|
Return to Why Animals Matter: A
Religious/Philosophical Perspective
Why Animals Matter: Buddhist Quotations
For ease of reading all quotations appear in a
Purple Font
Please note: External links will open into a new window.
Page two
Why
animals matter in the Buddhist tradition
To
answer this question we need to examine what Buddhists believe
concerning non human animals.
According to Buddhist belief there is no fundamental
difference between a human and a nonhuman animal,
therefore if humans are important than so are other
animals.
Buddhism teaches universal compassion, compassion
towards all beings without species discrimination; Buddhist teachings
therefore advocate
compassion to non human animals. There are of course
those who interpret Buddhist teachings to imply that
animals may be killed as food, however the vast majority
would strongly disagree. Although there
is no specific admonition to be vegetarian in so many
words it is
blatantly obvious from the reading of Buddhist scripture
that Buddha forbade not only the eating of meat but both
the direct and indirect causing of harm to any living
being. He even stated in the eightfold path that
adherents should refrain from carrying out a livelihood
which causes harm to both people and other animals.
A
basic principle of Buddhism, the first of the five precepts
mentioned earlier, is that of non-harm:
I undertake the precept to abstain from killing
living beings. Although remaining essentially the
same this precept varies in some translations with an added
commitment such as
I undertake the precept to protect life and refrain from
killing. Here the implication is that simply not
taking life is not quite sufficient and one should also
protect life.
Any action which results in the taking of life from any
sentient being directly or indirectly contradicts this
basic precept. This is why many Buddhists endeavour to
to avoid killing any being by, for instance, adopting a
vegetarian or vegan diet. There is an ancient poem,
reputed to be the only text ever written by the Buddha
himself, which states:
"Let creatures all, all things that live, all beings
of whatever kind, see nothing that will bode them ill.
May naught of evil come to them."
The precepts are not commandments as
such, in Buddhism there is no deity to issue them. They
are voluntary commitments centring upon not harming
oneself or others, including as the first precept
clearly states all living beings not just humans. All
sentient beings come under the umbrella of the first precept. Sentient beings of course includes
insects and invertebrates not just creatures considered
by us as so called "higher animals", such as mammals and
birds for example.
In
the very beginning of the history of Buddhism, as you
may have read earlier in the history section, concern
for animals is evident, beginning with Buddha himself
who early in his quest saved sheep from sacrificial
slaughter. In ancient times it was common for
people to placate their respective Gods by performing a
sacrifice. Buddha was aware that such a practice was not
only inappropriate but also cruel. As a young boy
under his father's care he tried to protect animals from
suffering, in fact seeing a man ploughing a field with
an oxen he observed not only the suffering of the man
and the ox as a consequence of the arduous labour but
also the suffering of all the tiny creatures
accidentally killed, such as mice and insects. Not only
did Siddhartha wish to save animals such as the sheep
from suffering the terror, pain and death of sacrifice
but in addition he wanted to save the people who carried
out the sacrifices because they were creating a cause
for their own suffering as you will read later on.
Buddha taught that it was wrong to gain for yourself
happiness at the expense of another being. The moral of
this being that we cannot harm another living being in
order to bring about our own happiness. Although for the
most part animal sacrifice no longer takes place - sadly there are still notable exceptions
(Gadahimi
festival) - the
principle is the same today: to kill an animal for his
meat, to use him for experimentation or entertainment
and so on to bring about our own happiness cannot be
condoned in Buddhist practice. When he put a stop to
the sacrifice of the sheep, those gathered who heard the
teaching of Buddha recognised the truth of his saying
and stopped this practice. This was a big step for the
Buddha in his
quest to lessen the suffering of all creatures human and non
human animals. Moreover as you will read further down
wrongful actions accrue negative karma therefore the
people who sacrificed animals were not only harming the
animals in a most brutal and violent manner but by so
doing they were inflicting harm upon themselves
There
are many stories in the Buddhist tradition showing clearly the Buddhist
concept of non harm to all beings, here is one such
account.
King Ashoka,
268-223 BC, popularly known as Ashoka the Great, a monarch of India become Buddhist after
witnessing first hand the huge number of casualties
caused by one of his military campaigns. At this time be
was sincerely grieved and as a result he converted to
Buddhism, after which this once ruthless, cruel and
bloody leader became transformed into a kind and gentle
person. He bought about a number of changes and
established some of the first animal rights laws. He
expresses in his edits a concern about the number of
animals killed to provide him with a meal and his
intentions to end such killing. He therefore stopped
the royal hunting parties and ended the killing of
animals for the royal kitchen and abstained from eating
meat. He outlawed the sacrifice of animals and made it
illegal to kill many species such as parrots, ducks,
geese, bats, turtles, squirrels, monkeys and rhinos.
