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Sir Paul McCartney reveals this week in Prospect, the political magazine, that he once wrote to the Dalai Lama to criticise him for eating meat after the religious leader stated: “As Buddhists we believe in not causing any suffering to any sentient beings.”
Sir Paul, 66, said: “Then I found out he was not a vegetarian, so I wrote to him saying, ‘Forgive me for pointing this out, but if you eat animals then there is some suffering somewhere along the line’.
“He replied saying that his doctors had told him he needed it, so I wrote back saying they were wrong.”
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Plants are sentient? Sentience implies awareness which implies, I would suspect, some fairly complex neurochemistry. Not all living beings are sentient.
Steve, Birmingham, USA
Plants are sentient too. Any sentient life can not be of service to the Creator, suffers.
Jack, Texas Hill Country, United States
No one "needs" to eat meat. This is fallacy that has been hoisted onto peoples by governments, bureaucracies, special interest groups, etc. Please read the joint position statement of the American Dietetic Association and the Dieticians of Canada, at http://veg.ca/content/view/127/110/
Mary, New York City, United States
Buddha was a vegetarian himself so who cares that he never wrote it! Would the Dalai Lama eat people if his doctors told him to do so?
Isha, Bristol, UK
Buddha never said that we have to be vegetarian. Sometimes the law of nature requires that sentient beings have to do certain things that may seem in conflict with harming others. the one thing we should consider is the motivation. Sir Paul needs to do more reading before openly criticising others.
Sally, Gold Coast, Australia
In the 1960s, the Dalai Lama and adopted a vegetarian diet for about a year and a half. Unfortunately, he contracted Hepatitis B and his liver was seriously damaged as a result he was advised by his doctors to eat meat. What a misguided man is Sir Paul.
Liz, Norwich,