Buddhist attitude to animal life

[RedLantern]

Animals are said to be conscious only of the present.They live with no concern for the past or future.In some respect s,animals are superior to men.Dogs have keener sense of hearing;insects have keener sense of smell;
hawks are speedier; eagle can see a greater distance.Undoubtedly men are wiser;but men have co much to learn from the ants and bees.
Buddhism cannot accept that animals were created by someone for men;if animals were created for men then it could follow that men were also created for animals since there are some animals which eat human flesh.
Buddhist are encourage to love all living beings and not to restrict their love to only to human beings.They should practice loving-kindness toward every living being.We should not misuse our intelligence and strength
to destroy animals even though they may be a nuisance to us.
Man cruelty towards animals is another expression of his uncontrolled greed.Since every creature contributes something for the maintenance of the earth.and atmosphere.,destroying them is not the solution to overcome our disturbances.We should take other measures to maintain the balance of nature.

[dondrup]

Men and animals are no different in the sense that both are sentient beings of samsara.  There are men whose behaviour are like the animals!  Similarly animals display qualities found in humans e.g. loyalty, devotion, courage, etc.  Animals and humans both have the potential to become buddhas!  What makes humans better off than the animals is that humans have the opportunity to transform their minds and not the animals.  Animals’ minds are totally clouded by ignorance.  Animals cannot learn and practise Dharma but humans can!  Just as humans strive to be free from samsara, humans should have compassion for the animals and help free them from samsara too.

[rossoneri]

It so sad that some of us thinks that the existence of the animals are solely for human race to consume. Yes, we might have the ability and intelligence to think and therefore we have created various gadgets and equipments as the replacement for what we are not capable of doing naturally. We need the animals as much they need us for the balance of the nature. So please be kind to all animals, as they have feelings as well. Do not misuse the ability we have to help and be compassionate.

[biggyboy]

In Karaniya metta sutra, Buddha has preached the following to extend our compassion to all living beings both born and unborn...

“Whatever breathing creatures here may be,
No matter whether they are frail or firm,
Or middle-sized, or be they short or small,
Or whether they are dwelling far or near,
Existing or yet seeking exist,
May beings all be of a blissful heart. "


It is important that we should look upon the existence of eco balance of human and animal. Every component of the environment is equally important to maintain the eco balance. Hence, Buddhism promotes co-existence of all living being without any discrimination. There is no life that is inferior. All lives enjoy the same importance in the Universe and all play their fixed roles. They are to function together and no link in the chain is to be lost. If some link is lost, the whole ecological balance would be disturbed. All kinds of life—insects, birds, and animals—contribute toward the maintenance of ecological balance, but what is humanity’s contribution toward this? Humans are intelligent animals, therefore our contribution should be the biggest. But it is not. We are nullifying the benefits of the contributions made by other species of life. We are disturbing the balance because of our greed for material enjoyment and our craze for power.

[Tenzin K]

Few religions or spiritual movements in history have had much to say about the spiritual destiny of the non-human creatures of the world. It has always seemed strange to me that these systems of theology have no place in them for those kingdoms of life that so vastly outnumber man. I suppose there are countless arguments as to why animals are not included in these philosophies, but they would have little meaning for a Buddhist.

     Buddhism considers all of life to be evolving toward higher consciousness. To the Buddhist, any practice by which man sustains himself at the expense of other sentient beings is considered wrong. Buddhism considers non-human life to be Divine just as is human life. Animals are seen to be an evolving kingdom of living creatures destined in time to attain perfect enlightenment. All of life is seen to be one. According to this conviction, to harm any living thing is to do injury to the One Eternal and Divine Life. Since animals are considered to be traveling towards enlightenment just as man is, neither are they to be harmed, discouraged or hampered in their progress.

     To accept the Buddhist point of view is to have a new spirit of compassion for any form of life that is weak, helpless or hurt. The Buddhist is fully aware that life itself cannot be destroyed, but to him this does not justify destroying or harming the forms through which life is presently expressing. It is believed that we have no right to injure for any reason.

     Buddhists were the first to build hospitals for the care of sick and injured animals. Their purpose is to ease pain and suffering be it man's or beast's, for the same life is seen to dwell in each. Even today, many animals can be seen living in and around old temples. Tourists sometimes object to the presence of the animals, thinking they are unbecoming the spiritual surroundings. The old priests however, welcome and enjoy the company of these little creatures who are drawn to the temples for reasons not unlike their own.

