Author: Christie Koehler

software engineer, geek, yoga practitioner, bike commuter, zen buddhist, queer, vegan, legion of tech board member, osbridge planner, engineer@ShopIgniter

Precept 3: I Vow Not to Misuse Sexual energy, But to be Honest and Respectful in Mind and Action

In preparation for receiving the precepts next week, I’ve been writing about what each precept means to me. This is the fourth post in series of six about the Five Grave Precepts. You might want to read the introductory post if you haven’t already.

“I  will be conscious and loving in my relationships, I will not give way to lust.”

This is a difficult precept for me to write about. I imagine it is difficult for a lot of people. Our society consistency sends mixed messages about our sexuality and we internalize these mixed messages from a very early age. For those who have been subject to sexual abuse, the topic is fraught with an additional layer of complex emotion.

What I learned early on from my family of origin was that sexuality was not safe. Women who were sexual or sexy were vulnerable. I learned to hide my sexuality as much as possible. To this day I’m still uncomfortable being the object of someone’s desire (even that of my long time partner).

So while my upbringing makes this precept difficult to talk about, it also underscores the importance of upholding it. I’ve really had to dig deep to figure out what constitutes misusing sexual energy and what constitutes being honest and respectful in mind and body.

There’s no doubt that sexual energy is an integral part of life. In Zen writings it’s referred to as a ‘red thread’ running through all of us. Sex enables the continuation of our species and it can be an important aspect to living a full and integrated life. The key, I think, to this precept and to using sexual energy well is to respect both intimacy and bodily integrity.

Intimacy in this context means closeness. Closeness to your partner, to yourself, to the present moment. To your direct experience of the present moment. Sexuality should not be engaged at the expense of this intimacy. If I engage my sexuality in order to remove myself from the experience of the present moment, my partner or myself, then I am violating this precept.

I think honesty is implicit to maintaining intimacy. You can’t have intimacy if you’re not being honest. Untruths are a barrier. This means that engaging in sexual energy for ulterior motives is a violation of this precept. If I use my sexual energy in order to elicit favors or actions from someone, I am engaging in a deception about my motives and desires and therefore not upholding intimacy.

Taking this idea a bit further means that one should also be fully aware of their own state of mind and body when engaging sexual energy. When we aren’t clear of our own intentions, we can’t possibly be honest about them (to ourselves or to others).

The second aspect of this precept is the idea of upholding bodily integrity. Bodily integrity means that an individual has the right to determine what happens to his/her body. In terms of this precept, it means that sexuality should not be imposed upon someone in a way other than of the person’s choosing. This includes obvious cases like rape and sexual assault. It also includes less obvious actions like engaging in sexually charged speech and the use of sexually suggestive images in inappropriate settings.

It’s in talking about bodily integrity that I start to view this precept as relating to our treatment of animals. The abuse of animal sexuality is intrinsic to the meat and dairy industry. So for me, participating in these industries by consuming meat and dairy is a violation of the third precept as well as the first.

Outright denial of a person’s sexuality can also be a misuse of sexual energy. When we reject sexuality we can do as much damage to intimacy and bodily integrity as does giving way to lust. This doesn’t mean that we need to fulfill every sexual request that is put forth to us. But it does mean that we should honor the person who made the request and the vulnerability required to do so.

Precept 2: I Vow Not to Steal, But to Respect the Things of Others

In preparation for receiving the precepts next week, I’ve been writing about what each precept means to me. This is the third post in series of six about the Five Grave Precepts. You might want to read the introductory post if you haven’t already.

“I will respect the property of others, I will not steal.”

Upholding this precept means that I do not take the things of others without their permission. I take only what is given freely. Sounds simple, right? In your driveway is a really nice car, one that I wouldn’t mind having, but I don’t drive off in it because it doesn’t belong to me.

The above is a straightforward example. But some are not so straightforward. There are many ways in which we are able to steal from one another and stealing isn’t limited to physical things. Through unskillful actions, we can take people’s time, their emotional energy, their sense of well-being, their independence. There are a few ways in which I work with this aspect of the second precept. The first is that I try to be very conscious of people’s time. I work towards being prompt for meetings and events, otherwise I call when possible and let the person know when I expect to arrive. While conversing, I practice being concise and listening whole-heartedly rather than simply wait my turn to speak. In my relationships, platonic and romantic, I work towards being inter-dependent rather than co-dependent. My goal is to, on average, put more into the relationship that I take out.

