文／蓮生活佛盧勝彥
藏密黃教教主，甘丹赤巴法王，到西雅圖雷藏寺，贈我一件法王衣袍。
甘丹赤巴法王到西雅圖時，適逢他供奉的金剛佛誕辰，他請雷藏寺法師到超市，幫忙買回一瓶酒及牛肉、羊肉。法王說，他要修法供養金剛佛。
這件事過後，有一位法師私下來請教我：
「酒肉葷腥可以供佛？」
我告訴這位法師：
顯教視飲酒食肉，都是犯了大戒的。
但密教確有不同。
密教認為，諸佛根本是「無差別心」者。酒肉在佛眼之中亦非酒肉也。例如：人看酒是酒，阿修羅看酒是刀槍劍戟，餓鬼看酒是猛火，地獄看酒是血池，佛看酒，反而是大甘露。
佛看酒是大甘露，酒當然可以供奉。
我說：
行者清淨，酒肉清淨，飲酒食肉清淨。
行者垢穢，酒肉穢，飲酒食肉垢穢。
請慎思明辨！
一個有證量的行者，他把酒化為「甘露水」，肉化為「清淨食品」，將「靈命度化」，當然可以飲酒食肉，不會被亂性。
一個沒有功力的行者，他狂飲而醉，又貪口腹吃肉，則犯密教根本大戒，罪業深重，死後墮金剛地獄。
這二者外觀相同，但淨垢不同也！
我認為：
素品供佛，酒肉葷腥供佛，平等平等，沒有差別。但，你想飲酒食肉，則要看功力。
被肉污穢，被酒亂性者，一定要禁戒！
Offering Wine and Meat to the Buddha
Written by Lian-shen Linving Buddha Sheng-yen Lu
Translated by Cheng Yew Chung edited by Victor Hazen
True Buddha Foundation Translation Team
When the head of the Gelug order of Tibetan Buddhism, His Holiness Ganden Tripa, visited the Lei Zang Temple in Seattle, he gave me a Dharma robe as a gift. During his visit, it coincided with the birthday of a Vajra Buddha whom His Holiness worshiped. His Holiness then requested that the monks in the Lei Zang Temple help him purchase a bottle of wine and some beef and lamb meat from the supermarket. He wanted to cultivate and make an offering to the Vajra Buddha.
Later, a monk asked me in private, "Can we offer wine and meat to the buddhas?" I explained to the monk that in the view of the Sutric tradition, drinking wine and taking meat would have breached the precepts. But not according to the Tantric teachings. The view of Tantric Buddhism is that all buddhas are beings abiding in the mind of non-discrimination. Therefore, in the eyes of the buddhas, wine and meat are not seen as wine and meat. For example, in the eyes of men, wine is wine. In the eyes of the asuras, wine is a sword and a knife. To the hungry ghosts, wine becomes a burning flame. The hell beings see wine manifested as a pool of blood. Yet, to the buddhas, wine is a fine nectar.
Let me say this:
If the practitioner is pure, the wine and meat consumed become pure. Hence the very act of consuming wine and meat is pure. On the contrary, if the practitioner is impure, the wine and meat consumed become impure. Hence, the very act of consuming wine and meat is impure. Please think through this carefully and discern the truth！
A practitioner with actual attainment will transform the wine into nectar, and the meat into cleansed food. As he delivers the souls of the slaughtered animals, there is no danger of misbehavior in consuming wine and meat.
A practitioner who has no spiritual stamina will drink wine until he is drunk, and consume meat out of gluttony. He has breached a major precept in Tantric Buddhism, and has created a heavy karma for himself, which would draw him to the Vajra Hell upon his death.
On the surface, both scenarios may appear similar, but they are separated by the polarities of purity and impurity！
I feel that it is equal and undifferentiated to offer either vegetarian meals or meat to the buddhas. But should you want to consume wine and meat, you must know where your spiritual stamina stands. If one is corrupted by the consumption of meat and wine, then it is absolutely necessary to strictly follow the precept and refrain from consuming wine and meat！
