This is something you have to read!
Dear friends,
This is something you absolutely have to read, understand and think about. It concerns you directly. Sometimes information like this can be unbelievable, but when we read the facts according to studies from Harvard, we have to overcome our graspings and just pick the better choice. You have to read this article. Very important. Share it with people you love and are concerned abot.
We all have that one friend (or parent) who tells us not to eat too much of the fatty bits on our meat. Some of us have that vegetarian friend who tells us that meat is bad for you – morally and for our health… but is there any scientific basis behind their advice?
Over the years, many researchers have produced reports with firm evidence stating that meat is harmful to our body. Meat contains many substances which causes harm to us in the long run. It is really scary to read all these reports but scarier to know there are still many big meat eaters out there today… even though time after time again, meat has been proven to be harmful to us.
One of my students, Pastor Ngeow, found this article on a Malaysian daily newspaper, The Sun. Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health has proven that by consuming meat, especially red meat, we are more likely to die sooner. The research followed more than 100,000 people over several decades! The current scientific report issued was based on 38,000 middle-aged male subjects who were tracked for 22 years and 84,000 female subjects who were tracked for 28 years.
Research found that red meat contains a lot of compounds and chemicals causing chronic diseases. Large consumption of meat will most likely lead to cardiovascular diseases and cancer.
How soon do you want to die? If you want to live long, vegetarianism should be the choice. If you can’t become a vegetarian instantly, then perhaps try cutting down on your meat intake… If not for any other reason, for a healthier you.
I choose not to eat meat for many reasons. When I am healthy, I can do more Dharma to serve others. By cutting down on eating meat, more animals are saved from being part of the millions slaughtered every day. There are so many benefits if we decide to go vegetarian. Just imagine. Do read the article below.
Tsem Rinpoche
Click on the image for a larger version. (Source: theSun, Page 8, 15-03-12, News Without Borders)
Click on the image for a larger version. (Source: The Straits Times, 15-3-2011)
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Meat contains many substances, chemicals, which causes harm to us in the long term and red meat shorten human lives. Large consumption of meat especially processed meat are likely lead to cardiovascular diseases ,cancer and a lot more.
It is really great to see news write up of factual info like this as evidence and proof that eating meat causes more harm than good. Thank you very much for sharing the informative article.
Red meat is a good source of zinc and iron, which can help the body produce testosterone, and selenium, a powerful antioxidant. But then we don’t need to eat red meat or any other meat to get these essential nutrients. Meats are high in saturated fat, which raises blood cholesterol. high levels of LDL cholesterol increase the risk of heart disease . Eating meat and processed meat was associated with an elevated risk of heart disease, diabetes, and cancers. Eating the amount of saturated fat from animals can lead to major health problems. Researchers haven proven it and published articles on it to bring awareness of the harmful effect on eating meat. Nowadays more people are aware of the effect and are health conscious, are reducing their meat intake. By eating a variety of foods including fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, soy products, and whole grains, vegetarians can get adequate nutrients from non–meat sources. Studies have shown that vegetarians have lower chances of heart disease, cancer, diabetes and so forth. By cutting down on eating meat, more animals are saved from being slaughtered every day.
Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing.
Interesting and informative article about red meat shortening lives. My family have cut down on meat like chicken and pork due to many feedback that they contain too much chemicals, and some of my mum’s friends who are cancer patients managed to prolonged their life going on a vegetarian diet. Thank you very much Rinpoche and blog team for sharing this imporant article????
This is an interesting finding that red meat can shorten our life. From the health point of view, red meat has high cholesterol and animal fat content. Those are actually not good for our body and they can cause a lot of problems when our age catches on and our body can’t heal itself quick enough anymore.
On the Karma point of view, eating meat is the act of killing. Some might debate saying they are not involved in the killing of the animal directly and hence it is not considered as killing. However, they don’t realize that they are creating causes for the animal to be killed by requesting for its meat. The Butcher will then have to kill the animals to provide the meat for you. Hence, it is still considered as killing but indirectly.
The karma of killing is very heavy and many are not aware of it. The effect from the karma of killing is where we will have a life where we will have difficulties to stay alive. We will be born in places where there will be alot of disease and not good for living. Hence, it will be better for us to go vegetarianism. The diet of compassion and kindness.
Researchers have proven and do have evidence stating that meat is really harmful to our body. Meat contains many substances, chemicals, which causes harm to us in the long term and red meat shorten human lives. Large consumption of meat especially processed meat are likely lead to cardiovascular diseases ,cancer and alot more.
