Vegetarianism makes people smart.
Are vegetarians smarter or carnivores smarter? There has been a lot of debate about this. In fact, history is obvious. The Han nationality has been a vegetarian or semi-vegetarian nation since ancient times, and it goes without saying who is smarter than the surrounding carnivorous clan tribes. Zhanghua's classic, Wu Mei and Feng Min both tell us that a nation's creative brain is active between heaven and earth. Even in modern times, defeated by western powers, it is a matter of opinion whether a westerner is smart or a China person is smart.
India is a vegetarian country (except Muslims, of course) because it believes in Hinduism. Whether Indians are smart is also a matter of public opinion. In the world, mathematics and philosophy, the kings of wisdom, are dominated by Indians. As we all know, Indians are best at mathematics. Many mathematicians in the world are Indians, and even after studying, India has become the first country in software. Indian classical philosophy surpassed ancient Greece and Egypt, and its depth and system of studying things even surpassed German philosophy represented by Hegel and Nietzsche, which other countries could not reach.
Most of the most influential religions in the East come from India, so the wisdom and profoundness of Buddhism are self-evident. Most people who study Buddhism and believe in Buddhism suddenly realize after getting started, feeling: it's too profound and too intelligent! Indeed, a western scientist said that the more you study, the more you feel that modern science is just confirming the discovery of Buddhism as early as 3 thousand years ago. The old Hindu system is as extensive and rational as Buddhism.
The ancient Greek philosophy that the world intellectuals admire most up to now was also created by vegetarians. Socrates, Plato and Pythagoras, the masters of ancient Greece, were strict vegetarians, such as San Francesco, Bruckda, Einstein, Edison, Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Voltaire, Bernard Shaw, Tagore, Schweitzer (Shi Huaizhe, Christian missionary and doctor), Leonardo da Vinci, Newton, Russell and Mahatma Gandhi. Thoreau (American essayist), poets Shelley, Darwin, Rousseau (legal thinker), Kant, Sun Yat-sen, poets Wang Wei, Lu You … even Confucius, Mencius, the late American President Lincoln and Franklin actively advocated vegetarianism.
There are also many Nobel Prize winners, world-class athletes, and stars in the art, film and television industries who are also vegetarians.
These intellectual kingdoms that need the most brains are all made by vegetarians, so there is really nothing to say.
One of the characteristics of vegetarianism is its flexible mind. The mark of a meat eater is a dull mind. China people are repeatedly wary of westerners because they are too flexible.
After changing to a vegetarian diet, many people find that their brains are flexible, their imagination is rich, their understanding is improved, their thinking is agile, and their memory is increased. In short, the function of the brain is obviously getting better and better, and it is more beautiful than when it was young. In fact, vegetarian children all over the world are often extremely smart. Therefore, it is true that vegetarianism improves their brain power.
As early as more than two thousand years ago, our ancestors had the same observation and judgment! "Carnivorous, brave and fierce; It is smart to eat grains. " This is a quote from "Big Wear Li Ji", which has been handed down in black and white for so many generations. Even the words of Mencius, an Asian sage, are no exception: "A gentleman is far from the kitchen", and he also said: "A gentleman is to an animal, seeing its life, can't bear its death, hearing its voice, and can't bear its meat." "Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals" also mentioned wine, fat meat and rotten intestines, which can be described as a unique eye.
Sun Yat-sen wrote the importance of vegetarianism into the outline of the founding of the People's Republic of China, and the Israeli National Assembly tried to determine the status of vegetarianism through legislation. The proverbs of the Old Testament taught people thousands of years ago that people who like drinking and eating meat should not associate with them. I'm afraid people will go astray because of their appetite, and it's hard to extricate themselves.
The latest research from the United States-terrible botulinum poisoning
After reading the following text, you can naturally feel where the cancer comes from without the research reports of doctors and scientists. If you are addicted to meat again, it will be a bit like eating puffer fish. These materials come from the United States, which is ten times stricter than Chinese mainland in food inspection and prevention.
