This is 1000 Year Old Vegan Poem which was shared on the JainVegans Yahoo group.

You are diseased in understanding and religion.
Come to me, that you may hear something of sound truth.
Do not unjustly eat fish the water has given up,
And do not desire as food the flesh of slaughtered animals,
Or the white milk of mothers who intended its pure draught
for their young, not noble ladies.
And do not grieve the unsuspecting birds by taking eggs;
for injustice is the worst of crimes.
And spare the honey which the bees get industriously
from the flowers of fragrant plants;
For they did not store it that it might belong to others,
Nor did they gather it for bounty and gifts.
I washed my hands of all this; and wish that I
Perceived my way before my hair went gray!

 

Al-Ma’arri (973-1057)
Baghdad (modern Iraq)

Related Posts with Thumbnails

2 Comments

AB · November 7, 2011 at 9:08 pm

What a beautiful poem. Thank you for sharing it. It really does show the interconnectedness of all life in the planet and that all the animals should be our friends. We should be helping them as they are our brothers and sisters. I too became a Vegan about 3 weeks ago in a very spontaneous manner after detoxing my body and I am feeling better and more alive than ever. I can’t see myself ever going back to the old ways. My intentions were primarilly for health reasons and to aid in meditation but now I can see all the ethical side of it too, as explained in this poem. I had read some material by an Indian mystic called Osho (who was brought up as a Jain) who explained to me how the conciousness of the animal as it is being killed is embedded into the flesh and therefore imparts a subtle energy on our own conciousness when we eat the flesh. Since removing meat and dairy from my diet, I feel like I am floating and compassion is growing more and passion and negative thoughts are dissapearing. I still have a long way to grow spiritually, but getting food right, has been an enormous help. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on your blog, and I wish you great health and happiness.

Greetings from Scotland,

ab

“May I be well, may I be happy, may I be free from enmity, may I be free from ill-will against myself” – Maitri Bhavana

    Heena Modi · November 14, 2011 at 10:55 am

    Thank you so much for sharing this.
    I’ve had an understanding of what Osho explained to you but I’ve not heard it articulated so well before.
    Thanks a lot for sharing that. I really appreciate it! 🙂

Comments are closed.