I have seen and known people having diseases all are link to have comsump on more red meat. But nowadays more and more people are health conscious having cut less of meat. It would be wise for them to remove meat from the menu. To be on vegetarian will be a good choice.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing.
Thx Rinpoche for sharing .Myself is trying to reduce meat in my daily foods chain.Pastor adviced me must try to meatless first before going to be vegetarian .After few months of testing period I feel that I don’t have strong desired to eat meat .But I still can’t let go of dairy foods. I hope in future I will be pure vegetarian. I am trying to create a good cause by not killing more n more livestock.this will help me a lot in doing dharma works.
Hi Jason,
I used to find it very difficult but the more I learned about how animals suffer, the more difficult it becomes to eat meat. After I gave up meat, I realised that the idea of giving up meat is much harder than actually giving it up.
I was very fortunate because Rinpoche has been slowly guiding me in this for many years. Below, I am sharing with you some videos and books that Rinpoche has asked us to read and watch over the years which were very helpful to me, so I hope they are also helpful for you.
It will be very good for you to watch videos like Earthlings (https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/animals-vegetarianism/earthlings.html), or to find a copy of Shabkar’s book on the karmic consequences of eating meat, as well as Bodhipaksa’s book on vegetarianism (http://www.kechara.com/kechara-house/resources/recommended-reads/vegetarianism-bodhipaksa/). Both are very good books on vegetarianism from a Buddhist perspective, especially Shabkar who covers all the excuses that we humans make so that we can continue eating meat 🙂
Good luck!
Pastor Jean Ai
Dear Rinpoche, I keep advising one of my friend to become a vegetarian but she kept on saying that she loves meat. I want her to at least cut down but she wouldn’t. I have no other ideas of convincing her, I’m not trying to force her to become a vegetarian I’m just helping her to cut down.
I didn’t liked to eat red meat before I am a vegetarian. I don’t like the taste of blood. Sometimes when I consumed red meat, I will be ended up in the toilet for few hours. For me it’s very unhealthy and unhygienic to consume that. The consumption of meat is never good.
One of my highly qualified doctor friends has also told me about extensive reading and research she had done on the effects of eating meat. She explained that it is one of the most direct causes of cancer, this is beyond doubt and a widely accepted fact by many in the medical field (both in scientific medical studies and as well as alternative healing therapies). There have also been studies and medical explanations for many, many years now that large amounts of meats lead to all other kinds of health complications and diseases of affluence – heart attacks, clogged arteries, high blood pressure, gout, diabetes etc… So this news should not surprise us.
Actually, if might step back for a moment and consider what the big deal is about eating red meat. Actually, the only thing we get out of it is that momentary sense pleasure, those few moments of what we think of as an exquisite taste experience – the sensual pleasure of eating the actual meat and feeling it in our mouths. Once we swallow it, we really don’t feel anything anymore.
So we’d put ourselves through health risks, we’d kill thousands of animals and put another few million through a lifetime of suffering and torture… just for those FEW SHORT MOMENTS of a sensory pleasure. Is it really that worth it?
Out of all the millions of food options available in the modern world today, surely there are many, many other ways of pleasing our taste buds, getting the nutrition we need and having a good meal without all this added, unnecessary pain?
We are discovering more and more everyday how eating meat only bring more harm to ourselves, our environment and others… it is so unnecessary when we are now spoil with so many choices.
Yes it is really a choice to be naive and ignorant because we choose to ignore the messages until it is to late, like when we get cancer and we need to cut out meat completely… OR we can choose to find out, heed the advise and stop or slowly cut down. SO it is really up to us if we wanna kill others and in the process of killing ourselves.
Education is very important and hence we need to spread the word out more and more. So it is really great to see news write up of factual info like this as evidence and proof that eating meat causes more harm than good. Whether or not you are Buddhist is besides the point, even i you are an atheist and a selfish being then be selfish for your own self, your health.
Animals go into fear mode when they are being taken to the abattoir. Toxins will be released and remain in their body. When we consume the meat, we will also be taking in the toxins into our body. From the compassionate angle, we cause the suffering and killing of another sentient being. Reverse the role. How would we feel? So from the health and humanity angle, it is not wise to consume meat.
According to the researcher from Harvard Medical School, having a lot of red meat is increasing risk of kidney cancer and heart problem. Those people who want a long life should reduce eat meat from now or eat vegetarian food. Start from you, a little bit contribution, a lot of animals will not be sacrifice for your daily meal. “Love your health , love animals”.
