Lzh Sarv Bi Pm Dh Pd 7Asking for Meat

Maṁsaviññāpana Sutta — The Sutta on Asking for Meat

Background

The Vinaya Piṭaka is the collection of disciplinary rules and legal narratives established by the Buddha Śākyamuni to regulate the common life of the Sangha, the community of renunciants. The Maṁsaviññāpana Sutta (Asking for Meat) is part of the Pātimokkha, the prohibitory rules for bhikkhus, where the Buddha addresses a practical matter concerning eating meat in monastic life.

Theravāda Buddhism preserves this tradition in the Pāli Canon, the collection transmitted in the ancient Pāli language, reflecting the direct teachings of the Buddha. This background arises from a dialogue between the Buddha and his disciples concerning how to practice in observance of the rules within real living conditions.

Main Content

The Maṁsaviññāpana Sutta discusses the conditions under which it is appropriate for a bhikkhu to receive meat that has been offered. Accordingly, the Buddha teaches that meat is considered suitable for eating when it meets three important conditions, known as the "threefold purity of meat" (tivitta mutta mānsa):

First, the bhikkhu has not seen with his own eyes that the living being was killed for him. Second, he has not heard with certainty that the living being was killed for him. Third, he has no suspicion that it was killed to provide for him.

This rule does not require monastics to be completely vegetarian, but it sets forth a clear ethical principle: one who has gone forth must not directly cause suffering to other realms of beings by actively requesting or taking life. In practice, the bhikkhu accepts food that is given impartially, without participating in the process of slaughter.

The key point of this text is the balance between the reality of livelihood and the principle of compassion. The Buddha does not absolutely forbid eating meat, but establishes an ethical barrier to prevent craving for flesh and the unnecessary causing of suffering to animals.