Shabkar Tsodruk Rangdrol
The
Renowned
Tibetan Master & Great Vegetarian Advocate
1)
Shabkar.org is a non-sectarian website dedicated to
vegetarianism as a way
of life for Buddhists of all
schools. The site takes its name from Shabkar
Tsodruk
Rangdrol (1781-1851), the great Tibetan yogi who
espoused the ideals
of vegetarianism.
url: www.shabkar.org
2)
The teachings of Shabkar Tsodruk Rangdrol are in
the following book:
"Food
of Bodhisattvas: Buddhist Teachings on
Abstaining from Meat" by Shabkar
Paperback: 160 pages
Publisher: Shambhala (Aug 10 2004)
Language:
English
isbn: 1590301161
It
is available at Amazon Books (www.amazon.com) or
Barnes & Noble (www.bn.com).
************
Another
Tibetan Vegetarian Hero -
Geshe Thupten Phelgye
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
************
An
Incomplete List of Vegetarian Teachers in Tibetan
Buddhism:
http://www.shabkar.org/teachers/tibetanbuddhism/index.htm