For be this precept is also very much about living simply and frugally. This means I have a practice of taking, purchasing or receiving only what I need. For example, I no longer acquire items simply because they are free or available at a significant discount. When I want to acquire something, I examine my motivations. I ask myself, “What need is this thing going to fulfill? Can something I already possess meet this need? Is this the most appropriate time to make this purchase, or would later be better? Am I spending money that I don’t have on this item?” I think it’s important to avoid debt whenever possible (though there are certain cases where debt makes sense, like buying a house). Acquiring debt is, in a way, stealing from your future self.

In some ways, I am very skillful at this practice of taking only what I need. In some ways, I still have a long way to go. I like gadgets and computers so it’s difficult for me to resist buying these things as I often do when not totally necessary.

Like the other precepts, we violate this precept all the time and partially out of necessity. I can’t exist without stealing resources from the Earth. I need air to breath, water to drink and food to eat. But I can minimize what we do take from the Earth by recycling, ride a bicycle whenever possible, being mindful of energy usage, etc. I also work to reduce what I steal from other non-human sentient beings (e.g. not taking an animal’s flesh or milk for food).

Precept 1: I Vow Not to Kill, But to Cherish All Life

In preparation for receiving the precepts next week, I’ve been writing about what each precept means to me. This is the second post in series of six about the Five Grave Precepts. You might want to read the introductory post if you haven’t already.

“I will be mindful and reverential with all life, I will not be violent nor will I kill.”

All life is sacred, no matter how small or seemingly inconsequential. Taking any life is a violation of this precept. Yet, no creature can survive without taking life. We step on unnoticed insects while we walk, or we inadvertently kill earth worms while we’re tilling our soil. We kill a squirrel with our car because we are unable to stop safely in time. A gopher is killed by a tractor as vegetable crops are worked. Sometimes we euthanize a pet because we don’t have the resources to provide for its care, or we make the tough call that further treatment would not contribute to quality of life.

Recognizing that I can’t possibly uphold this precept perfectly, I instead do my best to affirm life and reduce suffering to the greatest extent possible. I ask myself, “Will what I’m about to do/say affirm life? Or will it increase suffering?” When possible, I refrain from making judgments about what suffering is okay and what suffering is not okay. I’m not sure how quantify suffering in order to make these comparisons.

One way of affirming life and reducing suffering is to refrain from the consumption of animal products for food. This includes meat, dairy, honey and other items that use animal products in their production. I do not require these substances in my diet in order to be healthy, so I choose to forgo the loss of life and suffering that is inherent to using animals as commodities. This also includes refraining from using any products that are the result of animal exploitation, whenever possible. (Read more about my veganism.)

An extension of this is that I do my best to live in harmony with the creatures around me. I try to be mindful that the space I occupy is shared with other creatures and that I am not specifically entitled to that space. Rather than kill the spider that’s taken up residence in my tomato plants, I carefully move him or simply work around him. This has actually been a particularly difficult aspect of the first precept for me. I’m terrified of spiders. But I haven’t intentionally killed one since I started working with the precepts nearly a year and a half ago. Instead, I acknowledge and honor the deep fear that I feel and make a mindful decision to carefully escort the spider out of the house anyway (or from wherever it needs to be moved). In some cases I let the spider stay where it is and try to appreciate what it contributes to the environment (e.g. eats pests).

Upholding this precept also means that I refrain from violent thoughts. It’s a violation of the first precept just to think, “oh, I’m going to kill him,” or “oh, I’d like to wring that person’s neck” even if those thoughts don’t directly precipitate violent action. For me, violent thoughts typically originate from anger or fear. Rather than allowing this anger or fear to give rise to violent thought or action, I work towards finding and understand its source. When working with the first precept in this regard, I always think of the Litany Against Fear from Frank Herbert’s Dune:

I must not fear
To see its path.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass
Over me and through me.
And when it has gone past
I will turn the inner eye
Where the fear has gone
There will be nothing.
Only I will remain….

Refraining from violence also means that I avoid violent, harmful speech. I do my best to exercise Right Speech when communicating with others. This includes avoiding criticism, complaining and gossip. I try to make my speech compassionate and kind. When speaking with people about difficult topics, I attempt to focus more on what we have in common than on what separates us.

