[Advaita-l] Advaitic Foods

[Shrisha Rao]

El dic 16, 2010, a las 2:53 p.m., Satish Arigela escribió:

> brAhmaNa-s refraining from eating meat is more because of bauddha and jaina 
> influence.

That is certainly the refrain of modern Indologists who wish to minimize the worth of the Vaidika traditions and ascribe all good qualities to the Judeo-Christian faiths as far as possible, or at least to Buddhism and Jainism where not.  However, it is not correct in any obvious sense.  Buddhists have never been vegetarians themselves -- the Buddha himself is said (by Buddhists) to have died by choking on a bone in his food, and Buddhists have always eaten all kinds of flesh, as may be seen even today.  The Buddhists criticized animal sacrifices as part of their all-round condemnation of Vedic rites, but this was not because of their concern for the pain and suffering of animals.

With the Jaina tradition there is the actual practice of vegetarianism and concern for the suffering of animals, but there is no significant scholarly basis (the absurd fantasies of people like Zydenbos notwithstanding) to say that said tradition has had a significant influence on the Vaidika-s.  There is sufficient reason to hold that the Vaidika ethos is sui generis.

Regards,

Shrisha Rao