Sir Paul McCartney Reveals Shock in Dalai Lama’s Meat-Eating Ways
Filed under: interviews, not green — Michael Parrish DuDell @ 10:34 am
December 16th 2008
Growing up, my father was a HUGE Beatles fan. It makes sense – born in the early 50’s, my dad experienced the Beatles at the height of popularity and lived most of his youth to their music. I’m a child of the eighties and so I can’t say I was a huge Beatles fan as a kid, but as an adult I think they’re absolutely frigin fantastic…especially Paul!
Sir Paul McCartney revealed this week in Prospect magazine that he once wrote to the Dalai Lama to criticize him for eating meat. The letter came after the Dalai Lama said: “As Buddhists we believe in not causing any suffering to any sentient beings.”
Sir Paul said: “Then I found out he was not a vegetarian, so I wrote to him saying, ‘Forgive me for pointing this out, but if you eat animals then there is some suffering somewhere along the line’.
“He replied saying that his doctors had told him he needed it, so I wrote back saying they were wrong.”
Now we’ve had this discussion here on the Razz many times before. It seems to be (especially in the States) that doctors have a general lack of knowledge when it comes to preventive medicine (ie. a healthy diet. ie. vegetarianism. ie. duh), but still I was shocked to hear the Dalai Lama was a meat-eater based on his doctor’s request. I mean come on, Buddha was a like an original vegetarian superstar!!
Do you think the Dalai Lama should investigate more about a healthy vegetarian diet or should he continue to follow “doctor’s orders?” Chime in and share your thoughts!!
via: timesonline.co.uk
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Tagged: beatles, dalai lama, paul-mccartney
I am thoroughly 100% shocked and horrified by this. Clearly, Mr. Lama needs to study up on ahimsa a bit.
The Dalai Lama went vegetarian a couple years ago.
This is such a shock! My thoughts on the DL have been severely altered by this news.
The Dalai Lama was originally vegetarian in his younger years, but he suffered an illness in the 60’s (I think that’s when it was) and his liver was damaged. Doctors said he needed some meat in his diet to compensate. As a compromise, he eats meat only every other day.
I can’t say this information is 100% correct but I did some research about this a year ago and that’s what I found, from seemingly legitimate sources, but I wasn’t there and I’ve never talked to the Dalai Lama so I can’t be sure!
Nevertheless, I’d say its time to re-evaluate his eating habits, in light of more modern understanding of dietetics and medicine.
The only thing I find worse than people trying to tell other people how/what to eat – often, on this site, in DIRECT OPPOSITION to the medical professional for health reasons not a single one of you are privy to – is how Holier-Than-Thou and Judgemental you vegetarians are…and it’s even worse when you’re vegan. “I’m this way and if you’re not you’re scum. Forget that you’re the Dalai Lama who’s having health problems….forget that you’re XXX who does more in your daily life to save the planet than I do in months…you had an EGG for breakfast and you’re going to hell and I have no respect for you.”
Get some perspective, people.
The only people who should make decisions or pass judgment on the best way for someone to take care of their body is the patient, his doctor, and his faith. If the DALAI LAMA (of all people, for cripe’s sake) can reconcile his menu choices with his faith, then certainly you can cut him some slack.
Emily, doctors are not the final answer. If a doctor told me to eat meat, I would walk out. The amount of hormones, disease and cancer cells found in meat is unbelievable. If the medical profession was so great, why are they pushing poisonous drugs filled with side effects on people, like crack dealers. Getting kickbacks.
Dalai Lama should see a holistic specialist because he’s being misled.
Em- Breath! You and I both agree that it’s a person’s decision to eat how they choose! However, when somebody like the Dalai Lama who has leadership position in a spiritual community acts in a way that directly opposes the teachings of his faith, we have the right to question it.
As healthy vegetarians and vegans, many of us have experience with doctors who insist we eat animal products even when our health is stellar! I’ve been vegan for almost 8 years, get my blood tested on a regular basis and am in near perfect health. Yet still, many doctors insist I MUST eat animal products. How silly!
In my opinion, the Dalai Lama has a responsibility to at least further examine the vegetarian diet if he wishes to live a truly compassionate lifestyle.