Writing About the Precepts

In about a week and a half, I’ll receive the Five Precepts from my teachers (I wrote about asking to take the precepts in an earlier post). The precepts are given as part of a formal ceremony in front of the whole sangha and are an essential part of Buddhist practice, for lay followers and monastics alike. Those who take (or receive) the Five Precepts make the following commitments:

I vow not to kill, but to cherish all life.
I vow not to steal, but to respect the things of others.
I vow not to misuse sexual energy, but to be honest and respectful in mind and action.
I vow not to lie, but to speak the truth.
I vow not to misuse drugs or alcohol, but to keep the mind clear.

The precepts are not considered as commandments or imperatives. Rather, they are guidelines. Buddhists take the precepts voluntarily as a way of strengthening our spiritual practice. These precepts become the heart, the underlying framework on which our practice is based. The precepts are not ends; they are means. We cannot possibly uphold the precepts perfectly. What we can do is use the precepts to guide our actions and decisions in order to reduce suffering as much as possible.

In preparing to take the five precepts, we are asked to reflect upon what each of the them means. My thoughts are collected in the next handful of blog posts.

Returning to Full-Time Employment

When I started freelancing over two years ago, I was very excited about my ability to do so. I looked forward to choosing my own work hours, working from wherever I wanted and for whomever I wanted. I envisioned that I’d enjoy the wide variety of tasks required for freelancing: business development, managing client relationships, accounting, etc. Additionally, I thought I’d have the freedom to learn new skills and contribute to side projects.

Freelancing has actually gone fairly well for me. I’ve never been without work (indeed, I seem to find more than I can do). I’ve made a decent living. Being a freelancer allowed me to move from San Francisco to Portland without a disruption in income. I’ve built new skills and have completed some large projects.

But over the last several months I’ve felt a kind of fatigue creep upon me. I never quite feel like I’m off of work. Having my own office space at home and working from coffee shops helps somewhat, but the inconsistency in working environment is also draining. Isolation is also a significant issue. I miss working with people. In particular, I miss working with other developers. Co-working and participating in user groups helps tremendously, but I’ve found that it’s not a substitute for going into the office everyday and working side-by-side with your colleagues.

Perhaps the biggest factor in my decision to return to full-time employment is that I don’t enjoy being a jack-of-all trades as I much as I thought I was going to enjoy it. I don’t particularly care for marketing, business development and accounting. And because I don’t care for those activities all that much, it’s going to be a struggle to become adept at them. I’d rather focus my energies on becoming a better developer and really honing my craft.

All of these thoughts came to mind at the end of August while Sherri and I were in Hawai’i. Apparently there’s nothing like a tropical vacation to put things in perspective. I knew it was time to try something different so I started looking for work as soon as we returned.

The search went well and this week is my last week of full-time freelancing. I’ve accepted a full-time, on-site developer position at FINE Design Group. I start next Monday. I’m pretty thrilled at finding work so quickly and at a company who’s environment I think will suit me well.

On the Continuous Use of Contraceptives

I take contraception and have been doing so for several years now (since I was 18). I take contraception for two reasons: 1) I do not currently desire to become pregnant, so I do not wish to be actively fertile, and 2) I wish to suppress my menstrual cycle.

In fact, I’ve been using oral contraception, “the pill,” continuously (meaning I do not take the placebo pills) for several years now. I have periods very infrequently. The longer I have taken the pill in this manner, the less I have any sort of uterine bleeding whatsoever.

And you know what? It’s wonderful. I don’t feel like total shit for a week out of the year as I do when I have regular periods. I don’t have to carry menstrual supplies and I don’t have to experience the extra hassle and effort of their use. I don’t produce extra waste via tampons and pads. (For women who do menstruate, I highly, highly recommend the DivaCup. Seriously, it changed my life when I was menstruating as much as realizing I could stop my menstrual periods altogether.)

No one told me I had to suppress my menstrual cycle. I first heard about doing this while getting ready for my first Burning Man. Another women noted that if I were scheduled to get my period during the event and didn’t want to deal with it while in the dessert (a real concern given the pack it in, pack it out nature of the event, lack of hand-washing facilities and port-o-potty conditions), that I could just skip the placebo week of pills and immediately start a new pack.