"Why did I become a vegetarian?" An American writer wrote:
When you really understand that meat is filthy and unclean, and it is a corpse with infectious diseases, can you still gobble it fearlessly? I didn't eat any meat, nor did I eat any vitamin tablets, and I lived a healthy life for half my life. I have traveled many times in the United States and often eat in restaurants and other people's homes. The process of abandoning meat and becoming a vegetarian has never made me feel uncomfortable. Let me take my time.
One day when I was traveling, I ate two or three mouthfuls of liver and felt that it tasted wrong. I was really shocked when I did everything with a knife. There is a nest of worms in the pustule, which has been cooked. From that day on, every time I saw my liver, I felt queasy. But beef was still my favorite, until one thing shocked me, and I completely cut off beef! The thing is, my neighbor chose the best cattle from the herd and supplied milk himself. One day, the hygienist came to check that the cow had tuberculosis and should be destroyed. Neighbors said they didn't believe it and ignored it. Later, another inspector came to check and reported the same situation.
My neighbor reluctantly sent the cattle to a bigger slaughterhouse and got permission to watch the cutting. What appeared before his eyes was a whole lung corroded by tuberculosis. Shortly after this happened, I led the whole class to go hiking and pass by the slaughterhouse. I asked the government meat inspector who was the guide. "Excuse me, man, what would you do if a cow got tuberculosis and a lung rotted?" "I also ask you, there is a rotten spot on your apple, what would you do? Didn't you cut it and eat it? " I noticed the surprised expression on the students' faces. Out of the slaughterhouse, I asked them if peeling apples is the same as cutting beef. "No, just kidding!" They denied it with one voice. They said, "The blood of the sick lung will circulate all over the body." So I pointed out another difference: "animal germs will parasitize us, while apple mold will only live on fruits and vegetables." Moreover, it will not circulate everywhere. " Even if you eat the rotten scar of an apple, you won't get sick. "In this way, some meat products that I used to hate make me more and more annoying.
I used to like chicken. But after visiting a chicken farm nearby, I lost my appetite in this area. I see chicken farmers patrol the henhouse every day, picking out sick chickens and laying fewer eggs and sending them to the market. Those guys who are depressed and their asses are wet have all entered the processing factory. To my surprise, there is no inspection work at all. My stomach seems to tell me not to send dead chickens into my "purse" again!
Once, my friends and I went fishing in a mountain stream in Arizona. I don't know what happened. Nearly half of the fish I catch have tumors, either inside or outside, which makes me sick. After consulting the relevant information, we learned from the government report that fish cancer is common in some mountain streams, especially trout. The infection rate is as high as 90%.
Compared with China, the water in the United States is much cleaner. Even so, American fish are infected with cancer. What about the animals in China? You can imagine.
Now a northerner in China chews pig's head with Erguotou, which is very different from the pig's leg when Chu and Han fought. At present, there is pollution inside and outside animal carcasses: in modern agriculture, fertilizers and pesticides are widely used, animals eat plants, toxins enter animals, and people eat animals, and people become the highest enrichment of toxic substances. No way, carnivores are at the top of the food chain.
Needless to say, pesticide residues on plants, but the research results of Edward State University in the United States show that the content of pesticide residues such as DDT in meat is 13 times that of plants, which means that the pesticide residues on meat eaters may be 13 times higher than that of vegetarians. What's more, pesticide residues on plants can be washed, but pesticide residues on animal meat can't be washed away.
There is a saying that people who eat hairy crabs and pond fish are "not afraid of death". Farmers are a terrible group of people. They use sacks to pour chemicals into animal feed and lakes and rivers to stimulate the growth of livestock, poultry, fish and shrimp, force feed, inject hormones, and add stomach medicine, antibiotics, sedatives and preservatives to the feed (this nitrate-containing meat is dangerous for cats), completely ignoring the carcinogenic effects of these chemicals, and meat eaters enjoy it with their eyes open.
There is also a kind of poison called botulinum poisoning. "Botox is extremely harmful!" Zhang Luping, head of the Beijing Science Center for Human and Animal Environmental Protection, once again appealed to people to be vigilant after witnessing the scene of killing animals.