Non human animals were
included with humans as beneficiaries of his programs
for obtaining medicinal plants, planting trees and
digging wells. In his fifth pillar edit Ashoka
decreed protection for young animals and mothers still
feeding their young from slaughter, prohibits forests from
being burned to protect the creatures living in them
along with the banning of a number of hunting practices
harmful to animals.
He decreed that certain days
were "non-killing days," and on these days fish could
not be caught, nor any
other animals killed.
He established wells and watering holes, places of rest
and hospitals for humans and animals alike.
In
Addition Ashoka taught his people to have
compassion for animals and to refrain from harming or
killing them. In
one of his famous pillar edits he declares
"I have
enforced the law against killing certain animals. The greatest
progress of
Righteousness among men
comes from the
exhortation in favour of
non-injury to life and
abstention from killing
living beings."
Furthermore he sent missionaries to other Kingdoms to
spread the Buddhist message of compassion and nonviolence to all beings. Buddhism was spread over the
Indian sub continent because of the patronage of King Ashoka. By taking these actions and making
these decrees Ashoka was carrying out the advice to the
Cakravartin king given in the Cakkavattisīhanāda-sutta,
that a good king should extend his protection not merely
to different classes of people equally, but also to
beasts and birds.
The fact that Buddhists consider that all animals are
sentient, and that they just like us they are capable of
suffering is of great importance concerning animal
rights issues. In fact animals according to Buddhist belief
inhabit a realm where suffering is worse for them than
it is for us.
Animals in Buddhist cosmological*2)
terms are said to
inhabit a world or realm separated from human
animals not by space but by mind. This realm is called Tiryagyoni
in
Sanskrit, Tiracchānayoni in Pāli,
the animal realm. In Buddhism there are six realms in the cycle
of rebirth into which sentient beings may be incarnated
or born,
the remaining five are: Deva (the realm of the gods),
Asura (the realm of the demi gods), Manusa (the human
realm) preta (hungry Ghost realm) Naraka( an hell
realm). Some forms of Buddhism believe these realms to
be literal states of existence, while other types of
Buddhism such as Mahāyāna Buddhism teach that these
states are metaphorical, symbolic of states of mind.*3)
Rebirth in the animal realm (animal kingdom) is considered an unhappy and
undesirable incarnation because in the animal
realm there is more suffering than in the human realm. In Buddhist text
there
is considerable mention of the extent of suffering in
the animal realm even when humans do not play a role in
such suffering, for example animals are pry to other
animals, attacked and eaten, and furthermore they live out
their lives in constant fear and anticipation of this possible outcome.
Many animals in the wild, and even those who are domesticated,
do not loose this fear and spend their lives in a state of
constant alert jumping at every sound, any disturbance
any change in their environment. Animals have no
security of habitation in their lives and must endure
extremes of weather. Domesticated animals in many
instances may suffer worse at the hands of humans beings
as they are slaughtered for meat or for their skins, fur or wool; used
for painful experimentation or for entertainment; enslaved, forced
to work often mistreated and abused; or confined in zoos or
worse. Buddhists believe that animals also endure all
this in ignorance neither knowing nor understanding what
is happening to them with any real clarity and are not able
to take much action against their circumstances, acting
mainly on instinct. Buddhists believe that rebirth in
the animal realm means that there is no means to attain
enlightenment available during the lifetime spent in
this realm; animals have no way of obtaining the
knowledge and taking the steps towards enlightenment.
Animals however possess Buddha
nature, all beings possess Buddha nature, the potential
for Buddhahood. Buddha Nature or Buddha Principle is
thought of as an internally hidden potential within the
depth of the mind present in all sentient beings for
awakening or enlightenment and becoming a Buddha. Put
another way Buddhists believe that all life
forms are evolving towards a higher consciousness or
state of being
Buddhists believe that all beings are interconnected,
all part of one single family. This results from the
Buddhist doctrine of rebirth which believes that non
human animals may be reborn as humans and vice versa. It
is believed that if you were able to retrace your
previous incarnations you would realise that every
creature was related to you in some way. Beings
currently living in the animal realm, may have been your
mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, children spouses or
your friends. An animal that you care for or conversely
mistreat may well have been a departed relative either
fairly recently or at some time during the infinite
number of lives you have lived. Put simply: every
creature who has lived,
is, was or will be related to you in this or a former
incarnation. Therefore, for this reason it is important
to make a commitment to abide by the first precept and
not to harm, kill or eat the flesh of any sentient being
as to do so would be tantamount to harming, killing and
eating your own child or mother or sibling or any other
relation or indeed any human being.
