Humanism of Haribhadra

Author(s): Christian Lindtner
Publisher: Z_Nirgranth_Aetihasik_Lekh_Samucchay_Part_1_002105.pdf and Nirgranth_Aetihasik_Lekh_Samucchay_Part_2

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Christian Lindtner
Jambu-jyoti
When we think that (certain things) should not be consumed, it is not because they are "parts of a living being". It is rather because they belong to another soul, for this is generally accepted to be so in the scriptures.
5.
(If the opponent's reason for prohibiting the enjoyment of meat was true) then it would not at all be reasonable to prohibit (the enjoyment] of the flesh of a (Buddhist) monk ! It would even be permitted to eat his bones, for they are, without exception, simply "parts of a living being" !
6.
If, based on a somewhat similar argument, [our opponent) accepts the practice of seating meat), then you could also treat your wife and your mother in the same way, for both of them are women ! (i.e. living beings partly to be eaten] !
Hence an intelligent person [only] expresses an opinion based on science as well as on the common opinion of] mankind. In this way he is intelligent in all matters. Otherwise he would be like a crazy fool!
8.
But, by the way, has not (the enjoyment of meat] already been carefully prohibited by a competent [authority) in your own texts, e.g. in the Lankāvatārasutra ? So does it not mean anything ?
1.
XVIII. Eight Verses Reprehending the Enjoyment of Meat Another opponent Manu), forgetting all about the proper meaning of the word (namely māṁsa) that he himself has expressed, has said something about this matter, thus (inadvertently) bringing the former and the latter meaning in mutual contradiction :
[Manusmrti 5.56 :] “There is nothing wrong in eating meat, there is nothing wrong in drinking or in having sexual intercourse. This is the normal behaviour of living beings. It is, however, very good to abstain from all this".
3.
[Manusmrti 5.55 :] “Me he will eat in the next world, whose meat I eat in this world. Wise men say this is what it means to eat meat".
4.
Thus the fault here simply consists in being born! There is no eating (of meat] foreign to the book of Manu) ! The prohibition (above) is