Another true vegetarian hero from Tibet is the monk
Geshe Thupten Phelgye, who, after practicing in
retreat for several years, founded the Universal
Compassion Movement, (www.universalcompassion.org) in
1998. The Movement promotes vegetarianism and
compassion for all sentient beings through various
means, including distributing vegetarian flyers around
Dharamsala.

In 1999, Geshe Thupten Phelgye was elected president
of the International Gelug Society, which represents
the major monastic tradition in Tibet, and managed to
pass a resolution that all residents of Gelug
monasteries and nunneries become vegetarian. The
following year, the Gelug monks elected him their
representative in the Tibetan Parliament In-Exile in
Dharamsala, where he proposed a historic law declaring
2004 the Tibetan Vegetarian Year, during which all
Tibetans would be required to be vegetarian. The
Parliament subsequently passed the law, whereby
vegetarianism was encouraged but not enforced,
bringing vegetarianism to the forefront of Tibetans’
minds. This ruling may be considered the greatest such
law since the Ashokan Edict of 200 B.C., which
established vegetarianism in India.

Please visit:
www.universalcompassion.org

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An Incomplete List of Vegetarian Teachers in Tibetan
Buddhism:

http://www.shabkar.org/teachers/tibetanbuddhism/index.htm