"As practitioners of this precious Dharma, we need to
eradicate all non-virtuous deeds in general,
particularly the consumption of meat, as it has the
heaviest negative karma. This is because all the livings
beings that we eat are actually our own parents who have
been very kind to us in many lifetimes. Eating meat is a
non-virtuous act with such heavy misgivings that the
Buddha Himself also mentioned that consuming the meat of
other sentient beings who have been our parents one
lifetime or another is the gravest and most heinous deed
to commit."
Drubwang Konchok Norbu Rinpoche
Drubwang Konchok Norbu Rinpoche is a great and
accomplished Buddhist practitioner in the Tibetan
tradition, born in Drikung, Tibet in 1921.
You will be able to read more about Drubwang Konchok
Norbu Rinpoche's teachings later.
Monks are forbidden
from intentionally killing any animal, including the so
called lowliest of creatures such as insects, and they may not drink
water which may contain living creatures such as for
example insect larvae.
From the Buddhist perspective considering the
above Buddhists should treat animals more humanely with
compassion and abstain from eating meat or other
exploitation.
Sadly such considerations are not always part of the
Buddhist practice .
What surely
is clear from reading the above, for the Buddhist
adherent, both lay and monastic, there can be no moral distinction between
nonhuman animals and humans; rules for nonhuman
animals must be the same as those for human beings.
Lets look more closely at some of the points above and
other examples from Buddhist teachings and apply them to specific circumstances in daily life.
To begin look at the code of Buddhist ethics the Eight
Fold Path which includes Right Livelihood.
What does right livelihood mean in real terms?
Right Livelihood means avoiding a job that involves violence
to any being, for instance a butcher or a soldier, a
scientist experimenting on animals, a person in a
factory making cosmetics which have been tested upon
animals, and which contain animal derivatives, a chief
preparing the remains of animals for others to eat, and
instead to be employed in tasks that help people or
animals.
Buddha taught that we should not harm other beings in our
quest for happiness:
One who, while himself seeking happiness, oppresses with
violence other beings who also desire happiness, will
not attain happiness hereafter. One who, while
himself seeking happiness, does not oppress with
violence other beings who also desire happiness, will
find happiness hereafter.
Dhammapada,
It is clear here according to Buddhist teaching, that it is
wrong for any person to carry out any practice or action
at the expense of other sentient beings, while seeking
happiness for himself.
What does it mean in everyday terms not to seek
happiness by harming others, either man or animal?
Eating the dead flesh of slaughtered
animals is of course the most obvious, many people will
not abstain from eating meat simply because they would
miss their enjoyment. But also consider the use of
cosmetics used as an enhancement which are tested on animals
and often contain animal derivatives. Also
consider less obvious enhancements at the expense of
less well thought of living beings such as insects, creatures who people do not
deem as worthy of consideration in the same way as a cat or a dog for instance.
For example cochineal, a food colouring derived from an
insect of the same name, is added to food for aesthetic appeal,
it is used to add a pink or red colour to food such as cakes and sweets,
it is derived from the crushed remains of these insects. Honey
a food taken mostly for pleasure is a luxury produced at
the expense of bees, their industrious
work stolen to titillate our taste buds. Colourful
tropical fish in tanks bring aesthetic pleasure but at
the expense of the fish so confined, there are many
similar examples. A bird in a cage never able to spread
his wings, animals trapped in zoos. If a Buddhist adherent is to truly
take his religious
commitments seriously ideally he should abstain from any
exploitation of any animal.
If in Buddhism human and animal life is
of equal importance and if all sentient
beings are progressing towards the attainment of
enlightenment, we should therefore as fellow travellers on the
path neither harm
nonhuman animals or impeded in their progress.
With these concepts in mind ideally followers
of Buddhism should treat all creatures without
discrimination regardless of species or intellect.
