Is Taoism against killing?
paulpeng"Not killing" is the first precept among the "Five Precepts" in Taoism. "Not killing" requires having a compassionate heart. All living beings in the world are bestowed by heaven and earth. Whether it's the birds flying in the sky, the fish and shrimp swimming in the water, the animals walking on the earth, or the ants and insects, and even the flowers, plants and trees, regardless of their size, are all lives. Taoists should have an attitude of love and compassion towards them and cherish them instead of harming or killing them. In addition to not harboring evil thoughts, killing people or harming things, and injuring living beings, this also involves eating habits.
On the surface, Taoists are not as strictly required to be vegetarians as Buddhists. However, many people who have been practicing Taoism for a long time gradually start to offer vegetarian food and maintain a vegetarian diet. The reason why they offer vegetarian food is not just for the sake of physical health, but also because they hope to avoid killing. Since heaven has the virtue of favoring life and loathing killing, and heaven nurtures all things, it rejoices in their lives and abhors their deaths. Taoist practitioners should understand the will of heaven and earth, so they take killing as a taboo. To avoid killing, the best way is to maintain a vegetarian diet. Those who can't offer vegetarian food for the time being should also understand the will of heaven and earth, always maintain good thoughts, and not indulge their gluttony. They should not eat rare wild game and seafood just to satisfy their appetite, and thus wantonly kill living beings. From the perspective of "reincarnation", other lives may also be our parents, siblings and relatives in previous lives. Who would have the heart to eat their own relatives from their previous lives? So, maintaining a vegetarian diet is also an act of great filial piety.
