26. Abstaining from Eating Meat

How can he practice true compassion 
who eats the flesh of an animal to fatten his own flesh?

Riches cannot be found in the hands of the thriftless,
nor can compassion be found in the hearts of those who eat meat.

He who feasts on a creature's flesh is like he who wields a weapon.
Goodness is never one with the minds of these two. 

If you ask, "What is kindness and what is unkindness?" 
It is not-killing and killing. Thus, eating flesh is never virtuous.

Life is perpetuated by not eating meat.
The jaws of Hell close on those who do.

If the world did not purchase and consume meat,
no one would slaughter and offer meat for sale.

When a man realizes that meat is the butchered flesh
of another creature, he will abstain from eating it.

Insightful souls who have abandoned the passion to hurt others 
will not feed on flesh that life has abandoned.

Greater than a thousand ghee offerings consumed in sacrificial
fires is to not sacrifice and consume any living creature.

All life will press palms together in prayerful adoration
of those who refuse to slaughter or savor meat.