|
Balancing Business and Responsibility
Tibet Cafe, contributed by Tseten Choedon
As reported by the German newspaper “Hamburger Abendblatt” about the Dalai Lama's present visit to Hamburg, Germany, the owner of Kham restaurant had the privilege to serve a meal to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The meal also included Sha momo (meat dumplings), a popular Tibetan dish.
Being one of the few world renounced leaders and the spiritual and political leader of the Tibetan people, he always advocated compassion for all living beings and thereby vegetarianism as a way of life. He also acknowledged that in Tibet vegetables and fruits were scarce due to geographical and climatic conditions, thus Tibetans had to sustain on meat.
Germany is not Tibet. Indeed it is a country with favourable conditions to grow food and that also a rich variety if consumed directly and not fed to animals will keep the entire population healthy. Making meat momos makes me wonder if the Tibetas in Germany have only meat to thrive on.
Wow, you do keep your culture intact, specially sha momo culture. Maybe we should also wear Paktsa (pelt) and Sompa (Tibetan boots) in the heat and be nomads to maintain our cultural heritage. Now, you would not agree to this. You will say people must change according to circumstances and the environment. Then why stick to slaughtered animals momos when your environment offers enormous amount of alternatives?
Tibetans around the world, I beg you, please stop advocating meat momos as our food culture! Chinese and Nepalese people also eat a lot of momos and by the way, eating Tsampa is definitely in our culture!
The TVA, an organisation working for the animals which has been also supported by His Holiness has over time converted many Tibetan meat eaters to vegetarians. It is a serious blow to their hard work when you offer meat momos to our leader. He might eat it out of courtesy.
Next time, restaurant owners, surprise him with spinach or tofu momos which is more creative. I am sure the Dalai Lama will be more impressed with this.
Being spiritual is neither saying om ma ni ped me hum with an empty heart nor getting blessings from the Dalai Lama without practising what he preaches. It is through positive action that one's spirituality is enriched and as you all know killing is the worst sin for a Buddhist and each time you eat meat you become less humane.
From the telephonic conversation with the Kham restaurant owner i came to know that the German newspaper has made a wrong report and he did not make meat momos for him. Sorry, but he admitted that he cooked Sha Bhakleb instead...the ingredients of these food are same! He also mentioned that the Dalai Lama occasionally eats meat as advised by his doctor for health reasons. This doctor i believe is then under qualified for his advice is supporting the meat lobbies and goes completely against all the medical findings done all over the world that meat is indeed bad for health. Since the Dalai Lama eats healthy food, offering him meat momos on that ground is seriously contradictory, for eating meat is bad for the body and the soul.
May be the readers might feel that i am making too much fuss about this particular meal. But on a personal level if each individual picks up such issues the world will be a much better place to live in. If your motto is Live to eat instead of eat to live there will be more miseries.
 |
