Is it wholesome to eat unfertilised eggs?

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binocular
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Re: Is it wholesome to eat unfertilised eggs?

Post by binocular »

Eggs are an animal product, and animals are made to suffer in order to produce those products.
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Re: Is it wholesome to eat unfertilised eggs?

Post by dharmacorps »

Without some kind of translation or full explanation of what is being said, those of us who don't speak Sinhala may be a bit in the dark here.
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Re: Is it wholesome to eat unfertilised eggs?

Post by SarathW »

It appears In Sri Lanka you can buy the eggs called "Buddha's egg"
I assume they refer this to unfertilized eggs.
This video is about the so-called "Buddha's Egg"
His argument is not very clear. My interpretation of his sermon was that it is unwholesome to break an egg whether it is fertilised or not.
Nowadays you can buy eggs called "free-range eggs". Perhaps they are fertilised.
Perhaps taking an egg maybe amount to stealing. (taking what is not given) (my opinion)
He also argues that the termination of a human embryo at any stage is unwholesome.
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Re: Is it wholesome to eat unfertilised eggs?

Post by DNS »

Eating an unfertilized egg is not killing, as it is not an embryo, not a potential chicken. A fertilized egg would have become a chicken and so is therefore, a sort of abortion, termination of that life.

Arguments against eating even unfertilized eggs, from a vegan perspective center around the treatment of the hens, usually in factory farm conditions, crowded cages, not able to move around, disease and unsanitary conditions. And typically at most egg farms, when male chicks are born, they are thrown into a meat grinder and made into pet food or processed meat products.

There are some more humane, organic farms, but vegans argue that the hens are still enslaved for the benefit of human food choices.

From a buddhist perspective, it is intention that matters, so unfertilized eggs are okay to consume. When one eats an egg, although it may have come from a farm where male chicks are killed, it is not necessarily the intent of the one consuming the egg that this should occur.
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Re: Is it wholesome to eat unfertilised eggs?

Post by Srilankaputra »

I don't want to push this too much otherwise it might be interpreted as too extreme. In this same talk the bhante said there are people who love the sila and they don't think twice about removing even the slightest doubt about their own sila. Some would be dithering with all sorts of weak arguments.(most evident in the case of the fifth precept).

At the end of the day it boils down to whether I trust what it says on the tin.

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chownah
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Re: Is it wholesome to eat unfertilised eggs?

Post by chownah »

Srilankaputra wrote: Thu Aug 22, 2019 3:12 pm I see some unkind responses here
I don't see any unkind responses here. I think it is unkind to interpret the responses given as being unkind....just which posts are you judging to be unkind?

I think a big problem here is how the heck am I supposed to know what some video is talking about exactly when it is in srilankan? Am I supposed to just blindly trust that whoever tells me what it is about is correct?....does anyone here just blindly trust that whoever tells them about a sutta is correct?
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Re: Is it wholesome to eat unfertilised eggs?

Post by Srilankaputra »

chownah wrote: Fri Aug 23, 2019 3:52 am
Srilankaputra wrote: Thu Aug 22, 2019 3:12 pm I see some unkind responses here
I don't see any unkind responses here. I think it is unkind to interpret the responses given as being unkind....just which posts are you judging to be unkind?
your first post and binocular's second post. Look, i'll be honest that is how i interpreted them. I might be wrong. So what was the intention behind that post? (especially about eating cow placenta).

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Re: Is it wholesome to eat unfertilised eggs?

Post by Dhammanando »

Srilankaputra wrote: Fri Aug 23, 2019 4:11 am (especially about eating cow placenta).
Like me, Chownah lives in the north of Thailand where boiled cow's afterbirth (tôm hók wua) is considered quite a delicacy.

'


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Re: Is it wholesome to eat unfertilised eggs?

Post by Srilankaputra »

Dhammanando wrote: Fri Aug 23, 2019 4:40 am
Srilankaputra wrote: Fri Aug 23, 2019 4:11 am (especially about eating cow placenta).
Like me, Chownah lives in the north of Thailand where boiled cow's afterbirth (tôm hók wua) is considered quite a delicacy.