Just because a doctor tells you to do something, doesn’t mean they’re right. Many doctors smoke and are overweight too. Especially in the US, Med Schools teach very limited info on alternative medicine. I BELIEVE in alternative medicine. Most US doctors prefer to push pills. Have high cholesterol? Here’s a pill. Have diabetes? Here’s some medicine. Acid reflux? A pill. Many of these medical conditions can be reversed by GOING VEG!
As a response to the other comments, please keep in mind that doctors are NOT nutritionists. They typically have very little experience with diet.
They are trained to treat illness, not to understand or advise people on their diet, so the advice doctors give you on your diet is quite often just as uninformed as most other people you’d talk to.
I, much like Emily, get annoyed when someone of prominent stature has their diet turned into a question of character. I do think that there are people who are genetically inclined to need meat in their diet.
My family is from a country above the tundra line and there are less than 10 edible fruits, roots, grasses or vegetables that grow naturally in the summer (nothing grows in the winter.) For thousands of years my ancestors lived off only preserved meats and fish in the winter. So when my cousin became ill after 2 different attempts at vegetarianism (with a nutritionists help the second time!) her family doctor suggested that perhaps she was not genetically inclined to be an herbivore (NOT an American doctor.)
That said, it is possible for an omnivore to make choices that are more responsible than to support the agro-industrial complex. My cousin raises her own meat products and is a vegetarian when it comes to eating out – but we should all know better than to issue blanket statements on the character of a person based on a diet choice.
ok people – you don’t know that his doctor isn’t also a nutritionist. You don’t know what he’s eating.
But here you are, passing judgement and elevating your lifestyle and condemning him for not doing his research…
Jump to less conclusions and be a little more open minded.
And read Loli’s post. Particularly the last paragraph.
Bottom line he can eat Burger King every night of the week but he is NOT a true Buddhist if he does so and SHOULD BE RELIEVED OF HIS TITLE IMMEDIATELY.
I know he is friends with several docs (no need to mention names right now) who support vegetarian diets (think Oprah’s doc) so why not take their advice? No one “needs” meat for their health. What a joke.
Not a true Buddhist – get a new guy now.
E
I’ve heard the DL is vegetarian again now after learning more about it.
Getting advice from a medical doctor about nutrition is like asking a lawyer to fix your lawnmower. They might be well educated, but they don’t necessarily know anything about lawnmowers or nutrition. If you need drugs or something hacked off of your body, see a doctor. If you need nutrition advice, see a nutritionist. If you need your lawnmower fixed, see a mechanic.
If you are the incarnate of compassion on earth (i.e. the Dalai Lama) then live up to it and stop eating animals.
A doctor once told me I probably had a cold because I was probably iron deficient which was definitely because I didn’t eat meat… WHAT. A medical degree does not = logical good advice or smart. & P.S. I’ve never tested as iron deficient. And I did find a better doctor (not hard, really). D Lama should, too, or see a qualified nutritionist, since they specialise in health & diet rather than illness, injury, & drugs.
@erin, buddhism does not forbid the eating of meat. For one unlike most other religions there is no dogma so it is up to each individual as to what they see is right on the situation and two, eating meat is acceptable to a buddhist as long as the animal was not killed _specifically for their_ consumption.
hi “me”
Weird I was just in Atlanta at LivingFoodsInstitute.com for two weeks (vegan raw of course) and was fortunate enough to get out to talk to a group of Buddhists there who explained that a true Buddhist does not eat any living creature (though interestingly dairy eggs were ok) but perhaps I am wrong. You know me- going to go do some research on it now… more later
well, i’ve learned a lot from these posts. like apparently since I don’t eat meat i’m “holier than thou and judgemental”, oh wait, no I’m worse, cuz i’m vegan. i think it’s totally awesome that one person can get mad at ALL vegetarians for being so judgemental and worse by lumping us all into one big category. 9 times out of ten when i have a conversation with someone about my diet and my lifestyle it’s because someone else brought it up. usually because they’re judging me, and judging my health, and my lifestyle. these people generally fall into the category of meateaters, but hey, if i blamed the meat for making them try to pick a fight with me, then i’d be doing what you’re doing. being a hypocrite, and i don’t want to fall in the hole.
