Vegetarian and Vegan

“If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian.”

Sir Paul McCartney

Carmen’s own story

The dream of a child
This is a picture of me with my rabbit when I was about six or seven. Ever since I can remember I was always drawing. As I love animals I drew pictures of me living on a farm surrounded by many happy farm animals, all happily living in peace together. This was my ideal future, heavily supported by the sweet pictures of happy farm animals in my children’s books and on children’s TV programs.

One day this dream was completely shattered when I learned how animals were treated in reality.
When I learned:

That happy farms don’t exist anymore but have changed to intensive farming.
That most farm animals never see any daylight.
That newly born calfs are immediately taken away from their mothers, causing a lot of suffering for both.
That chickens are piled up in small cages in battery farming.
That sows are chained and cannot even turn or stand up.
Most farm animals are anxious, suffer from stress, and are used up to the max.
Most of them enter the unknown and scary outside world for the first time when they are thrown into a truck, to take the long and fearful ride – without food or water – to the slaughterhouse.
There they experience unimaginable mortal fear hearing the screams and smelling the fear of the other animals being slaughtered and waiting for slaughter…

I clearly remember that I felt so incredibly mislead by the adults when I found out about this!

Buddhism brought an even deeper meaning to being vegetarian
Not eating meat acquired a much deeper meaning when I became a buddhist practitioner because of the concepts
of karma and mind.
I learned that all sentient beings want the same as us: to not suffer and be happy.
I learned that each being has a mind and feelings like we have.

Have you ever meditated on what it would feel like being treated as a machine-animal in factory farming?
Or exchange yourself for a lobster that is thrown alive into boiling water. Remember how a single finger, burned from a steaming hot pan, can hurt for days, and now imagine how your whole body would feel -the enormous pain and suffering- and you be desperate to get out – but you couldn’t get out!
You would go through searing hell for many long minutes…

I always think it’s a pity that lobsters aren’t able to scream their lungs out, because maybe that would make us more aware when we do such a thing. (And should you still want to kill a lobster: you can instantly kill the being by a quick stab in the neck before throwing it into boiling water. How would you rather come to an end?).

So from ‘not eating meat’ it expanded into ‘not hurting animals’ as well; and ‘not killing insects and flies at my convenience’ anymore. Because seriously, who am I to point at an animal and say ‘You should die!’

I believe that all lives are precious and that animals should live out the natural course of their lives in peace (and hopefully gain a higher rebirth).

These days I cannot imagine ever eating meat again -both in this life as well as in future lives- as I strongly feel that this karmic seed has completely left my system.

I’ve been a vegetarian since I was twelve (my sister was eight at the time we decided to stop eating meat and fish) and I can say I’m very healthy and happy.  It feels very natural to me not eat fellow sentient beings, and I’m glad I’ve been able to save many beings up until now.

Leaning more towards a vegan diet
My sister became vegan in the recent years and I have been moving more and more towards eating vegan.
The vegan diet takes all the above one step further by swearing off all animal products, including eggs and dairy.
It’s a very slow progress for me as I still have the craving for dairy products (being a Dutch girl I’m especially ‘addicted’ to cheese…) but there are so many wrong things in the dairy industry.
I begin to see clearer and clearer how people exploit animals to the max, and it disturbs me more and more. Think for example of dairy cows that are constantly made pregnant, their newly-borns taken away from them immediately, and after a life of literally being ‘milked out’ (and isn’t it strange that WE are drinking the milk instead of their calfs?) they are relentlessly killed.

Interested in learning more?

Some good documentaries on this subject can be watched online for free:

Dominion (1h 55min)
Narrated by Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara, Sia, Sadie Sink and Kat Von D.
Dominion uses drones, hidden and handheld cameras to expose the dark underbelly of modern animal agriculture, questioning the morality and validity of humankind’s dominion over the animal kingdom. While mainly focusing on animals used for food, it also explores other ways animals are exploited and abused by humans, including clothing, entertainment and research.

Meat the Truth (1h 10min)
Although many films have convincingly succeeded in drawing public attention to the issue of global warming, they have repeatedly ignored one of the most important causes of climate change, namely: intensive livestock production. Meat the Truth has drawn attention to this by demonstrating that livestock farming generates more greenhouse gas emissions worldwide than all cars, lorries, trains, boats and planes added together.

Sea the Truth (1h)
Sea the Truth focuses on the state of our seas and oceans. In the film, two young marine biologists (Marianne van Mierlo and Barbara van Genne) travel the globe at the request of Marianne Thieme to gather scientific information on the condition of our largest ecosystems, which cover more than two-thirds of our planet. Underwater photographer Dos Winkel showcases the beauty of marine life and the immense threats it faces.

Article published in Lion’s Roar:

Friends, Not Food
When the Buddha taught us to abstain from taking life, he didn’t make an exception for animals we like to eat. While many Buddhists eat meat, Bob Isaacson of Dharma Voices for Animals argues they shouldn’t.

Up for a challenge?

Online you will find many websites where you can opt in for a vegetarian or vegan challenge where you can challenge yourself for 30 days into a new and healthy diet and you are coached with words and tasty recipes.

…Just try it!