A dog market in Beijing. Zhang Luping described it as a bloody place, which only a hard-hearted person could see. In front of other dogs, the butcher put a serrated sharp weapon on a dog's head, made it faint, hung it, stabbed it to death, and skinned it immediately. Bloody and steaming dog meat hung in front of the dog. Zhang Luping clearly saw that the dog that was banished to the end of the world changed from collective barking to silence, and the dog's eyes were full of tears. Eyes frightened, sad, sad, angry, cursing. "If they can talk," she said, "they must be cursing butchers and saying they are worse than animals."
The most terrible thing is that animals will secrete a toxin after being killed, which is very harmful to human body. Modern scientific research shows that this toxin is a harmful adrenaline substance. Similarly, when pigs, cattle, turtles and chickens are killed, they not only secrete emergency toxins, but also have sewage in their bodies. How can they eat meat like this?
In Zhang Luping's view, cancer, mad cow disease, bird flu, foot-and-mouth disease, SARS and other diseases are directly related to animal botulism. It's all some kind of resistance from animals.
People's molars are developed and suitable for grinding food, that is, eating whole grains and beans; Carnivores, on the other hand, have sharp front teeth and serrated teeth, which are obviously used to grab life and crush the body. Knowing this, people may understand why human beings are riddled with diseases, because people go against the will of nature and eat things they shouldn't eat.
Who is a carnivorous people?
In the history of the world, China and India seem to be the only two large-scale vegetarian countries (of course, India is much more vegetarian than China because of its ethnic and religious beliefs), but now China has given up its vegetarian tradition because of the introduction of the "protein concept" from the West in the 20th century and other reasons. A core of modern China's concept of nutrition is "protein superstition". Of course, there are carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and so on. They are all mentioned occasionally, but they can't escape the subordinate position. Just as we always mention GCP and always ignore the environment, welfare, education, medical care and other factors as important as people's happiness.
Protein has gradually become a concept of returning to the standard in the west. A large number of experiments and studies in serious western medical institutions have confirmed that protein is excessively toxic to human body, and the benefits and harms of animal protein and plant protein to human body are essentially different. However, due to our deep superstition about protein, it is difficult for us to stay away from meat. Because protein comes from the west, he thinks that westerners love meat. Of course, various words and images also deepen this view from another angle.
But many people in China don't know that the west is the birthplace of modern environmental protection, and the west is a place of religion (although Christianity allows eating meat, the general idea is that the simpler the food, the better, just wrap your stomach and never eat, drink and have fun). Westerners are not all fair-weather animals as we think. The author has traveled in Europe and America many times, and feels that the misconception that westerners love meat should be broken. The author found that westerners eat less meat in their daily diet than in big cities in China. Western diets have some advantages, such as vegetables, which are rare and nutritious. Vegetables are less salty and oily, not as greasy as Chinese food. Even if there is meat, it is always plain. Seasonings such as cream are all carried with you, and they are rarely soaked in oil like Chinese food. Meat oil is very greasy.
Take the most popular Italian food in the United States and other western developed countries as an example. The typical procedure is as follows: the first course is spaghetti or a little bread and soup, the second course is a dish with meat and vegetables, and the third course is snacks, ice cream and so on. With wine in the middle. It's quite simple. Where can it compare with a Beijing white-collar worker who often destroys one or two hundred spicy crabs at night, and a Xi 'an Shou hot pot citizen who consumes eight pounds of mutton and eighteen bottles of beer when he comes or not? This "nomadic" way of eating will definitely scare westerners.
The statement that Chinese food is healthy is actually based on the "substitute for melons and vegetables" twenty or thirty years ago. At that time, farmers in China ate meat once or twice a year, while one person in the city only ate half a catty of meat a month. At that time, most people in China were thin, and cancer, hypertension and diabetes were relatively few. At that time, the diet of China people was completely different from that of modern China cities. Therefore, we can't praise the ideal Chinese food in vain and let the actual Chinese food harm people.
