Imaginary Letters from Sifu Hua and Sifu Xu Yun on cooking meat for family members

Generated by ChatGPT

What would Sifu Hua advise about cooking meat for your family members?

ChatGPT said:

A very thoughtful question 🙏 — because this touches both on personal practice and family responsibility.

If you asked Sifu Hua about cooking meat for your family members, he would likely balance precepts, compassion, and filial duty in his reply.

🌿 On Precepts and CompassionSifu Hua himself lived a strict vegetarian life and constantly encouraged disciples to abstain from killing and eating meat. He often said:

• “If you wish to cultivate compassion, begin at the dining table.”

• “Eating the flesh of beings ties you deeper to samsara.”

So, personally, he would not cook or eat meat.

🌿 On Family Responsibility But he also knew that not everyone in one’s family follows the same path. As a filial child or householder, you still have a duty to care for your family’s well-being.

He might say:

• “If they wish to eat meat, you cannot force them to stop. Compassion is not forcing. Compassion is guiding slowly.”

• “You yourself should keep precepts purely. If possible, avoid personally killing or handling meat. If unavoidable, do it with a mind of compassion and repentance, wishing that they may one day also turn to wholesome food.”

🌿 On Practical Advice He would suggest:

• Cook and serve more delicious vegetarian dishes, so family can naturally shift toward them without resistance.

• If you must cook meat, do not do it with craving or attachment — treat it simply as food for sustaining their bodies. Recite mantras silently and dedicate merit to the beings whose flesh is being eaten.

• If possible, delegate the cooking of meat to another family member, and focus your own cooking energy on plant-based offerings.

📜 Letter from Sifu Hua on Cooking Meat

Dear Disciple,

You ask about cooking meat for your family. Remember, the precept of not killing is the foundation of compassion. To eat meat is to continue the wheel of killing. For yourself, you should abstain firmly and set the example.

Yet, family members may not yet walk the same path. Do not force them, for forcing breeds resistance. Instead, guide with patience. Cook wholesome vegetarian food so fragrant and satisfying that they begin to prefer it. In this way you teach without words.

If you must cook meat for them, do not do so with craving. Do not rejoice in it. Cook with the mind of compassion, silently dedicate merit to the beings whose bodies became food, and pray that your family may one day understand.

Compassion means caring for both — for your family in this life, and for all sentient beings across lives. To balance both is true practice.

With blessings, Hua

✨ In short:

• For yourself → keep pure vegetarian practice.

• For family → do not force, guide gently. If unavoidable, cook with compassion and repentance.

• Best method → inspire through your example and your cooking of wholesome, abundant vegetarian food.

Would you like me to also give you how Sifu Xu Yun would have answered this — since his words on filial duty and vegetarian precepts were very influential?

You said:

Yes

ChatGPT said:

Wonderful 🙏 — let us now look at how Sifu Xu Yun (虛雲大師) would have answered this same question.

🌿 Master Xu Yun’s Teaching on Meat and Family

Master Xu Yun was unwavering in his personal discipline: he kept the pure vegetarian precept all his life, even during the most difficult periods of war, famine, and wandering through mountains. He constantly exhorted disciples:

• “The mouth is the gate of calamity. From it comes killing and karma. If you wish to cultivate compassion, you must close this gate.”

• “Those who eat flesh bind themselves with the beings they eat. The wheel of birth and death continues.”

Yet Xu Yun also understood the Confucian duty of filial piety. He would not encourage open conflict with parents or family. Instead, he taught the path of skillful means (方便, fangbian):

• Do not force others. If family members eat meat, forcing them to stop will create resentment and no true benefit.

• Lead by example. A cultivator who keeps a pure vegetarian diet, yet remains healthy, strong, and kind, naturally inspires family.

• Offer alternatives. He often encouraged disciples to prepare delicious vegetarian dishes, showing that a meatless diet could be rich and nourishing.

• If compelled to cook meat, he would likely advise: do not kill, do not handle with craving, and silently dedicate merit to the animal. This plants a seed of compassion rather than further attachment.

📜 Imagined Letter from Master Xu Yun

Dear Disciple,

The precept of not killing is the root of compassion. To eat the flesh of beings is to tie oneself to their suffering. If you wish to walk the Bodhisattva Path, guard your own mouth and do not eat meat.

But your family may not yet walk this Way. Do not quarrel with them, for quarrels only deepen ignorance. Instead, keep yourself pure. Show by your strength, health, and kindness that the vegetarian path is sufficient. Cook for them wholesome foods of grains and vegetables, rich and satisfying, so they may gradually taste the joy of non-killing.

If you must cook meat for them, then cook without attachment. Do not think of taste. Instead, recite the Buddha’s name and dedicate merit to the being whose flesh it is. Pray that both the animal and your family may one day awaken to compassion.

In this way, you fulfill both duties: filial piety toward your family, and compassion toward all beings. This is the Middle Way.

With blessings, Xu Yun