Reasons for abstaining from killing: Three things one cannot bear, three things one dares not do
Killing is the first of the Five Precepts in Buddhism, and the most important thing for practitioners to begin with. There are now some people who say that all living things in the world should be eaten by humans; they also say that if humans didn't eat them, then pigs, sheep, chickens, and ducks wouldn't be able to survive in the world. (If people didn't eat cats, why aren't there many cats in the world?) Such fallacies truly mislead the world. I will now explain the reasons why people should abstain from killing. The reasons for abstaining from killing are three things one cannot bear and three things one dares not do. First, what are the three things one cannot bear? They all have physical forms, all have consciousness, and all suffer. To sacrifice their infinite suffering to satisfy one's immediate appetite is the most cruel and unreasonable thing in the world. Consider other creatures; when captured, they either flee in terror, cry ou...