Vegetarianism Facilitates the Cultivation of Meditative Concentration

The Buddha in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra explains that consuming pungent plants and flesh foods brings various harms to sentient beings and poses significant obstacles to spiritual cultivation. Therefore, to attain proper meditative concentration, one must abstain from pungent plants and flesh foods. "Pungent plants" refer to foods that, when ingested, produce unpleasant odors, such as garlic chives, scallions, garlic, garlic scapes, garlic sprouts, onions, and so forth. "Flesh foods" refer to the bodily matter of sentient beings.

Consuming these pungent plants and flesh foods causes the mind to become impure, easily arousing lust and anger. It also attracts the proximity of ghosts and spirits, who are fond of such odors. They may lick one's mouth to savor the scent, which is detrimental to spiritual practice and may lead to calamities. This consumption also constitutes indirect killing, for which one must repay the debt hundreds or thousands of times over in the future. According to the Buddha's exposition in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, one should swiftly abandon the consumption of pungent plants and flesh foods and hasten entry onto the path.