Learning this was incredibly empowering. Already I had experienced the empowerment of being able to choose when to be fertile. Now I could choose not to have a period. I started using this method whenever the timing of a period would be inconvenient: it coincided with travel, a job interview, etc.

A few years later I learned even more about the periods that occur when taking birth control. I learned that you could stop them all together by taking birth control continuously. Even more wonderful! I asked my doctor about this, she said it was okay to do and re-wrote my birth control  prescription to indicate continuous use so that my insurance would cover each refill. (Sometimes if the prescription is not written for explicit continuous use, insurance companies will not want to cover the “early” refills. If you’re considering continuous use, be sure to have your doctor write the prescription as such.)

Lately I’ve noticed a number of women speaking out against continues use of contraception for the purposes of menstruation control and suppression. One Op-Ed by Karen Houppert published in the New York Times declared that “war has been declared on menstruation.” Another blogger named Julia says “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” And an article by Heather Corrina on a sex-education site for teens goes so far as to directly equate the desire to control one’s menstrual period as a form of internalize misogyny (see I, Being Born Woman and Suppressed). These are just a few examples of the many, I think, mis-informed reactions against the use of continuous contraception for period suppression.

An argument of these critical responses is that this solution is overly marketed to women. Corrina writes that menstruation suppression is “being given the hard sell,” and Houppert in her NYT articles warns women to prepare to protect themselves “for a barrage of advertising and research highlighting the debilitating effects of periods and the joys of menstrual suppression.”

I agree that women are overly marketed to. Actually, we all are. We’re bombarded with advertisements on TV, in print and on the Internet. We’re told that if we buy all manners of products that we’ll be thinner, happier, fitter, wiser. We’re told this in disingenuous ways and its incredibly harmful. There’s no doubt about this. There’s no doubting the power and clout that the big pharmaceutical companies have in our economy and culture. These companies certainly have an interest in developing drugs that we need (or want) to take with regular frequency because this means a recurring revenue source. An unfortunate side-effect of this is that these companies may benefit from health issues that to be maintained by a daily medication. So, these companies have a potential economic interest against finding/promoting preventions and cures for the source of ill-health. Cholesterol maintenance medication is a prime example. People would not have cholesterol issues if they followed a healthful vegan diet. The problem simply wouldn’t exist, nor would the market for the very lucrative cholesterol-lowering medications.

However, this does not mean that all regular-use medications that pharmaceutical companies create represent arbitrary and selfish market creation. Women have a very real need for contraceptive, fertility and reproductive health maintenance options. I think its okay for the companies who make these drugs and for doctors to inform women of their existence.

Opponents seems to think that the marketing of these options to women is an implicit attack on femininity itself, one which in turn gives women no real choice about using these options:

“Do pervasive cultural attitudes about menstruation, and about the female body as being a great annoyance and a burden — attitudes so ingrained and accepted that even some doctors perpetuate them — allow women a real choice as to whether or not, and why, they WANT to suppress menstruation?” (Corrina)

Houppert further dramatizes the supposed attack on femininity by saying, “Western civilization, it seems, hinges on our ability to wrangle our messy cycles to the ground and stomp ’em out once and for all.”

In no way have I ever felt that the availability of options to control my menstrual cycle is implied judgement that having a menstrual cycle is a bad thing. What I detect is that there are valid reasons why a women would want control over when and how she menstruates. Menses is the number one cause of iron-deficiency. A percentage of women have incredibly painful, heavy periods (dysmenorrhea), some women have especially difficult PMS (Premenstrual dysphoric disorder). Both of these can be helped by the pill (via continuous or regular use). For women who have mild periods, there is still a very valid benefit in the convenience of not having a period. I want all women to know this option is available as I do think it can be enriching and empowering.

Some women feel that their femininity in part originates from their menstrual cycle. Blogger Julia writes, “I am a woman and my periods are part of that womanhood, which I love.” I appreciate that some women feel this way. However, not all do, including myself.

My period is not my source of femininity. Nor is my fertility, my genitals or my breasts. I am my source of femininity and I alone define it. The act of taking contraception does not inherently or implicitly endanger femininity. Women who make the decision to use contraction in this manner aren’t necessarily demonstrating an internalize misogyny.

