UPDATE: Tim from the Center for Consumer Freedom (the “PETA Kills Animals” people) writes to let us know that the Dalai Lama isn’t just any ordinary carnivore. He eats VEAL. That’s one bloodthirsty Buddhist.
You know about Travis Barker giving up vegetarianism to heal up from his serious burns. Well, I don’t know if he’s heard from “the cute Beatle” about behaving like a normal human being, but guess who has?
Sir Paul McCartney tried to turn the Dalai Lama vegetarian, insisting the famed Buddhist was “wrong” to eat meat.
The Beatles legend wrote to the spiritual leader to point out that meat-eaters contribute to the suffering of animals, contradicting his statement that Buddhists “believe in not causing suffering to any sentient beings”…
In an interview with Prospect magazine, MCCartney says, “I found out he was not a vegetarian, so I wrote to him saying ‘Forgive me for pointing this out, but if you eat animals then there is some suffering somewhere along the line’.
“He replied saying that his doctors had told him he needed it, so I wrote back saying they were wrong.”
First McCartney was a better lawyer than the guys who advised him to get a prenup with Hopalong Mills. And now, not only is he a medical doctor, but he knows more about Buddhism than the Dalai Lama! Maybe next he can give Tiger Woods some putting tips. Or maybe he can fill in some of the gaps in Stephen Hawking’s knowledge. “Uh, did you write ‘Yesterday’, matey? Didn’t think so. Now stop fidgeting and listen.”
(Hat tip: Celebitchy)
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The Dalai Lama eats meat? This makes me like him better.
Doesn’t telling the Dalai Lama he’s doing Buddhism wrong get you sent to the Buddhist equivalent of hell?
I’m sorry, that’s the best I can do in this state! When I stop laughing, I’ll try to think of a better one
What is it with these vege-nazis trying to pretend that they know so much about the human body when they don’t even know how to treat their own bodies right with a balanced diet? What makes these people think that they are so morally superior that they can tell the Dalai Freakin’ Lama what to eat? I don’t get it.
As far as I am concerned, the Dalai-Lama and Paul Paul McCartney are both First-Class Bull$hitters. Paul McCartney is just crass enough to show it in such a pathetic way. We need to remember that he had quite a lapse of judgment the last time he married; he took a high-priced whore as a wife.
On the other side, we can safely use a celebrity as a barometer of what is good and what is rotten?
People who eat balanced diets have a longer life expectancy that those who eat lots of red meat, or no meat at all. I’d prefer to live shorter and eat more red meat.
This reminds me of the Tom Cruise and Brooke Shields thing. Except Paul and Travis have the same religion.
How about some concern for the suffering of the Tibetans trapped under Chinese rule? How about some concern for the suffering of a man who goes around the world pleading for someone to give a damn about his people and his country? Isn’t he also exiled from the place? F**k off Paul and go write a hit song so you can send the proceeds over to the second stupidest decision you ever made.
I’d stop eating meat just to shut these damn idiots up but then I’d start again just to wipe the smug look they’d probably have from their faces. Ahh screw this, I’m off to go watch Survivorman.
Chronic Malanga
So far the nutrition aspect hasn’t come up much yet in this case, but I must agree with your rhetorical question, “What makes these people think that they are so morally superior that they can tell the Dalai Freakin’ Lama what to eat?” I mean, you got to hand it to a guy like the Dalai Lama. He is basically a guy who back in the day freed himself from the wheel of rebirth by virtue of reaching enlightenment and who chose to come back to earth anyway, just for the sake of teaching humanity. You can’t really be much of a moral superior relative to a guy like that. Further, doesn’t the situation of the Dalai Lama kind of mean that he was born again into this world with his enlightenment intact so that he can teach us? Doesn’t that kind of mean he’s just a little bit more wise in the way of not only the religion, but the way the world works as a whole especially when compared to a guy who’s known to have taken a good many drugs in his day? Unless, of course, McCartney doesn’t really believe or care about such situations as the Dalai Lama’s status, in which case I must wonder why he even brings up any other aspect of the religion in this case while completely ignoring another major facet. Speaking of which, if he goes on the basis of reincarnation, if an animal does painlessly, then no, it’s probably not suffering even in the sense of death since death for an animal is potentially a good thing since only humans have any chance at obtaining enlightenment. Even the nigh-godly Devas don’t get that chance and thus are often considered inferior to humans in terms of fortune despite a lavish life without cares, with great power, and longevity. Of course, I may be getting my different sects of Buddhism mixed up towards the end there. lol. Somebody please correct me if so.
Hopalong… *giggle*… if I can ever stop laughing, between the post and the comments, I’ll try to think of something witty to say.
Hmmmm….
