We Need a Veggie Lama

Letter to the editor in the July/August 2000 issue of Animals' Agenda

The Dalai Lama has become, it seems, an enormous impediment to the cause of animal liberation by his insistence on eating animal flesh while at the same time being generally regarded as the most eloquent and forceful voice for compassion in the world today. He is particularly influential with Buddhists and with educated Americans and Europeans, and his example of supporting cruelty while preaching compassion for all beings allows many people to justify their own meat-eating.

I would like to urge people everywhere who are concerned about the enormous suffering caused by eating animal foods to write to the Dalai Lama (Private Office, Office of His Holiness of the Dalai Lama, Thachen Choeling, Namgyal Monastery, McLeod Ganj, Dharamsala, 176219, HP, India) respectfully reminding him that the most basic Buddhist teaching is to abstain from causing harm to sentient beings. Also, as the leader of Tibet, it is ironic that he is trying to deliver his people from the oppression imposed by China, while he is oppressing animals by this action and example every time he eats them, especially when he does so publicly. This goes directly against another Buddhist and universal teaching, that one can never obtain freedom and peace by causing violence and bondage to others.

If the Dalai Lama will publicly adhere to a vegetarian diet enjoined on all Buddhists, especially the clergy, his message of universal compassion will be more powerful, and a critical block in the animal rights movement may be opened up. I urge everyone to write the Dalai Lama soon, as well as the International Campaign for Tibet, 1825 K Street NW, Suite 520, Washington DC 20006-2402; www.savetibet.org.

Will Tuttle, Ph.D.
karuna@willtuttle.com
1083 Vine Street
Healdsburg, CA 95448
800-697-6614
707-256-4177 (message)
540-588-1311 (fax)

Background Information

The Dalai Lama

In the mid-1960s, the Dalai Lama tried vegetarianism. Unfortunately, his dietary choices were ill-informed. After 18 months, he contracted hepatitis and reverted to his previous meat-based diet. The links below contain information about his dietary experiments and preferences. I could not find an email address for His Holiness, despite checking several celebrity email websites. So you'll just have to resort to snail mail, I suppose.

Famous Vegetarians
His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama of Tibet (1935- )
http://ivu.org/people/writers/lama.html

Editorial: West Meets East—Vegetarians and the Dalai Lama
http://www.satyamag.com/july99/sat.60.edit.html

Killing Them Softly: The Buddhist Rationale for Eating Animals, By Tom McGuire
Satya, A Magazine of Vegetarianism, Environmentalism, and Animal Advocacy
April 1998
http://www.montelis.com/satya/backissues/apr98/rationale.html