buddhism

This week, I'm trying to be Buddhist. I'm not drinking alcohol or eating meat. Avoiding these things isn't hard, as there are plenty of veggie dishes, as well as plenty of vegetables in the meat dishes. My main difficulty is dealing with the external peer pressure and the internal rationalization. Patrick feels weird drinking alone, and I can't blame him. Especially since I stare longingly at his glass as he drinks it.

Yesterday, I had planned the crown jewel in my no meat week. At all the major temples in Chengdu there are vegetarian restaurants. I took 3 buses to get to this temple, paid 5 kuai, and found out the restaurant was closed, just for that Saturday. Right then and there I almost went to How Nice, a Brazilian Barbecue buffet. But in Buddhism it worse to break your vows than to ever make them in the first place, so I reined myself in.

Instead, I went to the supermarket and bought all the vegetarian western food I could think of. Milk, cheese, bread, spaghetti sauce, real orange juice (hard to find), peanut butter, jelly, and most importantly, Planter's Honey Roasted Peanuts. I then gorged myself on them and watched Patton. Take that China!

So now I'm trying to recover from a peanut binge, but I still haven't broken my vow. I'm just glad I didn't make it lifetime.