That’s not to say that we don’t have a ways to go in our cultural understanding and acceptance of menstruation. Many women are ashamed of their periods, of any “accidents” they might have during their period, of even talking about their periods. I cringed during the scene in the movie SuperBad when one of the party guests, a male, discovers he has period blood on him. He proceeds to freak out and so does the rest of the party. The scene wasn’t funny to me, as I imagine it was written to be. A mature person should be able to handle fluids associated with normal bodily functions. As should an adolescent who is or on the verge of being sexually active. So, just like all aspects of women’s reproductive health and sexuality, we need to continue to promote open, honest dialog and education.

Some opponents site the unknown health effects of using contraception continuously for period suppression. These health concerns are largely exaggerated:

We know that suppressing your period long term is not detrimental (actually, there’s evidence it’s beneficial, but I digress). And how do we know that? From decades of observing the effects of menstrual suppression in women who, you know, don’t menstruate for extended intervals: Pill users, pregnant women, breastfeeding women.

(from The Well-Timed Period blog)

Using hormonal contraception continuously carries no greater side effects than taking contraceptive pills plus the placebo pills intermittently.

I think that women who are opposed to the use of contraception for period control do not have a complete understanding of how the menstrual cycle works particularly in relation to hormonal birth control. All hormonal contraception, regardless of whether you take it continuously or not, suppresses the menstrual cycle. There’s a very good overview of this available in the article Menstrual Suppression vs. Continuous Use .

In short: Fluctuations in hormone levels cause changes in the uterine lining. The uterine wall thickens in preparation for possible pregnancy. When pregnancy does not occur the thickened lining of the uterus is shed, along with any unfertilized ova. This is a menstrual period.  If you’re not planning for a pregnancy, there is no reason to have cyclical changes in your uterine lining. Hormonal birth control forgoes this uterine/menstrual cycle by maintaining a thin uterine wall. There’s nothing to shed when you’re taking hormonal birth control, so there’s no reason to have a menstrual cycle. There’s no evidence to suggest that regular bleeding is necessary or even good for the uterus beyond its function as stated above.

When you bleed while taking the pill you aren’t really having a menstrual period:

“What you do have when you use the Pill is a monthly withdrawal bleeding episode, or a fake period. This withdrawal bleeding and the menstrual period are not one and the same thing. Briefly, by manipulating the dose of hormones in the Pill, you can destabilize the thin uterine lining enough to cause some bleeding.” (from Menstrual Suppression vs. Continuous Use )

In fact, these withdrawal bleeding episodes are not medically necessary. Rather, the decision to induce them was a marketing one, as mentioned in this NPR interview:

“Marketers at the manufacturing company which developed the pill,” says Segal, “felt at the time that an oral contraceptive might or might not be accepted by the public. These were very different times. Not only was this the first oral contraceptive but it was the first medication given to healthy women for any purpose at all.”
Taking away ovulation and imposing synthetic hormones was already a big change, and apparently marketers felt it might be too much to also take away monthly periods.
“You have to remember also that this was a time before drugstore pregnancy tests, so that if a woman was not bleeding, having a regular menstrual period, she wouldn’t know for sure whether she was pregnant or not,” says Segal.

“Such anxiety about unintended pregnancy was another reason why marketers felt it was better to have one week off, to allow this artificial menses to occur,” he explains.

To be clear: I am not criticizing a woman’s decision to use birth control or not use birth control, for whatever reason and in whatever manner (continuously or otherwise). That is a personal decision. If you aren’t comfortable taking medication, if you have other means of contraception that you are comfortable with, that’s fine. If you take contraception but don’t mind having regular periods, that’s fine too. If you choose to take birth control continuously to eliminate or reduce withdrawl bleeding, that’s also okay.

What I am criticizing is the notion that women who use technology to control their fertility and/or their menstrual cycle are somehow doing so out of an internalized misogyny, or are otherwise betraying the feminist cause.

It is possible to be fully unashamed of your period and still make the decision to banish it from your life. It’s also possible to feel some negativity about your period and decide to banish it from your life. This doesn’t mean you hate yourself, your femininity, or that of your sister’s (biological and otherwise).

I’m curious to hear from other women out there. Have you chosen to take contraception continuously? Did you feel pressured into doing so so? Does it make you feel empowered? Do you choose not to take birth control in order to stay connected to your “natural” femininity? Has the availability of birth control affected you in a positive way? A negative one? How so?

