, so people need not frighten themselves into thinking they committed an enormous crime.

Seeing and not seeing the process really can feel different. Someone shared going shrimp fishing in junior high. Afterward, live shrimp were threaded on bamboo skewers and grilled at a nearby barbecue stove, curling as they cooked. The speaker felt it was painful and cruel and did not return. Yet eating shrimp in restaurants felt different without witnessing the process. The speaker also mentioned Master Shengyuan generally avoids live shrimp, crabs, and fish because seeing live animals prepared is frightening. These were personal feelings. The program also said compassion's cultivation is not directly determined by vegetarianism, though diet does have an influence.

Eating meat itself need not cause fear, but excessive desire is unfavorable. The speaker said ordinary meat consumption could remain ordinary; constantly insisting on a particular meat or fried chicken at every meal was excessive desire, akin to greed, anger, and delusion. Too much meat might also raise health concerns, so moderation and balance mattered. A particular meat once or twice weekly was offered as a possible appropriate amount. Historical context also mattered: in earlier times, having food meant survival. Folk accounts of Master Ji Gong eating dog meat belonged to an era when pork and chicken were not as abundant as now.

You can also eat with gratitude. The program suggested thanking the living being that provides food, just as some religious people thank God. Such gratitude can positively support cultivation. Sincerity matters: saying thanks only from fear of negative energy is more like reassuring yourself. Yet the speaker also said that whether the initial motive is fear or love, willingness to give thanks and dedicate merit is generally still helpful in a positive way. Gratitude is not limited to meat. Plants and rice also provide energy, and we can thank them too.