The large amount of meat eaten by modern people in China attracts the attention of the world. According to the statistics of WHO and FAO, China's meat consumption level has doubled from 1988 to 1998, reaching 46 kilograms per capita, and the growth rate is among the best in the world. 1998, China's meat consumption level is nearly twice that of developing countries, and exceeds.
China's meat consumption is approaching that of France, the United States, Argentina and Brazil, which have the largest meat consumption in the world. You know, there is a huge gap between urban and rural areas in China, and 800 million farmers can only eat a little meat. Most of this average amount of meat is eaten by citizens in large and medium-sized cities, which account for one-fifth of the national population. It seems that many people in China actually eat more meat than Americans. Because the average in the United States roughly reflects the real situation, there is no difference between urban and rural areas. It is hard to say that urban people eat more meat than rural people. The poor, blacks, Latinos and other low-income groups in the United States all admit that they eat more meat. On the contrary, the rich and highly educated eat less meat and pay more attention to exercise.
Interestingly, China people eat a quarter more meat than Japanese people, but the average life expectancy of China people is a quarter less than that of Japanese people (in the early 1990s, the average life expectancy of China people was 66 years, while that of Japanese people was 83 years, the highest in the world).
Another interesting figure is that from the mid-1990s to 2002, the crime rate of disability and homicide in China increased by 10% every year, and the growth rate of meat eating was just 10%. As many Buddhist masters have stressed countless times, the sword and soldier disasters in the world always have a strict corresponding relationship with killing animals and eating meat, which is closely related, that is, "If you want to know the sword and soldier disasters in the world, you must listen to the knocking at the door at midnight." Aside from the mysticism inside, it is recognized that hormones and hormones in meat can make people nervous and irritable.
One in ten Americans is a strict vegetarian, which is at least ten times that of China. In other words, only one percent or less people in China are strict vegetarians. In Europe, where the voice of environmentalism is high, the proportion of vegetarians is higher than that of the United States. Germany and Britain can reach one sixth and one eighth. France is a special country. France, once the center of Catholicism, has completely abandoned Catholicism and paid attention to food and pleasure. The proportion of religious believers is the least among the big European countries, and the proportion of vegetarians is the least. But even so, the proportion of vegetarians is much higher than that of China.
The following figure shows the different attitudes of China people towards vegetarianism: there are 3,000 vegetarian restaurants in Taiwan Province Province that strictly refuse to sell meat, and there are hundreds of vegetarian restaurants in Hong Kong. There are only twelve or three vegetarian restaurants in Beijing, many times larger than Hong Kong. In 9.6 million square kilometers of Chinese mainland, there are no more than 50 restaurants that strictly refuse to sell meat.
In modern China, when you tell someone that you are a vegetarian, you are sure to get a surprised response. However, in Hongkong, Taiwan Province Province and even any western country, if you say you are a vegetarian, people will either ignore you or give you a comforting look because you met the same vegetarian.
Foreigners also see the good meat of China people, which is deceptive. A variety of vegetarian hamburgers carefully developed by McDonald's never enter China, but only scare people in China with dead meat pies. Pizza Hut in the United States has a lot of vegetarian dishes, but in China, you can eat shrimp or meat, which makes people in China feel worthwhile.
Eating more meat has greatly changed the posture and temperament of China people. In recent years, more and more compatriots have gone abroad and mingled with Japanese, Koreans and Vietnamese who are also East Asians. It's hard to tell the yellow race (almost a third of the yellow race on the streets of Paris). However, the author has been abroad many times and has learned to tell at a glance by intuition.
China people are generally puffy, which is the best sign to distinguish China, South Korea and Japan. These people usually wear suits and ties, but they never wear good suits. They are also very open-minded and have no buttons. These people rarely walk alone, they are all in groups of three or five, and they are not interested in cultural relics all over Europe. Instead, they are talking and laughing, carrying big bags and small bags in their hands, and are keen on shopping. After a short walk, they may start thinking about how to eat, look for Chinese restaurants, order wine and make noise.
