h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

So, why is it the life purpose of vegetables to be eaten, but not animals?

Animals are sentient. Vegetables aren't. I was the exception to the rule.

Plus if it's animals life purpose to be eaten, then it's /your/ life purpose to be eaten, hmmmmmmm?

It's only the life purpose of some animals to be eaten. Others have various other life purposes.

Ah. Yes I suppose. Many animals are raised for slaughtering. But that doesn't make it right, does it? To deliberately end the life of a sentient creature just so you can enjoy eating it's flesh?

I only eat the non-sentient ones.

Few examples, please?

Like...Um...Dead cow. Dead cow is a non-sentient being.

But cow is. You (well not /you/ specifically, I think) killed a cow to eat it's flesh. You killed a cow to make it a dead cow, to eat it's flesh.

For all you know, that cow might have died of natural causes.

I don't have a problem with that. But just think what you're eating. What did it die of? BSE?

I don't know. I think it was the rotating knives that did it.

That would be it then. Could have been the electric shock, actually, I suppose. But it was all so that people could eat it's flesh.

No. It was natural causes. It naturally wandered into the rotating knives. There's nothing I could do to stop that.

Fair enough, I suppose. I'm not vegetarian actually. I was just testing you.

Which means you were being dishonest, therefore you aren't Buddha.

I wasn't. I really am morally opposed to meat. I just eat it, that's all. And if that makes me not enlightened, then neither are you. See, I was testing you.

Not a bad test...But the real Buddha would know how enlightened I am without a test.

I did. That was another test.

The real Buddha (me) knows now that you're even more enlightened than I thought you were, largely as a result of that test. Your enlightenment is going up all the time.

Tell me about it...I don't know how I'm going to manage to pay this month's enlightenment bill.