Very good points. It’s been a while since I was a fresh faced Philosophy major, though, so I get my sects messed up as well these days, especially given that I am a godless heathen. But you’re right. We could all sit here and nit pick the Dalai Lama until the cows come home (for slaughter), but it cannot be argued that he has a better sense of wisdom and morality as he is now, than Paul could hope to attain in three lifetimes. And for the record, I like the guy, and if I were inclined toward religion, Buddhism would certainly be in my top three. For Paul to even go where he did with this is hubris in the extreme. Not only is he telling the Dalai Lama what to do, but he is dismissing an entire group of people who spent the better part of their young lives studying to be experts in the field of medicine. What was Paul doing for the better part of his young life? Oh yeah, a lot of acid.
I’m a huge Beatles fan, and I even kind of dig Paul when he was with Wings, but like any of these celebrities, he really needs to learn to shut the hell up. All he is doing is trying to lord his vegan lifestyle over people for a bit of publicity. It’s bad enough when vegans who aren’t famous stick their noses into other people’s dietary choices.
On the upside, at least he isn’t posing in the nude for PETA.
I’m no expert on Tibet…
But I would think it’s rather hard to support an entire population solely on vegetables when you’re sitting smack dab in a mountainous region that far above sea level.
And having the Chinese military constantly marching through commandeering everything of value doesn’t exactly help matters either.
God I hate The Beatles. And vegans. But mostly The Beatles. And Mexican Food.
animals are ’sentient’?
the theater of the absurd continues apace.
The Beatles I get but Mexican food?
I love Tacos
I may be one of the few people who doesn’t think the Llama is a saint, but DAMN you gotta have balls the size of the Himalayas to tell the head of any world religion that he’s doing it wrong.
A lot of buddhists are vegan, heck traditional monks would sometimes starve themselves to avoid harming micro organisms. But that’s a personal religious interpretation/decision. Does he usually go around telling other religious leaders he doesn’t agree with that they’re doing it wrong? Does he yell at Jews for eating Kosher meat? Does he yell at folks who celebrate Kwanza because he doesn’t understand it?
Still laughing over Chronic and Minnow’s comments. And the ‘Hopalong’ thing. But Chronic, you need to take back the mental image of Macca posing nude for PETA. That’s just sick and wrong.
I had the opportunity (and the privelege) to meet the Dalai Lama many years ago when I was working in D.C. His presence, serenity and wisdom are amazing. I felt blessed to be in the same room with him, and I’m not a Buddhist. The fact that Paul McCartney is questioning his decisions (and his doctors) just makes me laugh.
I’m a little disappointed that the Dalai Lama used a “doctor’s excuse” as a reason to eat meat.
He should have just said, “Oh, yeah? Eat this, Brit boy!” and shoved a pair of Yeti testicles down McCartney’s throat.
P.S. I love the Beatles, love Mexican and am not Buddhist but probably could be.
P.P.S. Long live meat. (Well, not too long… just long enough to kill it, skin it and eat it.)
What about killing all of those poor plants? Aren’t they living things too? I truly hate vegans and vegetarians because they think they are superior to the rest of us, so they have the right to cram their beliefs down your throat based on “morality”. Let’s see them live without killing ANYTHING! I guess they have to become “fruitarians” who only eat things that have naturally already fallen from the tree or vine. (Reference the blind dating scene in Notting Hill.) Only then they can be truly moral and virtuous. Still doesn’t mean I agree with them.
Buddhists differ on the issue of vegetarianism. Some Buddhists are indeed avowed vegetarians because eating meat kills an animal. However, other Buddhists make the argument that when they eat meat, they are only killing one animal, while the killing of many insects and other life forms are part and parcel of eating primarily vegetables, so eating meat doesn’t kill any more animals than not eating meat. As somebody else mentioned, many many Buddhists, particularly real, born Buddhists, NOT Western converts, live in circumstances in which meat is necessary for their survival and they don’t have the luxury of choosing what they eat. Furthermore, Buddhist monks generally live off the donations of others (traveling monks count among their few possessions a “begging bowl” for the purpose) and, again vegetarianism is not an option – you don’t turn down free food!
Personally, I think many people do indeed need to recognize that choosing vegetarianism is a luxury that a great majority of the world’s population can’t afford. I’ve always preferred “vegetable-tarianism” myself. I base my diet on plant foods and grains, with meat making up a peripheral part of my diet.
As a society, we do eat too much meat and our overconsumption of meat is a direct contributpr to greenhouse gases. But that doesn’t mean we all need to become vegans or even vegetarians, just smarter about our diets. I wish fundametalist veggies, who have every right to be so, would realize that…
Oh yeah, and who the f is Paul McCartney to lecture the Dalai Lama on anything?!?!?!
We’re not necessarily eating more meat.
This from another website:
“Between 1970 and 1980, something changed in the U.S. that caused a massive increase in obesity and other health problems. Some combination of factors reached a critical mass that our metabolism could no longer tolerate. The three biggest changes in the American diet since 1970:
An increase in cereal grain consumption, particularly wheat.
An increase in sweetener consumption
The replacement of meat and milk fat with industrial vegetable oils, with total fat intake remaining the same.