No matter how many videos, researched showed that meat is really not for human to consumed, still some people just CAN’T give up on the meat taste. All sort of excuses will use to overcome their “guiltiness” , their greed for the food. But, people forget that, to make the meat taste good, many artificial flavors will have to use to cover up the “blood” smell.
Our body is not a graveyard for animals or recycle bin for the animals bodies,
hope that people understand the need to be a vegetarian, not by choice actually.
I always kept this in mind : “If you say you don’t have money to help a animal shelter, why then do you have money to buy meat?” ~ Tsem Tulku Rinpoche ~
And always explain to customers, if we stop eating meat, we able to stop killing in one day, base on our kindness stop killing to aniamals. Another explain to customers, eat meat is not good for our healthy, why we want to bring sickness and cancer to our mouth?
Thank You Rinpoche for sharing more news to us.
Best Regards : Erickksiow
Since young I am not a fan of meat of any kind. I dislike the taste everytime I put it in my mouth. No idea why then but now I guess its because in previous lives I don’t eat meat too. Hehe… I have been trying to slowly put my kids on vegetarian meals and show them that even without meat food taste as good. Even soup taste better boiled with corn and mushroom extracts rather than using meat. Hopefully, my kids will stop eating meat for a healthier diet and generate compassion.
By eating meat, we not only harm others, it harms our body too.
I watched a video about how live stock industry is harming the earth, I feel so bad that I was one of them who caused it. It is because of our demand for meat, the industry grows and more lifes taken away.
I realize that the animal in the slaughter house is no longer “living thing” there, what the people value about the animal is the physical body of the animals which equal to profits for them. It’s so so sad.
Everyone can contribute to stop it by becoming vegetarian or at least meatless diner. You can make a change by the choice of food. Please do not eat animals!!
We are always creating the causes that give us the opposite of the results we want e.g. happiness and good health.
Knowing that eating meat not only cause poor health and suffering to animals, we continuously give in to our attachment to sense pleasures. Just like smoking, there has been so much education on the negative effects of smoking but tobacco industry is still one of the biggest income earners of the world economy.
I’m most grateful that Rinpoche showed us “The Earthlings” 3 years ago. This documentary reveals the inhumane way used to kill animals and the pains suffered by them. If we were truly Buddhists that practice compassion towards all beings, why are we selective ? What right do we have to decide what beings to live and what to die for our selfish gratification?
If we worry about nutritional value of a vegetarian diet, a little research will dispel our concern. Rinpoche even posted a section on vegetarian restaurant review in this blog. The lame excuse that vegetarian meals are boring is really unfounded.
Most people believe that if we dont take meat, we are deprived of the nutrients and some may find it is difficult to give up meat. In fact I think that a vegetarian diet is healthier choice. I was once a meat lover and having stopped eating meat for more than a year and substitute what I lack with health supplement I feel that I am healthier person.
Jane Goodhall wrote: Thousands of people who say the ‘love’ animals sit down once or twice a day to enjoy the flesh of creatures who have been utterly deprived of everything that could make their lives worth living and who endured the awful suffering and the terror of the abattoirs.
My opinion: Isn’t this hypocrisy? The mouth that spells compassion is the same that does the opposite.
其实吃肉的坏处真的太多了，不止不环保，嗜肉者的身体是酸性的，累集很多的毒素在体内，也比较容易患上癌症！！真是花了银子又伤身子！！有一篇健康報道说“少年不养身，老年养医生”真是太妙了。。。所以请大家尽早吃素，为环保出一份力，为自己的健康加分，累集不杀生的福報。。。一举数得，太棒了！！就从今天开始一起吃素吧！！
I used to be very against pure vegetarianism when I was young. Part of the reason is that our old textbooks always taught us that meat contains all the essential nutrients we need and it’s easier for us to achieve a balance diet. Of course at the same time, many medical researches also showed that meat eaters have a higher tendencies to suffer from chronic diseases such as heart disease and cancers.
As someone who have some medical knowledge, I know it is not difficult at all for a vegetarian to achieve a balance diet. But I still chose to remain as a meat eater for many years, needless to say, the main reason of course is my attachment to meat.
Thanks to Rinpoche’s teaching on compassion for all sentient beings. I have become a vegetarian for almost three years now. I actually feel much better for both my body and spirit, and to my surprise I found out that giving up meat is not as hard as I used to imagine. It’s just a decision. Just decide and do it. NOthing else.
