I. 113 seqq. II. 147-148; Vamb. Sk. of Cent.
Asia, 9.)
NOTE 6. - The first precept of the Buddhist Decalogue, or Ten Obligations
of the Religious Body, is not to take life. But animal food is not
forbidden, though restricted. Indeed it is one of the circumstances in the
Legendary History of Sakya Muni, which looks as if it must be true, that
he is related to have aggravated his fatal illness by eating a dish of
pork set before him by a hospitable goldsmith. Giorgi says the butchers in
Tibet are looked on as infamous; and people selling sheep or the like will
make a show of exacting an assurance that these are not to be slaughtered.
In Burma, when a British party wanted beef, the owner of the bullocks
would decline to make one over, but would point one out that might be shot
by the foreigners.
In Tibetan history it is told of the persecutor Langdarma that he
compelled members of the highest orders of the clergy to become hunters
and butchers. A Chinese collection of epigrams, dating from the 9th
century, gives a facetious list of Incongruous Conditions, among which
we find a poor Parsi, a sick Physician, a fat Bride, a Teacher who does
not know his letters, and a Butcher who reads the Scriptures (of
Buddhism)! (Alph.
