Upvote:2
According to my personal interpretation, the first precept reminds us how we hurt ourselves when we perform the action of killing. There is a famous concept from the Harry Potter movies (and maybe the books), "Killing rips the soul apart". They mean it literally in the movies. I find the concept very similar to the first precept.
So it does not really imply vegetarianism, but something deeper. Indeed, many Buddhist monks are not vegetarian. They can not be, because they have to eat whatever food they are given by the laypersons. To be particular about not eating any type of food is likely to become a problem while following a monastic life.
Upvote:2
There is no such a concept as "Vegetarianism".It's originally comes from Hinduism. Buddhism emphasis on moral value of respect life. We can practice this moral value up to our capacity and practical conditions.E.g- The citizens of Ice land totally depend on fish for their survival and they got little chance to practice this morality in their life style.But when you have plentiful vegetables and fruits and access to it and still kill animal for food that is your desire for meat and you violate and break the morality. The reason why there is no Vegetarianism as forced concept still you eat only vege farmers kill thousand of insects using pesticides sake of your vege food and you know animals are being killing for your food. This is the nature of Human realm and confirm existence of suffering.
Upvote:3
If every single person in a city or country practised the first precept with heedfulness, and also practised Right Livelihood, which prohibits trade in meat, then nobody would work as a butcher.
Those practicing Right Livelihood would also not be meat importers, suppliers or retailers.
The first precept is not about vegetarianism, or any type of diet. It's about allowing sentient beings to live with ease.
However, if you observe the first precept, it is still ok to buy and consume meat that was frozen in the supermarket. The reason for this is that you did not have the intention to kill and in fact, you did not kill that animal.
You're simply buying frozen lifeless meat that was long dead before you arrived at the supermarket. Please also see this question for a detailed discussion on this topic .