According to the Dhammapada Commentary, this story took place in Rājagaha during the early years of the Buddha’s enlightenment. Near the monastery lived a butcher named Cunda.

For fifty-five years, Cunda made his living by breeding, fattening, and personally slaughtering pigs. His methods were exceptionally cruel: he would tie down each animal, beat it to swell the flesh, and force boiling water down its throat to cleanse the innards before slaughter. Despite living near the Buddha, Cunda never practiced generosity or offered so much as a flower or a spoonful of rice.

The Terrible Reversal

When Cunda fell seriously ill, the psychological and karmic torment of Avīci (the Great Hell) manifested while he was still alive. Overwhelmed by terror and pain, he crawled around his house on his hands and knees for seven days, squealing and grunting like a dying pig.

Passing monks heard the dreadful noise and assumed Cunda was continuing his slaughter. The Buddha corrected them, explaining:

“He has not been killing pigs these seven days. Retribution in harmony with his past deeds has overtaken him.”

On the seventh day, Cunda died and was reborn in Avīci hell. The Buddha uttered Dhammapada Verse 15:

“Here he suffers; after death he suffers:

the evildoer suffers in both places.

He suffers, he is afflicted,

seeing the impurity of his own past deeds.”

Meat-Eating, Demand, and Karma

This gruesome tale naturally prompts a modern ethical question: Does eating meat send you to hell?

If Cunda killed pigs because customers wanted pork, shouldn’t the consumer share the butcher’s karmic burden? At first glance, “demand-driven” karma seems logical. However, early Buddhist teachings tie karma fundamentally to intention and personal action—body, speech, and mind—rather than guilt-by-association.

If every indirect consequence of our actions dictated our karma, the net would be impossibly wide. For instance, if an inventor creates a sleeping pill that someone later uses to commit suicide, the inventor does not automatically acquire the karmic result of that suicide. Likewise, the inventor of knife is not responsible for every murder.

However, the inventor of weapons meant for war and killing does have negative karma. So the intention is very important.

Additionally, deliberate encouragement, requesting, or commissioning harmful actions also involves our own intention. Therefore, there will be consequences.

It is important to distinguish between

1. Directly intending or participating in an act.
2. Merely encountering its consequences down a long supply chain.

The Principle of “Threefold Pure Meat”

To navigate this nuance, early Buddhist texts established the principle of threefold pure meat (tikoṭiparisuddha): monks were permitted to eat meat provided they had not seen, heard, or suspected that the animal had been killed specifically for them.

• Buying from a marketplace: Buying meat without hearing or seeing the animal being slaughtered is permissible.
• Commissioning or specific requests: Telling someone to kill an animal for your consumption isn’t appropriate.

In the first instance, we encounter the meat or carcass on sale as food. So we are buying food. That’s all.

In the second case, the animal is still alive when you commissioned its killing. That is a direct involvement even though you don’t hold the knife.

The teaching is less about a universal dietary mandate and more about mindfulness, knowledge, and participation.

The First Precept and Personal Choice

The first precept requires practitioners to abstain from taking life. It asks us to refrain from killing—it does not demand that we police the world’s food supply or shut down every slaughterhouse.

Within this framework:

• One Buddhist may choose strict vegetarianism out of compassion, deciding they do not want to contribute to animal suffering.
• Another Buddhist may follow the early-text guideline of accepting food without direct participation in killing.

Both individuals can take the first precept seriously. You do not have to eat meat to be a Buddhist, nor are all meat-eaters accumulating the same heavy karma as Cunda the butcher.

What is Happening in the Mind?

The deeper question behind the teachings isn’t just “What is on my plate?” but “What is happening in my mind?”

May all be well and happy.