'


:thumbsup:
Thank you! Bhante.

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binocular
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Re: Is it wholesome to eat unfertilised eggs?

Post by binocular »

Srilankaputra wrote: Fri Aug 23, 2019 4:11 amyour first post and binocular's second post. Look, i'll be honest that is how i interpreted them. I might be wrong. So what was the intention behind that post? (especially about eating cow placenta).
My post where I ask about the venerable's argument and ask about seedless fruit?
I wouldn't take an interest in this topic, were it not that I suspected there might be a counterintuitive point. The OP didn't say much, but it seems it could be inferred that while eating unfertilized eggs is unwhlesome, eating fertilized ones is not. That's why I questioned to explore. I actually wouldn't be surprised to hear such a thing from an Asian. I once heard that destroying a seed was worse than cutting down the tree that produced it -- which is totally counterintuitive to me.


But on the whole, my stance is that any and all animal products that humans bring about deliberately involve causing suffering to animals, and therefore the consumption of those products is ethically questionable. And that one cannot plead innocence after learning about the circumstances in which some animal product was (likely) produced or obtained.

Even eating placentas is taking from the animal: normally, the mother would eat it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placentophagy
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Re: Is it wholesome to eat unfertilised eggs?

Post by chownah »

Srilankaputra wrote: Fri Aug 23, 2019 4:11 am
chownah wrote: Fri Aug 23, 2019 3:52 am
Srilankaputra wrote: Thu Aug 22, 2019 3:12 pm I see some unkind responses here
I don't see any unkind responses here. I think it is unkind to interpret the responses given as being unkind....just which posts are you judging to be unkind?
your first post and binocular's second post. Look, i'll be honest that is how i interpreted them. I might be wrong. So what was the intention behind that post? (especially about eating cow placenta).
To show that it is impossible to know what the video presents unless one understands srilankan and without understanding what the video presents there are potentially other problems which arise like cultural differences and preferences.

Why doesn't someone who understands srilankan just make an english transcription if they want to present videos in srilankan?.....this is an english language forum I think.

Can someone answer my questions which I presented in my first post?
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Nicolas
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Re: Is it wholesome to eat unfertilised eggs?

Post by Nicolas »

The Vinaya states there is no offense for a monk who takes what is in the possession of an animal.
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Re: Is it wholesome to eat unfertilised eggs?

Post by DNS »

Dhammanando wrote: Fri Aug 23, 2019 4:40 am
Srilankaputra wrote: Fri Aug 23, 2019 4:11 am (especially about eating cow placenta).
Like me, Chownah lives in the north of Thailand where boiled cow's afterbirth (tôm hók wua) is considered quite a delicacy.
That's interesting that some people eat placentas. From a vegetarian ethical standpoint that might be considered allowable, as no being was killed and it is something that is normally discarded. I'm vegetarian, but for me personally, I think I'll pass on trying it. :tongue:

(but of course from a vegan nutritional view, that would not be allowable)
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Re: Is it wholesome to eat unfertilised eggs?

Post by DNS »

chownah wrote: Fri Aug 23, 2019 10:17 am Why doesn't someone who understands srilankan just make an english transcription if they want to present videos in srilankan?.....this is an english language forum I think.
chownah
It's Sinhalese, not Sri Lankan.

I know some Amharic, but not Ethiopian.
And some German, but not Austrian, etc. :tongue:
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Sam Vara
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Re: Is it wholesome to eat unfertilised eggs?

Post by Sam Vara »

DNS wrote: Fri Aug 23, 2019 4:33 pm
That's interesting that some people eat placentas. From a vegetarian ethical standpoint that might be considered allowable, as no being was killed and it is something that is normally discarded. I'm vegetarian, but for me personally, I think I'll pass on trying it. :tongue:
People who know I'm vegan sometimes I ask me if I would have any ethical objections to eating roadkill. I guess I wouldn't, and my objections would be entirely aesthetic. There are actually websites dedicated to the practice. Hot tip of the week: when driving to work, if you see a dead critter, stop and draw a chalk circle round it. When driving home that evening, anything without a chalk circle goes into the pickup and then into the fricassee!
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