Japanese people seen in the west are generally clean-faced, well-dressed and modest. He may pass you silently, without looking at you, but with a smile on his face. Women are easy to distinguish, short stature, slightly shorter legs, white face, no staring at people, no pointing, and unscrupulous smile.
Elder Juejue: Why are you a vegetarian when you study Buddhism?
The spirit of our Buddhism is compassion and equality. To be compassionate and equal, first, do not kill, second, heal the wounded and rescue the dying, and third, be a vegetarian. If you do this, you will have compassion, and compassion is Buddha's heart. So vegetarianism looks ordinary, but its significance is very far-reaching.
Equality and compassion are buddhas, so the Buddhist scriptures say that "all beings are happy and all buddhas are happy." "Bodhisattva is based on compassion, develops bodhicitta because of great compassion, and becomes Buddha because of bodhicitta", so what is great compassion? All living beings have Buddha nature, people are afraid of death, and animals are afraid of death. This is awareness, that is, spiritual mind, which is shared by everyone and animals. Because of this, we can't bear to eat them.
Mencius also said, "A gentleman is a beast, seeing his life, he can't bear to see his death; I can't bear to eat its meat when I hear its voice. Far cooking is also a gentleman. " We feel pain when we see animals whining when they are dying. Based on this compassion, we can't eat the flesh of all beings. This is the first reason, based entirely on compassion and Buddha nature.
The second is based on causality. What is cause and effect? A person has three causes and effects in the past, present and future. Now we eat their meat, and in the future they will kill us and eat us. Most people know that if you eat four ounces, you have to pay back half a catty. This is causality. For this reason, we can't eat meat.
The third reason is that all sentient beings are our relatives. We are all together in this life, whether we are parents, brothers, teachers or fellow friends. This is destiny. One is good karma, the other is bad karma. We used to get along all our lives and help each other. If you don't get along well and cheat, meeting each other in this life is an enemy. This is cause and effect.
There used to be a Hanshan pickup truck, which was known as the incarnation of Manjusri Bodhisattva and Samantabhadra Bodhisattva. One day, Master Hanshan came out to visit the world and saw the village begging for wives, setting banquets and setting hundreds of tables. Everyone was very happy. Brother Hanshan looked at it with a runny nose and tears. The person next to you said, you crazy person, today is a happy event. Why are you crying here? Relatives and friends said they would drive him away. Master Hanshan said, I'm not crazy, you are. People present said, we are normal people and you are crazy. On the other hand, how can we be called crazy?
Hanshan tuas immediately said a poem:
The six major pains in the wheel of karma are that the grandson marries his grandmother; Cattle and sheep are the seats, and six parents cook the pot.
The wheel of karma has six hardships, and the grandson marries his grandmother. We see the bride and groom. Actually, the grandson married his grandmother. Now most people can't see, there are no such eyes, no such eyes and no eyes, so everyone is upside down. "The wheel of karma is bitter, and the grandson is a grandmother." Look at this madness. Is it upside down? Cattle and sheep are the best seats. What is this, a wedding, relatives and friends? These are cattle and sheep killed in previous lives, and reincarnated as human beings in this life; What are the chicken, duck and beef cooked by six parents in the pot? They are all six relatives from the past. Think about it, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, with an eye, can see these things clearly. Don't eat the flesh of all beings, completely out of compassion and equality, so you must never eat the flesh of all beings.
How can we fully achieve the purpose and benefits of vegetarianism? Is to be right. What happened? We are not greedy for merit, and merit cannot be said to be absent. Where does merit come from? It stems from sympathy and equality.
We know that chanting Buddha, chanting scriptures and being a vegetarian all have merits. What are the advantages? These are all based on our hearts. If we don't have this heart, equality and compassion, vegetarianism is only for ourselves, because we are my lover and I am greedy. Being a vegetarian in the body can achieve health, but in the heart, you are getting more and more ignorant and have no merit. Therefore, everything we do is sincere, sincere and vegetarian, and there will be infinite merits and infinite blessings.