This article discusses meat-eating among American Buddhists. The authors first examine how various religious texts are used to support different beliefs and practices across the three branches of Buddhism. Although these texts are used by Buddhists and Buddhist teachers in at least two of these branches to generally permit meat-eating under at least some conditions, the authors argue that vegetarianism is more consistent with the core beliefs of Buddhism. In the second half of the article, they present ethical, environmental, health, and political reasons that vegetarianism is preferable, and point out the inconsistency of adhering to other Buddhist practices while ignoring teachings related to a non-harming diet.

[Abstract excerpted from original source.]

“Since the first precept of Buddhism is abstaining from harming living beings, the question arises whether Buddhists should be vegetarian. However, though it has received little attention in Buddhist literature, the topic is worthy of further examination and should be widely discussed by those concerned about Buddhist ethics. This paper investigates the arguments for vegetarianism and for meat-eating by examining Buddhist texts and their interpretations by Buddhist scholars. The authors’ conclusion is that given what society knows about the detrimental effects of meat eating on the environment, of the treatment of non-humans and of the effects on human health a firm vegetarian Buddhist ethic should be considered for the 21st century.”