Thank you very much for "chbshchbsh"'s answer. I believe that the original poster's question is one that vegetarian Buddhists often encounter. Mo Xue also likes Buddhism and also chooses to be a vegetarian. I am often asked this question when eating out. In fact, Buddhism talks about vegetarianism very thoroughly and clearly, but I am a relatively stupid person and cannot integrate the Buddha’s teachings into my own language. In Buddhism, There is a lot of content about vegetarianism, so I often hesitate to explain clearly.

My own understanding is that there are two main reasons why Buddhism emphasizes vegetarianism. The first is of course out of compassion. All living beings have the desire to escape suffering and seek happiness, and the most cherished thing is yourself. out of compassion we should not cruelly eat other lives. The second thing I think is to reduce our sins and obstacles. If I eat it in this life, I will be eaten by it in the next life, and there will be no time for retribution. Moreover, when animals are killed, they are filled with great fear and resentment, which will bring a lot of negative karma to those who eat them. From the perspective of cause and effect, we will also suffer retribution such as short life, frequent diseases, etc.

Of course there are many other reasons.

Buddhism talks about reincarnation, which refers to the six paths of reincarnation, namely hell, hungry ghosts, side lives, humans, asuras, and heaven, but it does not mention plants. As "chbshchbsh" said, life can be divided into sentient and ruthless beings. All living beings in the six realms are sentient. Only a very small number of plants will have sentient beings in the lonely hell and feel infinite pain all the time. Others are not.

As for "What is the difference between being vegetarian and eating meat?", if some people think like the original poster, "Then if we eat plants, they will also have feelings. Are we going to starve to death?", we might as well do this. Think, "the lesser of two evils" to minimize pain and harm. So choose to be vegetarian.

In fact, although Buddhism has advocated vegetarianism from the beginning, the real ban on vegetarianism among monks began during the reign of Emperor Wu of Liang Dynasty. This is also a very good tradition that China has preserved. I read an article "The Future of the Earth - The Unwilling Truth" which analyzed the reasons for choosing vegetarianism and meat from another angle. After reading it, I was still very moved. Please see if this link can be accessed /view/17ba77c66137ee06eff918b0. html

As for the issue of converting animals to vegetarianism, the biographies of Shantideva Bodhisattva and many other eminent monks mention examples of his compassionate power inspiring carnivorous animals and small animals to live in peace. Of course, it is difficult for the vast majority of carnivorous animals to have such an opportunity. They can only kill, eat meat, create karma, and then continue to degenerate and suffer.

It’s a lot of wordiness, I hope it can help the original poster’s doubts.