After receiving the Bodhisattva precepts, what sin is committed by eating eggs?
2024-03-21
Question: After receiving the lay bodhisattva precepts, eating lifeless eggs and not reciting the precepts for half a month, what sin is committed?
Master Tian-yin answered:
According to Chinese Buddhism, eggs are unclean. After receiving the precepts and practicing Buddhism, why do you still eat eggs? Still insisting on eating eggs? Because unable to follow the teachings and eat these filthy things, how can you be pure?
If we want to learn Buddhism, we should stay away from these impure things in order to make progress. Otherwise, if we eat everything and cannot change our hearts, how can we make progress? This kind of mentality is very bad, and it is very difficult for a monastic to make progress!
If you eat lifeless eggs, that is, you did not break the eggs yourself and buy them ready-made, just repent in your heart.
But if you buy the eggs and break them to boil them yourself, which is called "breaking the eggs" according to the precepts, you will be committing the low-grade sin of killing.
Not reciting the precepts for half a month is a sin of low-grade.
Question: Are there things that are not included in the Five Precepts, such as eating lifeless eggs, cooking meat, eating five pungent foods, and running a red light, allowed? Eating meat, cooking meat, and eating five pungent roots, violating the national prohibitions precepts? Sin of low-grade, can I repent of the sins I have done?
Master Tianyin replied:
Our Mahayana Chinese Buddhism are all vegetarians. Although there are no precepts, since we practice pure methods, how can we eat these fishy and dirty things?
If the eggs are not boiled by breaking them yourself, but bought ready-made, it is the same as eating meat, then just repent in your heart.
But if you buy the egg back and break it yourself to boil it, which is "breaking the egg" according to the precepts, you will commit killing, among the five precepts, it is considered a sin of low-grade.
Eating five pungent foods, running a red light, repent sin of low-grade.
Cooking non-vegetarian food does not violate the precepts as long as you do not buy live animals to cook it.
