1. Which of the Buddhist festivals most appeals to your sensibilities? Perhaps you can find a celebration of this event locally.
2. "So let the master settle, and wander." What does this mean to you?
3. If Buddha were alive today, would he preach abstention from eating meat? Why or why not.
Answers:
1. Some of the festivals mentioned in the text appear to be more geo-cultural/traditional rather than strictly Buddhist. Here in Taiwan there are a plethora of such festivals, albeit different from those listed (which seem to be more connected to Thailand). Personally I am most interested in the festivals directly connected to the life of Sakyamuni Buddha's life, such as His Appearance Day and the day we celebrate His enlightenment. For me, these have greater meaning and reason to mark, from a purely Buddhist perspective, as these are the events without which Lord Buddha could not have shared with us His teaching. Sangha Day is also an important festival which I like to partake in.
2. Personally "so let the master settle, and wander" means to allow the master the opportunity to practice and focus on his own path, in his own way, without external demands or artificial boundaries, and after which he will be able to move freely amongst us to share his realisations. But perhaps a deeper meaning: "master" can refer to something "internal" to each of us. Let our own minds settle first. Control what is inside, and then things external can change, but first we have to "settle" internally.
3. As with one of the questions in the last module, I do not feel able to comment on what the Buddha would or would not preach. How can any of us be so presumptuous? In answering this question I will therefore only give my personal opinion, and that is that I find it a very thin and spurious argument that we should NOT be vegetarian. Especially in the Mahayana where compassion is such a central tennet, what possible excuse can there be to support the barbaric cruelty inflicted on innocent animals through the meat industry. Speaking as someone who has regrettably visited a number of slaughterhouses in the west, and also personally seen the slaughter of animals in other parts of the world, my heart bleeds. There can be no excuse. How can we preach that we believe we are all connected, even animals, and yet we kill the animals and fish and make some excuse that because we didn't personally kill it is somehow not us that is creating the market. Anyone connected in the meat (and his) trade, whether the person who raises the animal the one who kills it, transports it, serves it, cooks it, eats it, all will have karmic consequences. I also firmly believe that a vegetarian diet is more conducive to spiritual development. I firmly do not accept the frankly ridiculous argument that monks should accept whatever is put in their begging bowls, and to use this as an excuse for meat eating. As with any other regulation, in any religion, if the population are simply told "monks and nuns do not eat meat or fish" then those would not be put in their bowls. If alcohol is put in their bowl, do they drink it? If Ecstasy tablets are put in their bowl, do they take it? What is the difference? This is a completely illogical excuse for the continuation to eat flesh.
M D VICKERS
Taiwan