I cut this text from the link in your comment “Moreover, since oysters don’t have a central nervous system, they’re unlikely to experience pain in a way resembling ours—unlike a pig or a herring or even a lobster”
I feel that pain is pain and doesn’t need to be like a pig/herring/lobster for it to NOT be OK

For yrs they said that I fish couldn’t feel pain and we didn’t really need science to prove they can. Did we?

People say that cats don’t feel anything when they are declawed but really?

They say the same about tying a string around a dog’s tail to stop the blood circulation so it falls off.

The common thread here is it’s unnecessary. Everything we do has an affect on something else even if we try and justify it as being pain free, damage free etc.

As you can read, I’m passionate about this but no offence intended : )

Vegetarian Oyster Sauce is from Oyster Mushrooms.

(This is not to be confused with Oyster Sauce made from Oysters)

Raju

I think the question is not dissimilar to: if Jains are supposed to take ahimsa seriously, why is it that consumption of milk and milk products is allowed in a Jain diet?

The way in which people act is often different to what is prescribed by religious doctrines, and popular consensus of these doctrines may change are a result of the way in which people act. E.g. Doing Puja or many other rituals such as reciting the Navkar Mantra are considered to be part of what Jains in the modern day do, but I would be very surprised if Mahavir or any Tirtankaras recited the Navkar Mantra or conducted puja on themselves…and we are supposed to be following their paths…. religious practice evolves socially and culturally..

Any way – I have read that the Buddha was a vegetarian and strongly advocated a vegetarian lifestyle, but did not explicitly state that his followers must be vegetarian.

I have also read that the buddha suggested meat could be accepted if it met certain conditions: Meat may be eaten by one who does (1) not see, (2) hear of, (3) or doubt about the animal having been killed purposely for him to eat, (4) but is certain that it either died naturally, (5) or that its flesh had been abandoned by birds of prey.

It is understandable that this lead to lay people understanding that meat is ok (in a similar way that animal welfare groups may actually increase meat consumption by suggesting that meat under specific welfare standards is acceptable)…..

Buddhism also spread out to places in the Himalayan Plateu such as tibet – where I believe it is quite difficult to maintain a vegetarian lifestyle due to the lack of crops suited to the climatic conditions there, and reliance on livestock (particularly yaks) may have been considered necessary to survive there. In order to convert people, religious leaders (as religion is often intertwined with power and conquering of other lands) may have changed rules to ensure that people living there could become buddhist….

I know this doesn’t directly relate to Oyster Sauce… but Oysters may not necessarily have even been considered animals by people following buddhism, or acceptance of hte consumption of oysters may hace come from a path detailed as above…

It would be interesteing to see other peoples views on this….