     There is a park in Japan called the Deer Park of Nara. It was set aside centuries ago as a sanctuary to the experience of the brotherhood of all living creatures. In this park, deer walk side by side with people in true companionship. The deer's natural qualities of graciousness, gentleness and dignity make them perfect messengers of the sacredness of life. It was in a deer park that Buddha preached his first sermon. In Buddhism, there is a mandara (sacred drawing) which depicts a deer standing on a white cloud with the Tree of Life above its head. Because the deer is considered the messenger of universal love, meditating upon this mandara is said to open one's consciousness to the mystery of infinite peace.

     In a pond near the Deer Park, Japanese Buddhists purchase and release small living aquatic creatures in an ancient ceremony called "Hojo-e." The ceremony of liberating animals is an expression of atonement and piety. Small children come to the edge of the pond carrying a bowl containing a tiny goldfish. Parents and Grandparents stand by giving their blessings and encouragement as the children gently release the fish into the pond. In a flash of golden light the fish vanish. The children's faces are full of wonder, for they have given the gift of freedom as the fish swim among their companions in the natural wonder of the pond.

     In the Japanese culture, association with animals is seen to be a very important experience for children because it teaches them the joy of protecting innocence. Just imagine what would happen if all the children of the world found happiness in graciously protecting life, preserving freedom, and delighting in the happiness of others. Children who are raised with such a loving and protective attitude towards animals are seldom cruel to them as adults, and thoughtfulness and kindness spill over into their interaction with all of life.

     Animals are works of art more wondrous than anything man is capable of creating. How can we be gentle in the way we handle our material possessions and careless with the precious life of an animal? Animals long to have faith and trust in us, and often do have faith loyalty that far surpass anything in the human realm. Many a mistreated dog stands by his master for better or worse, and frightened or sick wild animals will often seek out the nearest human for help.

     In the West, the belief that animals are evolving towards enlightenment and seek the comforts of spirituality and union with God would be considered an extreme perspective at best. It is interesting to note, however, that the birds and little creatures of the forest gathered at the feet of St. Francis of Assisi as he spoke to them of their Creator. His great mystic heart reached out to his "little brothers and sisters" as he called them, while on the other side of the world Buddhists selected the same terms to describe animals.

[brian]

As we all know, there 6 realms in samsara and one of it is animal realm which is catergorized under the 3 lower realms. We all know that how important animals can be in our human life and I am not just talking about dogs, horses, cows and elephants etc (which they help in humans to accomplish their work) but also to our earth's ecosystem. In short, animals and humans compliment each other in many ways. We humans who have the mind to perceive and pursue in our spiritual pratice whereby animals do not have the capacity to think due to their nature of suffering: ignorance. Real Buddhsits would not harm or kill another being for money or food. One have no right to mistreat another being on this planet for every being deserve their right to live.

[buddhalovely]

Although Buddhism is an animal-friendly religion, some aspects of the tradition are surprisingly negative about animals.Not all Buddhists are vegetarian and the Buddha does not seem to have issued an overall prohibition on meat-eating. The Mahayana tradition was (and is) more strictly vegetarian than other Buddhist traditions.

The early Buddhist monastic code banned monks from eating meat if the animal had been killed specifically to feed them, but otherwise instructed them to eat anything they were given.

Buddhism requires us to treat animals kindly:

- Buddhists try to do no harm (or as little harm as possible) to animals
- Buddhists try to show loving-kindness to all beings, including animals
- The doctrine of right livelihood teaches Buddhists to avoid any work connected with the killing of animals
- The doctrine of karma teaches that any wrong behaviour will have to be paid for in a future life - so cruel acts to animals should be avoided
- Buddhists treat the lives of human and non-human animals with equal respect

 Buddhists see human and non-human animals as closely related:

- both have Buddha-nature
- both have the possibility of becoming perfectly enlightened
a soul may be reborn either in a human body or in the body of a non-human animal

[ratanasutra]

It sad to say that many of Buddhist whom i knew view animal life as a beings who born to become food for human, they do not feel anything wrong with eating meat or killing animals.

They feel nothing with the pain which animals have from the hunting or killing. I guess they did not learn and study enough to know that animals are beings same like us and they have feeling same with us too and the most important thing, we have no right to hurt or kill them.

With the advance of social media now a day, we are expose more with how some human cruel to animals and it won't be accept in social anymore. I hope that with the power of social media, there will be lessen of the suffering in animals which created by human.

[Tammy]

I find that general public have this misconception about reincarnation. They were misled from young that reincarnation means we will be reborn in human form over and over again. The concept of six realms of reincarnation does not sink in well.

