Being a vegetarian is healthy and environmentally friendly

I became a vegetarian in March of this year. One day, my father called me and asked me if I didn’t eat meat, and ate only vegetables and tofu.

I said, no, after I learned from Buddha, I ate Sanjing meat (not killing, not seeing killing, not killing for me). Father said, “Why did you tell Yan Yan (my cousin) that she should not eat frogs because it was not good for her. And then she was sick for a few days and got annoyed with you for cursing her.”

I said, “everything was her own fault. There were many parasites in the frog, and eating too much was bad for her health. She roasted frogs and showed her happiness on the posts to her friends. I felt it was too cruel. After learning from Buddha, I knew that the crime of killing lives was heavy, so she left a message in her WeChat: "Among all merits, let others live first; killing is evil, killing is the worst evil in the world" . The killing was not good, and I advised her to release more. As a Buddhist, I will only pray for her, and I will not curse her. I don't have that kind of power; I can't curse her and make her sick with just a few words.

Father asked me, “Do you still eat meat? If you don't eat it, don't let others eat it.”

I said, “I am not a vegetarian now. I just gave her advice. It is her business to do it or not.” Although he is my father, because he does not believe in cause and effect, I could not convince him. Later, we ended our call unpleasantly.

After that, I thought, it has been two and a half years since I learned from Buddha. Why can't I be a vegetarian? All the six sentient beings are our parents and relatives. They are tossing and wandering in their new lives. They suffer from infinite karma and unconscious sinning, because they must pay back the debts created in the previous life. But I was not conscious though. I wanted to regard every sentient being as my parents, but I still ate meat. Due to this, I started a new chapter with vegetarianism.

On the first week of being a vegetarian, there was always a colleague asking me with curiosity why I didn’t eat meat. I simply answered I didn’t want to eat meat anymore. On the second week, I missed the taste of meat, but through my determination, I did not order any of it in restaurants. Sometimes there was a little meat on my plate, but I shared it with my colleague. On the third week, I forgot about meat, and didnt need to control myself deliberately.

During this period, my feet cramped when I slept at night, and I realized it was calcium deficiency, which has happened to me before. After work, I bought a box of high-calcium low-fat milk, drank one to two bottles a day, and ate soy products in large quantities. Soon, the foot cramping problem was successfully resolved.

Being a vegetarian is a healthy lifestyle. Vegetarian food is inclusive of various cereals, beans and soy products, fungi, vegetables and fruits. As long as they are properly matched, people can absorb enough protein, vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates and dietary fiber. Vegetarian food can reduce people's harm to animals, reduce the hunger problem of the world's population, prevent the occurrence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, improve environmental problems and teach people to be kind to all animals. Being a vegetarian is healthy and environmentally friendly.

Xiaowan Tan

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