One with Impure Outward Appearances Cannot Be Mindful

Some say whether to eat meat or not is not something to be fixated on, and that not clinging to forms is the essence, with subduing the mind being the fundamental precept. However, facts and karmic results do not depend on whether anyone clings or not; they are bound to manifest regardless. Mere wishful thinking cannot resolve any issue.

Only those with the ability to subdue the mind can truly uphold the precepts. Without the capability to subdue the mind, one cannot uphold the precepts. The key lies in what level of cultivation enables one to subdue the mind and to what extent genuine mind-subduing is achieved. It is not a matter of merely thinking one has subdued the mind or believing one is free from attachment to forms. Such notions are highly unreliable and unreasonable. To truly be free from attachment to forms, one must realize the corresponding truth and attain deep meditative concentration. Only then can one be free from clinging, shatter forms, and subdue the mind. Anything short of this is merely lip service.

One must clarify to what level of cultivation one must attain to subdue the mind. Ask yourself: Can you subdue your mind? If you can, then any problem can be resolved, and whether you eat or not becomes irrelevant. If it is said that fixating on whether to eat meat or not is clinging to forms, then not being attached to eating or not eating meat would mean the mind is already free from attachment to forms. Since you are already free from attachment to forms, you should be able to eat anything without discrimination—plain rice alone would suffice, or perhaps with a side of pickled vegetables, or even plain raw vegetables without meat. You could eat anything. Someone truly unattached to food should be able to eat whatever is available, even leftovers, as long as it fills the stomach and enables diligent practice of the Way. Nothing else should matter.

True non-attachment should be like this, not merely claiming that avoiding eating meat is unnecessary.