Veganism and Buddhist philosophy

I've noticed that since I've been studying Buddhism and similar philosophies, a lot of what is said points to the prevention of suffering to any sentient beings caused by me (the student). So, in my eyes, eating/ wearing any animal products would be going against the philosophy because all methods of slaughter and killing of the animals is killing, thus causing serious suffering and harm.

I can understand that the killing may not be by the individual, but still taking part in the consumption is taking part in the entire act of ending a life. Thank you all for your time and any info is appreciated.

Buddha ate meat, he became enlightened. You do not have to be a vegan to be a Buddhist. Others may have other agendas, that is a different issue. The road to enlightenment is a personal journey, a Buddhist cast no judgement apon another's choice of what they eat or wear.

[sunsoul]

This is an interesting topic because there are different views on this depending on the Buddhist school.. Generally speaking, most Buddhists are vegetarian because of the connection to suffering caused by killing animals. As Mrs Merrieweather mentions above, this is not a definitive stance, though, especially within the Theravada tradition. However, if you read some of the Mahayana and Vajrayana teachers, they tend to come out more strongly against eating meat:

"Above all, you must constantly train your mind to be loving, compassionate, and filled with Bodhicitta. You must give up eating meat, for it is very wrong to eat the flesh of our parent sentient beings." Shabkar Rangdrol

The key in all of this, at least for me, is to look at your life in totality and seek to make improvements and decisions that will help you stay on the path, and stay healthy. In Buddhism, a precept like choosing not to cause suffering through killing can be taken in a very broad way, and it is left to the individual to actually implement it through right action.

There isn't any explicit rule that says the Buddhists should not eat meat, to be clear.

[Morpheus]

The Work is about understanding the "Construct" in which we find ourselves, the nature of it, in comparison to "The Truth".

"The Secret Life of Plants"
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/the-secret-life-of-plants/

"The Secret Life of Plants"
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078217/

"What Plants Talk About"
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/what-plants-talk-about/video-full-episode/8243/


"What Plants Talk About"
Also on YouTube.