Vesanto Melina

meaning dynamic harmlessness) as a part of a vegan lifestyle. Members

embrace ahimsa as an urgent worldwide necessity and advocate six pillars—one

for each letter of ahimsa:5

Abstinence from animal products

Harmlessness with reverence for life

Integrity of thought, word, and deed

Mastery over oneself

Service to humanity, nature, and creation

Advancement of understanding and truth

Veganism is a philosophy that promotes reverence for life and compassion

for all living beings and rejects the notion that animals are resources to be

exploited.

including foods of animal origin; clothing produced from fur, leather, wool, or

silk; and animal-derived ingredients in personal-care and cleaning products

A pure vegetarian is someone who follows only a vegan diet, not a vegan lifestyle

Efforts to live compassion-centered lives count far more than proficiency at

avoiding the trace amounts of animal products that permeate marketplaces

A

vegan lifestyle is a means to an end (which is to reduce animal suffering), not the

end itself.

In the end, we each

need to do what we can in the quest for a more compassionate world.

He explained, “A human being is part of a whole, called by us the universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings,

as something separated from the rest—a kind of optical delusion of his

consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our

personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be

to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to

embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.”

Being vegan is about widening our circles of compassion

to include those who are commonly excluded, whether they’re humans or

nonhuman animals. It’s about understanding that our choices have consequences

for ourselves, and beyond ourselves. It’s about recognizing that eating animals

and animal products is both unnecessary and potentially harmful.

Fattened on cheap feed, bred for rapid growth, treated with antibiotics to control

disease and with hormones to stimulate appetite and maximize weight gain, and

immobilized in small spaces that allow little movement during their short lives,

these animals, so effectively hidden from view, endure unspeakable suffering.