In the Jin Dynasty, the renowned Buddhist scholar He Yin uttered such nonsense: “Seafood are not born equal. For instance, eels and crabs can feel pain, so it’s not right to kill them for food. But clams and mussels have no eyes, no mouth, no vital signs whatsoever, and they make no sound, never give a sniff of anything – you can’t really tell them apart from tiles or stones, while even grass has some indication of being alive – so it’s all right to eat clams and the likes.” Holy crap! Did he hear himself? What gibberish!
Creatures like clams and mussels may not have facial features, and they may not look like having a lot going on, but don’t they have bodies and lives just like we do? Every creature, as long as it has a body and being alive, it can feel pain. The fact that you are not aware of it doesn’t mean that they don’t feel pain. And you can’t assume that they don’t have facial features just because you don’t see it. Humans have such limited vision, that’s why we don’t see most of the things!
This renown scholar named He Yin had committed a grave sin by suggesting that it’s all right to eat clams and mussels.
by Grand Master Lian Chi (蓮池大師), the Eighth Patriarch of Pure Land Buddhism
螯蠣充口 – 錄自明末蓮池大師《竹窗隨筆》(初筆)
晉何胤謂:「鱓蟹就死，猶有知而可憫; 至於車螯蚶蠣，眉目內缺，唇吻外緘，不榮不瘁，草木弗若，無聲無臭，瓦礫何異? 固宜長充庖廚，永為口食。」噫! 是何言歟?! 此等雖無眉目唇吻、榮瘁聲臭，寧無形質運動乎? 有形質而能運動者，皆有知也。汝不知其有知耳? 況眉目等實無不具，特至微細，非凡目所見，而欲永為口食，胤之罪上通於天矣!
Buddha Mind 