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Originally Posted by BigJohn
but then, if you look closely at Buddhism, it was Asoka who introduced vegetarianism.
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Many Buddhists advocate vegetarianism, but none I know of advocate veganism, because consuming the products of amimals without harming the animals doesn't contravene Buddhist ethics. However, those ethics were put in place before factory farming, and nowdays, pretty much all animal products, dairy etc, involve the harming of animals. Eggs are usually considered to be an animal, so most sects don't consume eggs, and many omit onions and garlic like the vedic traditions do.
My own stance is more from the understanding of ethical dilemmas, and where we might take a stance against consuming meat and animal derived food for the sake of animal welfare, we could also be undermining the nutrition of entire peoples who can't afford nor have access to the variety of food and supplementation which are available to higher income earners in the West. Hence I appreciate the 'grey areas' of ethical issues, and having no absolute moral position, can only consider individual circumstances and perhaps go the way of 'lesser evils' at best.
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