What Did the Buddha Say About Eating Meat? Jivaka Sutta MN 55

In this snippet Bhante describes the 5 Rules of killing, that without all these in place, there is no fault. These are found in the Anguttara Nikaya. He talks about the 3 conditions that must be in place for a monk to accept meat and not have blame. These rules are found in Jivaka Sutta 55 Majjhima Nikaya. Many other interpretations came later by other sects but the Majjhima Nikaya is thought to be from the original teachings of the Buddha. This is followed by the majority of monks of the Theravada tradition in countries like Burma, Thailand and Sri Lanka. Buddhist Monks in the Mahayana tradition do not eat meat based on decisions made by monks many many years after the Buddha died during the 3rd council. They went against the Suttas and said it was not OK for monks to eat meat.
Bhante Vimalaramsi was ordained a Theravada monk and follows the Theravadan Suttas and does not follow the Mahayana Suttas which do not allow meat. These Buddhist sects disagree with each other on this issue but again Bhante is using the the Theravadan Suttas and explaining what they say. These Suttas are what the Buddha said per this tradition. Other sects said he said something else - so you decide.
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"Raw Stench"
Sutta "Raw Stench" Sn2.2 where the Buddha says basically not following the moral precepts is unwholesome - NOT the eating of meat (as long as it is not seen or heard by you or suspected to have been killed for you).
2:2 Raw Stench
Access to Insight :Suttas/KN/Sn/2:2
According to SnA, this poem is a dialogue between a brahman ascetic, Tissa, and the previous Buddha, Kassapa, who-unlike “our” Buddha, Gotama-was born into the brahman caste.
Tissa:
“Those peacefully eating
millet, Job’s tears, green gram,
leaf-fruit, tuber-fruit, water-chestnut-fruit,
obtained in line with the Dhamma,
don’t desire sensual-pleasures
or tell falsehoods.
But when eating what is well-made,
well-prepared,
exquisite, given, offered by others,
when consuming cooked rice,
Kassapa, one consumes a raw stench.
Yet you, kinsman of Brahmā, say,
‘Raw stench is not proper for me,’
while consuming cooked rice
and the well-prepared fleshes of birds.
So I ask you, Kassapa, the meaning of that:
Of what sort is ‘raw stench’ for you?”
The Buddha Kassapa:
“Killing living beings,
hunting, cutting, binding,
theft, lying, fraud, deceptions,
useless recitations,
associating with the wives of others:
This is a raw stench,
not the eating of meat.
Those people here
who are unrestrained in sensuality,
greedy for flavors,
mixed together with what’s impure,
annihilationists,
discordant & indomitable:
This is a raw stench,
not the eating of meat.
Those who are rough, pitiless,
eating the flesh off your back,
betraying their friends,
uncompassionate, arrogant,
habitually ungenerous,
giving to no one:
This is a raw stench,
not the eating of meat.
Anger, intoxication,
stubbornness, hostility,
deceptiveness, resentment,
boasting, conceit & pride,
befriending those of no integrity:
This is a raw stench,
not the eating of meat.
Those of evil habits,
debt-repudiators, informers,
cheats in trading, counterfeiters,
vile men who do evil things:
This is a raw stench,
not the eating of meat.
Those people here
who are unrestrained toward beings,
taking what’s others’,
intent on injury,
immoral hunters, harsh, disrespectful:
This is a raw stench,
not the eating of meat.
Those who are very greedy,
constantly intent
on hindering and killing;
beings who, after passing away,
go to darkness,
fall headfirst into hell:
This is a raw stench,
not the eating of meat.
One should go about guarded
with regard to those things,
one’s faculties understood,
standing firm in the Dhamma,
delighting in being straightforward & mild.
Attachments past,
all suffering abandoned,
the enlightened one
isn’t smeared
by what’s heard or seen.”
Thus the Blessed One,
explained the meaning again & again.
The one who had mastered chants understood it.
With variegated verses the sage-
free from raw stench,
unfettered, indomitable-proclaimed it.
Hearing the Awakened One’s well-spoken word-
free from raw stench,
dispelling all stress-
the one with lowered mind
paid homage to the Tathāgata,
chose the Going Forth right there.
vv. 239-252
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