If his doctor told him he needed to bash someone’s head in a once a week to relieve stress, would he do that too?
This is total BS. There is nothing in meat you can’t get from somewhere else. Meat is not a magical substance, it is transformed plant products that the animals themselves eat. Protein, calcium, amino acids, vitamins, minerals, and fatty acids can all be obtained from nuts, seeds, legumes, veggies, grains, and fruits.
@erin These were words straight out of His Holiness’ mouth (could he have been trying to justify his ways?…
). I forget the documentary it was in unfortunately..
But as I said before, there is no dogma in Buddhism so it is up to each individual to decide what is right.
Actually, Discerning Brute, if a doctor told me to bash someone’s head in to relieve stress, I’d have to admit those are orders I wouldn’t mind following…especially if I got to choose some of the individuals I know prescribed as part of the “medicine,”
Ha, ha…just kidding, folks:) Merry holidays to all.
And yes, I do agree people are too quick to take the word of someone just because he or she has “MD” or “DO” behind their name.
I’ve had a couple of those “professionals” investigated by the State Board of Health due to information I had to research on my own, proving that not only were they wrong, but endangered my well being with their ignorant, dogmatic ways of practicing medicine.
According to his website his personal kitchen is vegetarian, and he doesn’t eat meat more than every other day when he does eat meat. Perhaps he eats meat occasionally when he is away from his kitchen because he has less control over how balanced the food offerings are?
The point, Emily, is that Buddhists are supposed to practice AHIMSA – non-violence – to all living beings. If you think I’m being judgmental, you’re absolutely right. I do judge the Dalai Lama for not following his religion’s dictates, and I will stand by that judgment. I really don’t care if you like it or not.
The Discerning Brute is correct in his statement that there is nothing in meat that can’t be found elsewhere, except for cruelty, massive and unnecessary CO2 emissions caused by factory farming and misery to countless thousands of living beings.
Perhaps you should read the United Nations’ study on Global Warming and the meat / dairy industry’s impact on the environment before you think vegans are being “holier-than-thou.” We’re not just doing it for ourselves. We’re doing it for YOU. Sorry you can’t get that.
YEAH! what Snatchwrath said.
To paraphrase Jesus, people should be more concerned about what comes out of their mouths than what goes into them.
I’ve been a vegetarian for over 30 years but I know that some bodies are not able to cope with a vegetarian diet, for all sorts of reasons. Judge not lest ye also be judged.
Buddhism is a religion of kindness but like Christianity its members cannot always do what they wish to. It is not always their first choice not to follow their nobler beliefs.
…But neither should the baby be thrown out with the bathwater. Tibetans ate meat for thousands of years because of their climate. Yet they became the most peaceful people on the planet. Theirs is a realistic culture – as is their religion – they deal with the facts of whatever current situation they are in and aim to transform it into something more humane and peaceful. The rabid anti-vegetarians are not showing a great deal of peace or tolerance towards others, which is the whole point of being a vegetarian, is it not? The Dalai Lama is a man of peace and that is the important thing. He calls himself a simple monk – not a ‘great’ anything. If one expects perfection out of leaders, one is bound to be forever disappointed. Buddhists are concerned with their own ‘right conduct’ – not that of others, nor that of ‘leaders’. Hitler was a vegetarian. Need I say more?
It’s quite humorous to see the almost aggressive reactions towards a person who strives to help the world through compassion.
I guess there’s no accounting for militants (in this case vegetarians) in life, no matter how much good you do in the world, if you do one little thing that the vocal minority don’t agree with you will be branded a monster / fraud / etc.
The sooner people realise that every person is different and we do not all have to act / do the same the better.
Regarding the whole doctor instructing people to eat meat, in a way it is understandable. While you can get all the nutrients you need on a vegetarian diet you have to educate your self to ensure you get them. You’ll probably find that a proportion of those people who are told to go back on meat are not eating properly despite being a vegetarian.
Nothing is ever black and white.
Hey “me” last time i checked killing animals and eating them wasn’t “compassionate”
Misty – GREAT post. I appreciate you putting your name. I find it wild that the people who hide their names like to attack. Put your name if you’re gonna do that.
