That's why I think it's important for the intent of the law to be included with the law. Because what's important is the intent, not the letter, of the law. So, there are many speculations why meat is prohibited or avoided (cruelty, health, etc.), but what was the original reason why???

Anyways, I think red meat at least has clearly been shown to have negative health effects, particularly on your colon. Just ask any pathologist who's seen a couple. As for meat in general, it is an acid-producing food upon digestion, which is currently hypothesized to possibly leach calcium and minerals out of your bones from your bloodstream, amongst other things. Which might help explain America's relatively high rate of osteoporosis compared to other countries that actually have lower rates of calcium in their diets.

Anyways, on the other hand, it seems most of the hi-level Eastern masters tend to be vegetarian. I think perhaps once your energy system reaches a high state, you actually function better without meat. But, until then, for the ordinary individual, you might still need meat more.

And so I myself am moving in that direction as a personal experiment. I've sorta been tapering off meat for a bit now and actually haven't eaten any in the past 2 days now in fact! Not really from willpower, but just a natural progression where I don't feel the desire to eat meat. So, we'll see..

Incidentally, the Songshan Shaolin monks helped an ancient emperor in battle and were subsequently granted an exemption by him from the Buddhist meat/booze prohibition (regardless of the fact that an emperor in reality has no spiritual authority). This, and in fact fighting/killing to begin with, is actually a corruption of true Buddhism. But I don't know if this exemption still officially stands or not with the Shaolin Temple.