user23475: On the matter of Vegetarianism
I am aware the Theravada canon states that Buddha allowed monks to consume meat on the basis that they did not see, hear, know or suspect have been slaughtered for them.
However Mahayana Sutras state that the Buddha forbade eating meat for example in the lankavatara and Surangama sutras.
Which position would be more authentic, and how do we know whether the Buddha taught Vegetarianism or not?

user471: It is popular opinion that eating meat is definitely killing karma because it indirectly causes the killing of animals. This was also Tissa's attack on Buddha Kassapa, a brahmin by birth.
However, from Buddha Kassapa's quote below, we see that eating meat by itself is not killing karma.

“Killing living beings,
hunting, cutting, binding,
theft, lying, fraud, deceptions,
useless recitations,
associating with the wives of others:
This is a raw stench,
not the eating of meat.
Snp 2.2

(and more similar statements in the whole text of the same sutta)
The reason for this, is that karma is intention in Buddhism.
A person who kills an animal or instructs another (like a butcher or hunter or chef) to kill an animal, clearly has the intention to cause the death of that animal. That's the karma of killing imbued with aversion (dosa) and delusion (moha).
However, a person who eats a meat dish (made from an animal that was long dead) only has the intention to eat meat and taste meat. So, that's the karma of eating and tasting meat imbued with greed (lobha). This is not the karma of killing.
Eating any food that was grown in farms or wearing cotton clothes harvested from cotton farms, are also fraught with the indirect killing caused by tillage, use of pesticides etc. Surely one eating rice or bread doesn't have the intention to kill animals either, by doing so.

"Intention, I tell you, is kamma. Intending, one does kamma by way of
body, speech, & intellect.
AN 6.63


All mental phenomena have mind as their forerunner; they have mind as
their chief; they are mind-made. If one speaks or acts with an evil
mind, 'dukkha' follows him just as the wheel follows the hoofprint of
the ox that draws the cart.
Dhp 1


23475: <p><strong>On the matter of Vegetarianism</strong></p>
<p>I am aware the Theravada canon states that Buddha allowed monks to consume meat on the basis that they did not see, hear, know or suspect have been slaughtered for them.</p>
<p>However Mahayana Sutras state that the Buddha forbade eating meat for example in the lankavatara and Surangama sutras.</p>
<p>Which position would be more authentic, and how do we know whether the Buddha taught Vegetarianism or not?</p>
 471: <p>It is popular opinion that eating meat is definitely killing karma because it indirectly causes the killing of animals. This was also Tissa's attack on Buddha Kassapa, a brahmin by birth.</p>
<p>However, from Buddha Kassapa's quote below, we see that eating meat by itself is not killing karma.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Killing living beings,<br />
hunting, cutting, binding,<br />
theft, lying, fraud, deceptions,<br />
useless recitations,<br />
associating with the wives of others:<br />
This is a raw stench,<br />
not the eating of meat.<br />
<a href="https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/StNp/StNp2_2.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Snp 2.2</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>(and more similar statements in the whole text of the same sutta)</p>
<p>The reason for this, is that karma is intention in Buddhism.</p>
<p>A person who kills an animal or instructs another (like a butcher or hunter or chef) to kill an animal, clearly has the intention to cause the death of that animal. That's the karma of killing imbued with aversion (<em>dosa</em>) and delusion (<em>moha</em>).</p>
<p>However, a person who eats a meat dish (made from an animal that was long dead) only has the intention to eat meat and taste meat. So, that's the karma of eating and tasting meat imbued with greed (<em>lobha</em>). This is not the karma of killing.</p>
<p>Eating any food that was grown in farms or wearing cotton clothes harvested from cotton farms, are also fraught with the indirect killing caused by tillage, use of pesticides etc. Surely one eating rice or bread doesn't have the intention to kill animals either, by doing so.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&quot;Intention, I tell you, is kamma. Intending, one does kamma by way of
body, speech, &amp; intellect.<br />
<a href="https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an06/an06.063.than.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">AN 6.63</a></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>All mental phenomena have mind as their forerunner; they have mind as
their chief; they are mind-made. If one speaks or acts with an evil
mind, 'dukkha' follows him just as the wheel follows the hoofprint of
the ox that draws the cart.<br />
<a href="https://www.tipitaka.net/tipitaka/dhp/verseload.php?verse=001" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Dhp 1</a></p>
</blockquote>