Also wikipedia quotes the DL and talks about how he says it’s important to promote vegetarian. He needs to do it if he’s going to promote it (IMHO)
Here’s the quote. ciao. Happy Xmas.
The Tibetan position is that it is not necessary to be vegetarian if one practices Vajrayana, but that it is necessary to be vegetarian if one practices the Mahayana path. The Dalai Lama and other esteemed lamas invite their audiences to adopt vegetarianism when they can. When asked in recent years what he thinks of vegetarianism, the 14th Dalai Lama has said: “It is wonderful. We must absolutely promote vegetarianism.”[2] The Dalai Lama has become a vegetarian and promotes vegetarianism.[3]
PS and I’m with Sir Paul on this one.
Doctors go to medical schools that are often times payed off (and funded) by the corrupted drug companies. they prescribe drugs and surgery. they don’t know shit about nutrition.
Erin
Two words: Second Opinion
“I find it wild that the people who hide their names like to attack”
Knowing my name has *zero* benefit to this discussion. If you are going to make some petty little dig at me for ‘hiding’ behind ‘me’. I could say the same about you, how do we know you are really ‘erin’ (I could easily pick someones name from the internet and their website and use it as my identity here… heck I could be you) or for that matter misty is misty. Welcome to the internet people pretend to be a lot of different things.
“they don’t know shit about nutrition.”
@erin and neither do all vegetarians. You are making sweeping statements. As I said before, being a doctor or a vegetarian does not give you some magical knowledge on nutrition. You actually have to educate your self. In both camps there will be people who know about nutrition and those that don’t.
I’ll spare people any further reading of my babbling, no logical good will come from any further discussion so I’ll leave it here
Am I me or am I you.
I have seen the Dali Lama eat meat.
I asked him and he told me his dr told him he must.
I also met his dr and she is up to date on all food issues.
I think the importance is not to look at the imperfections in us all, but too look at the greater good one does, for humankind
meat is difficult to give up for many and D.L.is also human and has all sorts of issues.He told us he dosen’t like to fly .
gives me hope that we all can be human and also filled with great heart!
who is perfect?
B.Brown
i have been associate with the dalai lama, unwillingly, for fiteen years. See my book, The Dalai Lama Caper, Janus, 2005. The Kagyu viewpoint is –someone else kills the cow, so i did not kill by eating it.You should see their lunches at KTD and other Monasteries.They use their telepathy for the CIA and it gets more loathesome than I can say here.
well he is 100% right. I dont see any problem there. Here’s the scenario one eat flesh for taste amd other eat flesh for his health. can you see the difference? god doesnt want us to die or suffer.
IT IS A DEEPLY felt SPIRITUAL CRIME, : TO CAUSE SUFFERING TO ANY SENTIENT BEING WITHOUT ITS EXPRESS PERMISSION, particularly in the case of someone who is suppossed to be an incarnation of compassion. BUDDHISM IS FOUNDED ON THE PREMISE NOT TO CAUSE SUFFERING, THAT THE DALAI LAMA EATS THE FLESH OF POOR DEAD ANIMALS AND MAKES HIS STOMACH A GRAVEYARD FOR THE ANIMALS AND HIDES BEHIND THE PATHETICALLY LAME EXCUSE THAT HIS DR. SAID HE MUST EAT MEAT IS LOATHSOME AND MANAGES TO PERVERT AND SULLY ONE OF THE GREATEST TEACHINGS EVER AND THE ONLY TRUE ANSWER TO MANKINDS ILLS. AND THAT IS COMPASSION AND IF HE IS THE INCARNATION OF COMPASSION HIS INGESTING ANIMAL FLESH CANNOT BE CONDONED. THERE WE ARE LEFT WITH A VERY BASIC PROBLEM HERE. WHO IS THE DALAI LAMA ? CERTAINLY NOT THE INCARNATION OF COMPASSION
I HAVE BEEN ILL MOST OF MY LIFE AND HAVE BEEN TOLD BY DRS I MUST EAT ANIMAL FLESH I AM ALSO VEGAN AND HAVE CURED MYSELF OF ILLNESSES WITHOUT EATING ROTTING FLESH. HE CAN AFFORD THE BEST MOST ADVANCED VEGETARIAN COOK ON THE PLANET AND HAVE SUPPORT OF ACUPUNCTURE HERBS, AND EVERY ALTERNATIVE MODE OUT THERE. MORESO THAN I OR MANY PEOPLES THAT HAVE CHOSEN TO BE HEALTHY WITHOUT HAVEING TO CAUSE SUFFERING. THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR HIS CHOOSING TO CAUSE PAIN & SUFFERING TO THESE ANIMALS WHETHER BY HIS OWN HAND OR BY SOME FAR OFF BUTCHER
NONE
IT IS FRANKLY ONE OF THE MOST SPIRITUALLY TRAGIC THINGS I HAVE HEARD ALL OF THESE YEARS.pAUL WAS HONOURABLE. THE SO CALLED DALAI LAMAS RESPONSE WAS NOT
Re: DL eating meat because his Liver was damaged. My liver was damaged when I was 16 BECAUSE I was eating meat and eggs. My doctor told me to stop eating meat and all animal products for 2 months. I am perfectly healthy now, and have not eaten animal for nearly 30 year.
