Ram Bahadur Bamjan made the appeal in connection with the Gadhimai festival, which is celebrated every five years in southern Nepal and attended by people from both Nepal and India. There are plans at this year's festival on Nov. 24 for some 200,000 buffaloes, pigs, goats, chicken and pigeons to be slaughtered.
Raju Shah, a member of the committee that runs Bamjan's affairs, said Thursday that the spiritual leader - who rarely meets visitors - held a meeting with organizers of the festival and made the request.
When they refused, Bamjan decided he would visit the area during the festival and appeal directly to the people to stop the sacrifices.
Bamjan's followers believe he has been meditating without food and water since he was first spotted in the jungles of southern Nepal in 2005. Believers say he spent months without moving, sitting with his eyes closed beneath a tree.
Buddhism, which has about 325 million followers, teaches that every soul is reincarnated after death in another bodily form.
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