Working with the Five Rememberances

Over the last several months, I’ve been dealing with persistent illness. What started as a bad cold in early March evolved into bronchitis and then a severe sinus infection. Finally, after two rounds of antibiotics along with a consistent regiment of medication to manage post-nasal drip, I’m starting to feel more like myself. I have my energy back and it feels great.

What I’m reflecting on now is how difficult it is to cope with illness. I can handle being sick a day or two here and there. I don’t like it, but I can usually recognize my need to rest and follow suit. However, anything longer than that and I start to go nuts. I feel guilty for being sick (I should have taken better care of myself). I feel anxious (I’m not going to be able to bill the number of hours I wanted to this month). I feel lousy (because my body is fighting an infection and/or virus). I feel scared (what if I never get better and it’s like this all the time?). In fact, I’m feeling a bit anxious just writing about this.

Lately I’ve found some relief from these anxieties by reflecting upon the Five Remembrances, which are written about in the Upajjhatthana Sutra. The Five Remembrances are:

I am of the nature to grow old; there is no way to escape growing old.

I am of the nature to have ill health; there is no way to escape having ill health.

I am of the nature to die; there is no way to escape death.

All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature of change; there is no way to escape being separated from them.

My deeds are my closest companions; I am the beneficiary of my deeds. My deeds are the ground on which I stand.

Buddha said that we should reflect upon these facts regularly. It may seem depressing to remind yourself that you are of the nature to “grow old,” “have ill health,” and “die,” let alone that you’ll inevitably be separated from all that you love. However, I find great freedom in these words. It’s true — I can’t escape growing old, becoming ill, dying and loosing all that I care about. Reminding myself that these things are inescapable is normalizing. It removes some of the guilt, attachment and anxiety I feel around them. Decay is just as much as part of the universe as is growth and it’s progress continues regardless of my involvement.

Moreover, the Five Remembrances reinforce the importance of living an ethical life by reminding me that “my deeds are the ground on which I stand.”

Vegan is More than a Strange Diet: An Open Letter to My (Buddhist) Community and Beyond

I recently attended a fundraising dinner for the Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple, which will become my Buddhist community’s downtown center. We currently offer a program in Portland in a space we rent from another Zen group. We have grown sufficiently over the last couple of years such that it’s time to purchase a building of our own. During that time, we’ve produced a number of fundraising events, including classes, guest speakers and workshops. The latest of these activities was a dinner hosted by a new, hip restaurant and prepared by a well-known local chef who donated his time to our cause.

The dinner went incredibly well. The food was well-received. The decor was elegant. We raised a lot of money (an impressive amount, actually).

But as the night went on, I became increasingly uncomfortable with the fact that the meal served was not vegan (it was vegetarian). In fact, at first my partner and I were informed that there wasn’t going to be a vegan option available at the dinner. At the last minute, the organizers we able to work something out and we were accommodated with vegan-ize versions of the meals served to everyone. For the entree, this meant risotto prepared without the cheese and butter. For dessert we received a plate of berries in syrup without the shortcake and whipped cream that accompanied everyone else’s meal.

While I appreciate the effort that went in to the preparation of the meal, and to the event as a whole, it was actually disheartening to me that we were “accommodated” in the manner that we were. There’s no reason we needed to be accommodated at all. The meal we were served could have been prepared, with marginal extra effort, entirely vegan. It simply wasn’t considered or asked for until we raised the issue (too close to the event, I suspect, for an entire vegan meal to be planned for and prepared).

Being vegan for me isn’t a strange or special diet. It’s a way of living. It’s deeply rooted in my spirituality and ethics. It’s integral to how I mindfully uphold the precepts. In fact, to me, eating meat, dairy and eggs, as well as consuming other animal products goes directly against the first three precepts (not harming, not stealing, not misusing sexuality).

So, as the meal went on, it was increasingly difficult for me to participate whole-heartedly given the dairy and eggs we were being served. Our teacher led us in two mindful eating exercises during the meal. One was to focus on an ingredient in the food in front of us and imagine the complete journey of how that ingredient came to be on our plate. I couldn’t stop thinking about the cows who provided the milk for the whipped cream. I couldn’t help but think that we’re having this meal to fund our new Zen temple and that it will be in part founded upon preventable, needless abuse and suffering.