Consumption of the meat of ruminant animals creates also many causes for degradation of the environment. Rumninant animals need a lot of roaming space for their food and grazing and they produce a lot of methane gas on top of that how much resources are used up for the production of one pound of meat as compared to one pound of grains. It is close to 20 times more resources needed to produce than one pound of grains.
I am 38 years old woman, now and I have been a vegetarian for quite a while, then as I was severely anemic and my health was a disaster, I started to eat meat once a week. Red meat. I felt so much better. As I became a Buddhist, I wrestle with the idea that eating meat accumulates bad karma and as well might not be the most compassionate thing to do! I know that buddhism is not about judging per se and we all have to make decisions after all.
Now that I will go and see HH The Dalai Lama next week in Long Beach, California, I have made a vow to not eat any meat since yesterday until I see him and receive his initiation. It is renunciation, yes, but it is also a new chance for me to check how I feel without eating meat again.
Also I must add that since eating red meat, I only buy meat form small farmers that let their cattle roam free and feed them natural foods and do not inject them with profilactic antibiotics or hormones. It is still eating meat, but just ensuring that those animals have had a dignified life. As a woman that suffers from menorrhagia, the amount of blood I lose can be terrifying, so I do eat red meat at those times to continue breathing and not going for transfusions, which my doctor has recommended on occasions. I do battle with my conscience lately regarding this issue.
The animals are confined in close space created by human for efficiency in producing animal aka a factory. It is not their natural habitat. They become physically weak since from a new born because of no movement and exercise. Unknown amount of antibiotic is injected into them to withstand the dirty and harsh living condition until they’re being slaughtered, cut to pieces and sold as ‘food’ for human. The animals are feed with mixed ‘food’ sources which make them growth at unnatural rate. 🙁
I used to be the number 1 meat consumer, but once I undertand what is my motivation to give up the meat, it becomes so easy, and I managed to let go of it within minutes.
I thank Rinpoche for being the inspiration to become vegetarian, and benefit so much from it!
吃素好处真的不少，吃肉多的人通常汗水味道较重，吃素也少了担心肉类有长肉剂的问题。为了自己我们通常可以把日子过得很糜烂，也有人过得超好的，不过通常是前者。为了别人，不管是一开始的身边的亲人爱人还是之后的众生，我们都可以把生活过得比较好——健康的身体就是往前冲的本钱。
Dying daily for the animals, it seems is a nutural phenomenum, in order to serve and satisfy the survival instinct of human beings who eat meat. Contrary to what we believed and for health reasons, we don’t really need meat to survive. Our forefathers had a different diet during those days as their way of life was very much different from ours today. For today, we have gone onto electronics, amongst many other modern things too. We can get proteins easily from plant foods without eating meat and are yet doing fine. Nutritional experts no longer dispute whether animal flesh is essential; they agree that it is not. Such worries are entirely groundless. For health reasons, animal foods have in fact come under greater suspicion within the mainstream of the scientific community, on the causes leading to many forms of serious sicknesses and dieseases, such as cancer, heart-diseases, diabetes and gallstones, just to name a few. So not only are animal food unnecessary for our health, they may very well be detrimental to it! So be a vegeterian for Morality, Health and the Environment.
Thank you for always reminding us about the danger of eating meat. May people who read this post understand the benefits of not eating meat…always…
Many people think that being a vegetarian means we lack certain nutrition especially amino acid, iron and all the stuff that is present in meat. It is not surprising as most of the food we end up eating are bad carbs such as pasta, white rice, noodles and bread.
Vegetarians need protein and the good news is there are so many other substitutes for red meat or any meat in non-animal product. A good source of vegetable protein is spirulina. It has more protein than any meat, eggs and milk. It is also rich in vitamin B, potassium, calcium, chromium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, selenium, sodium, and zinc.
There’s nothing to worry about if you plan to stop eating meat. All it requires is some knowledge and research on how to be a healthy vegetarian.
Reading “The China Study” changed my life. It’s a great book, written by doctors and backed up by science. It completely dismantles the whole “humans need meat for protein” myth. “Forks Over Knives”, which is a documentary based on “The China Study”, is pretty good as well. It actually shows people reversing high cholesterol, diabetes, and other serious ailments with a plant based diet. Like Don said, education is key!
It is unfortunate that in the US, meat eating does not seem to be going away. Despite the abundance of vegetarian food – and the scientific evidence that states that a vegetarian diet is healthier than a carnivorous diet – America probably consumes more meat than any other nation on earth.
Education is the key to ending the consumption of meat – thanks for sharing this!