Hence man has the superiority complex that we are higher than animal and killing them for food is fine. This is one of the main reasons why people do not feel remorse eating meat.

[hope rainbow]

[...]
Buddhism cannot accept that animals were created by someone for men;if animals were created for men then it could follow that men were also created for animals since there are some animals which eat human flesh.[...]

I discussed this topic with jewish friends of mine.
Their view is that some animals were created by God to sustain human life.

BUT! BUT! It's not as simple as that...

For, in their view, for humans to consume the flesh of animals and thus kill them in order to enjoy, party and engage in hedonistic ways of life is an outrage to God's creation, it is blasphemy clear and simple!

The eating of the flesh, for Jewish, comes with a responsibility to do GOOD. God did create animals for human consumption so that humans may get about doing GOOD things, and move forward to the equivalent to enlightenment in Jewish words, and thus have a positive effect onto the world.

MORE!
They also say the Judaism recognizes re-incarnation, and that humans may have been animals in the past, maybe even have helped humans to be fed by the giving of their bodies as chickens for instance. This may have helped them, as chicken, to gain a human rebirth to, in turn, engage into spiritual activities.
As humans, they make take several rebirth to perfection in the spiritual practice and gain access to a heavenly world.

Sounds familiar?

So, I ask, is there a difference between this Jewish consumption of animal flesh and the secular consumption of flesh in a totally hedonistic way? Is there a different karma?
Can we help a chicken to get better rebirth if we eat the chicken to get energy and do virtuous actions?
And then, would it be better that high lamas then eat flesh to help the animals that dies for this flesh to be made available to human consumption?

[Q]

Unlike other religions for example Christianity, Buddhists recognizes the unity of all living beings, that all beings have the same Buddha nature and potential. Although being in the human realm is considered a privilege and great blessing, we should not forget that under certain circumstances influenced by karma, our lives can easily end and be reborn as an animal... or worst, for our mind to degenerate to severely that all we do in life is behave like animals... barbaric.

The Buddhist precepts of not bringing harm or violence applies equally to all sentient beings. Therefore, bringing harm to animals be it directly or indirectly contradicts the very basic Buddhist precepts. All beings are equal, humans are not superior to animals. That is a fact that we have to remember, always.

So why should we bother not killing or harming animals besides that it is one of the most basic precepts in Buddha's teachings? Because all beings have lives, and they cherish it and not wish to die. Since we too wish to live, we should not kill or harm other beings. Also, the karma for killing is known as the root cause of suffering and the cause of sickness and war. Therefore, we should work unceasingly to liberate beings from suffering, not cause it... and because all beings are equal, so does our compassion must be spread equally to all sentient beings.

[DSFriend]

[...]
Buddhism cannot accept that animals were created by someone for men;if animals were created for men then it could follow that men were also created for animals since there are some animals which eat human flesh.[...]

I discussed this topic with jewish friends of mine.
Their view is that some animals were created by God to sustain human life.

what is contradictory about what is being preached today is that in the bible, God also told the early dwellers Adam and Eve to take care of the Garden (which has plants and animals) and even name the animals  There were no blood shed of any kind. I suppose the teachings got twisted along the way..!

So, I ask, is there a difference between this Jewish consumption of animal flesh and the secular consumption of flesh in a totally hedonistic way? Is there a different karma?
Can we help a chicken to get better rebirth if we eat the chicken to get energy and do virtuous actions?
And then, would it be better that high lamas then eat flesh to help the animals that dies for this flesh to be made available to human consumption?

In Judaism, Christianity that's what believers pray before partaking their meals. They give thanks to the creator having for the food and they will partake of it for strength to serve as children of God, meaning to serve God and other. Sound to me like good motivation and cultivation of gratefulness.

The different schools of Buddhism practices differently :
For those on the path of personal liberation seeking for renunciation such as the Hinayana school of buddhism, they can eat anything.. but the key difference here is, eat anything that's GIVEN to them. Therefore, it's no longer about their choosing, but to let go of their personal preference to live a renounced life. In this scenario, is karma still involved when there is no personal preference involved?

In vajrayana, we believe there are Bodhisattvas and enlightened beings disguise as lamas, ordinary beings. Their actions are purely motivated by compassion, void of harm. Outwardly, they may be engaging in actions which appear to be negative in ordinary perception yet, in reality, it is purely to be of benefit.

I do believe there are such beings amongst us.

Do I follow their actions? Obviously not. Because I know how much attachments I have, therefore,.. void of compassion.