There should always be a vegan option at these community gatherings. In fact, there is no good reason why all meals served by my Buddhist community shouldn’t be vegan. There is precedent for this. A visiting teacher recently hosted a retreat at our monastery and requested that meals be vegan. The monastery was able to provide these meals. It was simply a matter of being required to do so.

In 2007, Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh directed the monasteries and practice centers of his order to become vegan, saying:

“Being vegetarian here also means that we do not consume dairy and egg products, because they are products of the meat industry.”

(You can read the entire letter on the Plum Village site.)

Yes, dairy and eggs are products of the meat industry. In terms of the suffering and abuse of animals, you cannot distinguish between meat and eggs/dairy. Dairy cows are sold for meat after they stop producing. They repeatedly give birth to calves who are stolen away from them and either slaughtered for meat or raised for further dairy production. I could go on and on, but there are better resources out there to explain horrors and unethical practices of the dairy/egg industries.

Because they cannot talk to us in language we can readily understand, it may be difficult to contemplate that animals are indeed sentient. But they are. Anyone who has cared for a companion animal knows that they experience sensation. A cow, chicken or goat is no different than your family cat or dog in this regard. Think of the last time you cringed when someone mentioning dog or cat being prepared for food in Vietnam.

Once we accept animals as sentient beings, we Buddhists must use the precepts as a guide in our relationship with animals.

The first precept of non-harming says:

“I will be mindful and reverential with all life, I will not be violent nor will I kill.
Avoid killing or harming any living being.
I undertake the precept to refrain from destroying living creatures.
I shall endeavor to protect and take care of all living creatures.
Do not do harm to other beings.”

In this precept it’s obvious that we shouldn’t eat meat. Meat requires the killing of animals. But so does the consumption of dairy and eggs given the structure of our agriculture and food distribution system.

The second precept of not stealing says:

“I will respect the property of others, I will not steal.
Avoid stealing. Do not take what is not yours to take.
I undertake the precept to refrain from taking that which is not given.
Live simply and frugally.”

Animals do not give us milk and eggs. We take these things from them. Under normal and typical circumstances we do not need eggs or dairy to live. They are a decadence take at the great expense and harm of other creatures.

The third precept of not misusing sexuality says:

“I will be conscious and loving in my relationships, I will not give way to lust.
Avoid sexual irresponsibility.
I undertake the precept to refrain from improper sexual activity.
Do not engage in sexual misconduct.”

This precept does not normally arise in the discussions of whether or not one should be vegan. But I think it’s essential. Dairy and egg production necessitates the abuse of the sexuality of other creatures. For example, to produce milk, cows are kept in an artificial state of pregnancy and are forced to reproduce over and over again.

On top of all the ethical reasons listed above, meat and dairy production is incredible harmful to the environment. 18% of greenhouse gasses are produced via cattle production. Every year tons and tons of grain is fed to livestock when it could be distrubuted to needy and hungry families across the globe.

Plus eating meat and dairy is just plain bad for you. The two countries with the highest dairy consumption (US and Sweden) also have the greatest occurrence of osteoporosis. Preventable cardiavascular disease acquired through the consumption of animal products is a leading cause of death and also a tremendous burden on our healthcare system.

Becoming vegan isn’t inherently difficult. It’s simply of recognizing our ingrained habits and vowing to break those habits. There’s absolutely no reason delicious, nutritious meals, including baked goods and pastries can’t be prepared without animal ingredients. Medically, there are minuscule, if any reasons why someone could not sustain a healthful vegan diet. Hypoglycemia, diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, different allergies, and many other special health needs can all be supported by a vegan diet. If you don’t know how, you can find a vegan nutritionist.

The greatest obstacle to becoming vegan is that it isn’t mainstream. This means that you’ll have to explain your dietary decisions to people. You might have to refrain from eating treats at a group celebration. You will have to make choices about where you eat out. Sometimes you will be left out of a celebration.

But you know what? If everyone were vegan, or even half, none of the above problems would exist. Vegan diets would be normal and perfectly included.

So I’m issuing a challenge to my Buddhist community and beyond: Go vegan today.

That’s right, just do it. Stop eating meat, cheese, other dairy and eggs. Right now. If you need help, let me know and I’ll be more than happy to lend a hand. I’ll even cook you dinner. I’ll lend you cookbooks and send you recipes.