Mainstream America has done to itself what it did to native American and other indigenous cultures worldwide, with the same result.”
http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/
“We’re eating about 250 more calories per day, according to NHANES.
The 250 extra calories are coming from carbohydrate (NHANES).
We’re eating more vegetables and fruit (USDA).
We’re eating more meat by weight, although calories from meat have probably gone down because the meat has gotten leaner (USDA). This graph represents red meat, fish and poultry. The increase comes mostly from poultry. Boneless, skinless chicken breasts anyone? etc”
We would be much healthier and leaner if we ditched the grains and ate a lot more red meat.
“He should have just said, “Oh, yeah? Eat this, Brit boy!” and shoved a pair of Yeti testicles down McCartney’s throat.”
Haha! That would be even better then the Beatles reforming.
MC Mom, I wish I could take it back. I really do. But I can’t unthink what I have thought and thought it only fair to share.
Chicklet… Yeti testicles.LMAO! I would pay to see that.
Don’t sweat it Jake. The Beatles are just two members away from a reunion. It shouldn’t be long.
You know what, I heard Paul was just texting the Pope the other day to get Catholicism fixed up (some Beatles songs weren’t in the hymnbook yet, I guess), and he’s been sending e-mails to Islamic leaders trying to figure out how to get ahold of Muhammad–looks like the Prophet didn’t check with Paul before writing the Koran! BIG mistake!
Just another example of how celebrity and money do not confer wisdom, compassion, or humility.
A long time ago, John Lennon used to keep Paul in line. Since the demise of their friendship, and John’s subsequent death, no one has stepped in to fill the void, or at least, no one Paul would listen to.
The last I read, The Dali Lama subsists mostly on tea and rice, eating meat once a week.
“In the strictest scientific sense, Doctor, we ALL feed on death…even vegetarians.”
He eats veal, eh? A few facts about veal, folks. I don’t eat it after years of horror stories about how they are brought up in little boxes and not allowed to walk. Guess what? That’s no longer done, and in fact, there is such a thing as free range veal. So, yeah, the veal horror stories are just that. Stories. No one has bothered to publicize that after the uproar over how they were being raised, they stopped raising them that way.
Pastafarian: HAAAAAAAAAAAA!! “Two members away from a reunion…” I snorted coffee. Kudoes.
And “Hopalong”? That was a thing of beauty, right there.
And another thing: If I started writing letters to McCartney, or any other celebrity, imploring them to live their lives by strict Christian tenets, I’d be excoriated for trying to cram my beliefs down their throats. If Christians, or Jews, started running ads saying they’d rather die than leave their religion, and that being a member of any other faith was barbaric or cruel, they’d face some serious fallout. How is it that this histrionic preaching of vegetarianism or veganism flies under the radar? It shouldn’t, because it TOTALLY IS a belief system, and as such it should no more be forced on anyone than Southern Baptist doctrine. Period. ESPECIALLY considering that (as Deceiver.com points out) virtually none of these drug-addled, STD-pocked freaks actually lives what they preach. It’s easy to mock the likes of Jimmy Swaggart, the Bakkers, and Robert Tilton (I do it all the time) but how are these gits any better?
Beige: very wise and insightful!
It’s because vegetarianism is “cool and enlightened.” Anything that falls under that heading, well, you’ve got free license to do anything you want with it. Cram away! Those unenightened meat-eaters have it coming, anyway. Gosh, where do they get off, being so healthy n’ stuff??
I’m going out to dinner in a few hours and I am so going to order veal.
I’ve never eaten veal. I don’t think I even know what it looks like. Just sayin’.
It’s tender, baby cow. Melts in your mouth.
Pastafarian, it’s luscious. It’s the Veuve Clicquot (sp?) of meats. It’s true love in meat form. Hee. That sounds wrong, but it’s not.
LOL, Beige. It had been ages since I had it, but I finally did the other night. Wow. You said it best, no matter how wrong it sounds.
I’m sure I’m about the nine-millionth person to say this here, but every time–and I mean EVERY TIME–I hear or read about some Massengillish celeb preaching the anti-meat gospel, I buy some more meat. And cook it, and eat it, and roll it around in my mouth while moaning “Oooooooohhh, FLESH. Juicy, salty, delicious FLEEEEEEESSSSSSSHHHH.” You know how a big old noisy boycott of a “controversial” movie just makes more people want to go see it? It’s pretty much the same principle at work. Having some hypocritical, overpaid chocolate starfish yawp at me about the wrongness of eating or wearing animals just points up how very edible and wearable those creatures really are. MMMMMMMMMMMMM.
You and I think alike, Beige. I cannot wait until Christmas… bacon rolls, roast goose, roast potatoes cooked in goose fat. Oh yeah. I’ll be wearing my long, leather boots too, and carrying a sheepskin purse. No, seriously, that’s the plan.
But yeah, the more people whine, the more defiant I get.
“For every animal you don’t eat, I’m going to eat three”
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