Q&A with Thich Nhat Hanh
Child’s question: Why don’t monks and nuns eat meat?
Thich Nhat Hanh’s answer: We don’t eat meat because we want to reduce the suffering of living beings. Human beings suffer, but animals also suffer. So eating vegetarian food is one of the ways to lessen the suffering of living beings.
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Q&A with Thich Nhat Hanh
Child’s question: Why don’t monks and nuns eat meat?
Thich Nhat Hanh’s answer: We don’t eat meat because we want to reduce the suffering of living beings. Human beings suffer, but animals also suffer. So eating vegetarian food is one of the ways to lessen the suffering of living beings. Knowing this, we don’t suffer when we refrain from eating meat. In fact, we feel wonderful when we can follow a vegetarian diet because we feel that we can cultivate more compassion, more love. Even if you are not a monk or a nun, if you eat less meat it shows your concern and love for other living beings and for our planet.
Reprinted from Is Nothing Something?: Kids’ Questions and Zen Answers About Life, Death, Family, Friendship, and Everything in Between (2014) by Thich Nhat Hanh with permission of Parallax Press, Berkeley, California, parallax.org.
