Mary noticed that Leo at Zen Habits is encouraging compassion:

“When we talk about compassion, it’s usually towards other human beings — family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, strangers, people out there in the world, suffering. We talk about empathizing and understanding their suffering, and wanting to act to ease or end the suffering. We talk about taking action, through kindness, to end the suffering in some way.

“But there are some who believe in compassion towards all living things, including me.

“Many of us have pets now or have had pets in the past, and we can completely understand compassion towards animals. You wouldn’t want to hurt your beloved pet, would you? Extend that empathy, compassion and kindness to all other animals, including animals raised and killed for food, clothing, or other such uses.”

In another article, he suggests how to go vegetarian. He lists 20 tips including:

“Have good reasons. If you just want to become vegetarian for kicks, you probably won’t stick with it for long — not because it’s hard, but because any lifestyle change or habit change requires a little bit of motivation. You need to first think about why you want to become vegetarian, and really believe in it. The rest is easy.”

I agree. If you are dedicated to animals (or even if you’re dedicated to your health or the environment) it’s much easier to go vegetarian or vegan and stay that way. But if you are going veg because it’s hip or because you want to impress someone or because you want to lose weight, you’re less likely to stay veg.

You can read his other 19 tips here >>

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Sections: Vegan Et Cetera
Topics: compassion, habits, Theory, veg, Vegan, zen