Therefore considering the above why do some Buddhists eat
meat, eggs and drink milk and even use animal derived products
such as shoes
from leather, clothing from silk, candles made from
animal derivatives such as tallow and stearic acid and incense which
may contain
animal derivatives (Unless it is stated on the packaging
it is likely that some makes of incense and candles
contain animal derivatives,) all of which cause
harm to other sentient beings? Buddhists need to be
mindful particularly of these less obvious things. How
can we achieve enlightenment or have a spiritual
experience if we light candles and use incense which
contains ingredients derived from the death and
suffering of sentient beings?
Eating meat by Buddhists is by no means a new phenomenon, here is what Great
Master Lianchi Zhuhung 1535-1615, the Eighth Pureland
*4)
Patriarch, says concerning the
reasons people eat meat, why they should not and the
consequences of doing so.
"People who eat meat often make the excuse that it is
natural to do so, that people were meant to eat meat.
They promote this idea, and then freely indulge in
taking the lives of their fellow creatures, thereby
creating extensive hatred and enmity-karma.
Over time, as their killing and consuming becomes a
habit, meat eaters no longer feel their killing is
unusual. They do their evil deeds unknowingly, unaware
of the consequences of slaughter and the resentment it
evokes.
As somebody in the past said, "It is a cause for tears
and sobbing, for wails and cries, for deep regrets, and
mournful cries."
To begin with, all creatures with awareness share
just one identical body. When we humans eat the flesh of
our fellow creatures, we are doing a bizarre and
abnormal act. Yet we don't feel it is strange, because
the whole family takes part, and for generation after
generation, killing and eating meat becomes a custom.
Our neighbors in the local villages copy one another,
and repetition makes the practice seem normal. Over time
we lose sensitivity to the wrongness of killing.
We think instead, that it is right to kill animals for
the good flavor their bodies provide. Our desire for
taste dominates our sensibilities, and we no longer feel
that eating dead flesh is strange or grossly savage.
Consider, if you will, our response if someone were to
kill and eat the body of a human! Surely everyone would
reckon it a monstrous act, frightening, and taboo. We
would be anxious to execute the culprit as a murderous
criminal. Why? Only because eating human meat is very
much not a part of our conventional habits.
But eating the flesh of animals' bodies has become a
habit the world over, so that we no longer feel that
killing these creatures is wrong. In fact, "it is a
cause for tears and sobbing, for wails and cries, for
deep regrets, and mournful cries."
In his essay Great Master Lianchi Zhuhung lists seven
reasons
*5)
why
it is wrong to kill finishing with :It is wrong to kill
for one's occupation.
It is wrong to kill to make a living. For the sake of
clothing and food, and in order to sustain their
livelihood, some people go hunting or fishing, or
slaughter cows, sheep, pigs, dogs, and the like.
When intelligent people read this essay they will
find it credible, and hard to refute. If they can
resolve to completely put an end to all meat-eating,
there could be no greater goodness.
Sadly of course some Buddhists, like any other religious
practitioner, may not understand or comply with the
implications of Buddhist and indeed similar teachings with regard to all beings, nonetheless the teaching
remain as an ideal towards which adherents should
strive. Most certainly animal rights should be in the
forefront of a Buddhists interaction with his fellow
creatures.
Next:
Page Three Reasons why
Buddhists should be vegetarian or preferably vegan
2)
Buddhist cosmology is the
description of the shape and evolution of the universe
according to the canonical Buddhist scriptures and
commentaries.
Buddhist cosmology - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
3)
The Six Realms -- Buddhist Six Realms of Existence and
Samsara
4)
Pureland Buddhism
"Pure Land Buddhism as a school
of Buddhist thinking began in India around the 2nd
century BCE."
BBC - Religion & Ethics - Pure Land Buddhism: Pure Land
Buddhism
5)
On Stopping Killing! An Essay By Great Master Lianchi
Zhuhung 1535-1615
Provisional Translation By Bhikshu Heng Sure In
Collaboration with
The Buddhist Text Translation Society, June, 1991
On Stopping Killing
Important please note:
I
am not an animal expert of any kind just your average
person who loves animals, all animals, and feels deeply
about the plight of many of our fellow creatures.
Neither am I a writer, or any other expert. Therefore
please keep in mind that the information included in
this website has been researched to the best of my
ability and any misinformation is quite by accident but
of course possible.
Copyright, accreditations and
other matters, please read
|