does anybody know the story about Gandhi ? At times when he or his wife was very sick and the doctor insisted and pleaded that they should eat meat (or at least chicken broth) to gain strenght and get better, Gandhi and his wife have made the right and inspirational decisions to stick to their believes, decline eating meat, and did get better.
MEAT as a medicine, its the dumbest thing i did hear this week.
this is ridiculous. check this out: not only was he eating meat, he was eating at the Four Seasons restaurant. Ha. Ha.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/15/nyregion/15albin.html
“I mean come on, Buddha was a like an original vegetarian superstar!!”
Actually, I’m pretty sure Buddha ate meat. Whilst Buddhist schools are divided on the consumption of meat, my understanding is that the Buddha’s position was based on his denial of ownership, under which he only ate food presented to him as alms – a practice also followed by the DL. For the Buddha to choose to only eat alms which were vegetables would have implied that he placed a significance on a particular material ‘desire’ and therefore represented a overt acknowledgment of a material reality. Under all forms of Buddhism, craving or desiring is considered at the core of suffering.
Indeed, one could argue – not that I am – that the very act of being a moral vegetarian, in which one desires the material world to be a particular way, could be considered a cause of suffering under Buddhism. To hold a specific dogma requires that a person is closely tied to material reality to which that dogma has been derived, with all the associated desires that reality brings. Of course, a similar argument could and has been made about the existence of the DL.
if slaughter houses are detrimental to our atmosphere and promote the green house effect than how is that the Dalai Lama’s fault?
keeping massive amounts of animals in small cages in horrible conditions ,slaughtering them when they re grown, then packaging and shipping them to supermarkets for the masses of people is a western concept. People in developing nations get their meat a different way and it doesnt harm the enviroment. SO THINK BEYOND YOUR OWN NATIONS.
Alot of people in this thread have no idea what buddhism is and they re so quick to form their own judgments. Buddhism is about realistic approach to life. Sure gandhi didnt eat meat through out his life because he was thoroughly disgusted by it. what if he actually liked it? but please gandhi had his own problems, do some research. Point being no one is perfect. Dalai lama is not a Living buddha, buddhism has no such thing. He is a tulku, which simply means he is a soul that can chose his rebirth.
Dalai Lama does alot of good work, and just because he eats somehow makes him a bad human being, or bad man or for you to completely change your opinion on him is pretty small minded. be realistic.
and to whoever wrote this article
buddha ate meat too and continued to do so till he died…It’s only contradictory to buddhist tenets if you perpetrate the killing of the animal or are directly responsible for the killing of the animal. If the meat was not killed for you specifically the karma is no more or less than vegetables that were killed for you
anyways buddhism is about the middle path, vegetarian is extremism
also this is true…quoting Mr. N
“For the Buddha to choose to only eat alms which were vegetables would have implied that he placed a significance on a particular material ‘desire’ and therefore represented a overt acknowledgment of a material reality. Under all forms of Buddhism, craving or desiring is considered at the core of suffering.”