Fish Liberation

[Kim Hyun Jae]

When a person choose to do an animal liberation, they would be aware of the motive behind the act of liberating animals to benefit them and the fish or animals to prolong long life and good wishes with prayers recited on the animals also wishing them well to survive well.

Life in samsara is about suffering including beings in all the six realms. Whether we encourage the suppliers to breed the animals for liberation or not, it is their livelihood for business. Of course, we should exercise care in making preparation to do animal liberation to ensure we really did our best to liberate them to freedom, although a while.

The fate of each and every animal has a karma. When the karma runs out on any of these beings, their time will end whether the fish is in a pond, sea or in cages. The animal liberator may create their own merits by liberating and those who waits at the banks of the river to catch the fish will eventually receive their own karma from their act.


 

[angelica]

When we do animal liberation, there are many things we need to take into consideration:-

1. When choosing the type of animal be release, it should be the one that if not buy and release, it will be killed, cooked and served. I personally think that we should buy bird for release as most of the birds are specially catch for people to release. If we don't buy and the demand is low, then people will not catch it.

2. The place we release the animal. We should release the animal into a place/environment that after release, the animal will not live in danger of being harm and will be able to find food and continue to live on freely.

3. To chant mantra before releasing the animal to ensure that the animal will have a good rebirth in the next life and continue to practice dharma till enlighthement.

4. We must set the correct motivation for our good deeds, so that it benefits ourself and also others.

We can never help and release all the animal into freedom. With compassion in mind, we can only create awareness and promote vegetarian. No demand, no supply.

[rossoneri]

I would say we can never give up of doing good just because there are people who is making this as their way of making some quick bucks an easy way. But if your motivation is doing good by liberating these fishes or any animals, maybe we can find a more suitable places by doing so. Yes, it could be the karma which brought these fishes and people who were there together again. Karma is never ending until one achieve Buddhahood. So, we mustn't give up from doing the right thing.

[Midakpa]

Animal liberation is a meritorious act and is the direct antidote to killing which is the heaviest of the ten non-virtues. By saving lives, we are actually applying the virtue of non-killing and non-harming. The people who liberate the carps will gain merits by saving the lives of those fishes. If the fishes are later caught and eaten by the fishermen, it is the result of their negative karma which they had accumulated in the past. However, it is highly possible that some of the fishes may escape being caught and will live out their lives in the river. So it is entirely due to one's karma. The fishermen who catch the fish, either for sale or for their food are creating negative karma and will eventually experience the results of their actions in future lives unless they realise their wrongdoing and purify their karma. This is the nature of samsara. There is endless suffering due to our ignorance and desire.

[pgdharma]

Animal liberation is a practice to save lives from impending deaths with prayers and pure motivation. This practice benefits those who do the liberating and generate compassion and it can be helpful in removing obstacles such as serious illness. However, it is important to ensure that the animals have the freedom and possible care after they are saved from death. Releasing animals where they will immediately be under threat is not ideal at all thus it is important that animal liberation practice is handled with better planning and the suitability of liberating the animals in the right place

[MoMo]

I agreed with majority who left their comments and suggested that liberation of life and other virtuous deeds should be done with proper planning and skillful means. The ultimate solution was to create the mass awareness that why animal should be treated equally as us human based on: we all share the commonness of wanting some sort of happiness and avoid suffering at all cost.
 In one hand we like to promote activities involving liberating of life to the public and let them know such noble act had still being upheld by some. On the other hand, we are worried that animals will be easily recaptured and be consumed . If one has been living in China for long enough will noticed that China is such a densely populated country where it is very difficult to find an outback where fishes could be released without risk of recaptured.
If these fishes were destine to be killed due to their karma and circumstances arises to allow their karma to be ripen, even a living Buddha could not do much to help them to avoid the onslaught.
As in the story that Shakya clan of Kapilavastu Kingdom which the Buddha belongs to, whom had created the negative karma of cheating the Kosalans by marrying one of their lowly caste slave girl as princess of Kapilavastu to King Prasenajit and gave birth to Prince Virudhaka. When Prince Virudhaka later ascend to the throne, he waged war against the Shakya clan even Maudalyayana , the Tahagata’s disciple foremost in performing miracles trying to save 500 of the Shakyas by hiding them in his begging bowl was all found to be turned into bloody slime!

[pinecone]

As a Buddhist, whatever  are our motivations or actions , we are refrained from causing to harm or killing  others. Buddhist ethics is concerned with the principles and practices that help one to act in ways that help rather than harm. In human community , there is always an opponent and opposition party . Therefore in this situation, there is one group of people performing virtuous deed in releasing the fishes to the sea whereby , another group will collectively recapture the fishes back for self-gain purposes. Where is the most appropriate place to liberate the fishes ? To avoid all this unpleasant scenario to reoccur, stop consuming meat and go for green.

[TARA]

This is another article on Fish Liberation in Shanghai. The majority of the Chinese have no inkling to what fish liberation is as the teaching of Dharma was almost destroyed completely during the cultural revolution.  However, the tide is turning as we have seen how Buddhism is once again reintroduced to the populous of China although it is a gradual affair.


Along Shanghai's River, Buddhist Tradition Meets Greedy Fishermen

Frank Langfitt



Hundreds of Buddhists gather along the banks of Shanghai's Huangpu River to sing and release fish and mollusks in an ancient Chinese ritual. Fishermen wait downstream and scoop them up almost immediately.

China today is a whirlwind of competing trends: authoritarianism versus personal freedom; pollution versus environmentalism, and self-interest versus spirituality.

That last conflict plays out every other Sunday morning in Shanghai when hundreds of Buddhists pack the banks of the city's Huangpu River. Monks in saffron-colored robes lead believers in song in the shadow of some of the world's tallest skyscrapers.

Then they pour thousands of fish and mollusks into the muddy waters that empty a dozen miles downstream into the mighty Yangtze River. Shen Tianlong, a retired chef, wants to make sure every creature is freed, so he climbs over the railing onto a ledge and gently brushes the remaining snails into the water.

Buddhists pour fish into the river in Shanghai. Environmentalists say the ritual, while well-intentioned, can introduce invasive species. Many of the fish are quickly swooped up in nets by fishermen who position themselves nearby.i
Buddhists pour fish into the river in Shanghai. Environmentalists say the ritual, while well-intentioned, can introduce invasive species. Many of the fish are quickly swooped up in nets by fishermen who position themselves nearby.
Julia Langfitt for NPR
"We are freeing captive animals," says Shen. "Why do we free them? They are just like us. We are all living creatures."

Releasing animals is an ancient tradition among Chinese Buddhists, who believe saving an animal that is about to die is an act of compassion.

"Buddhism seeks to deliver all living creatures from torment and emphasizes benevolence," says fellow Buddhist Xu Gaosheng, a retired ad agency worker, who wears a pink polo shirt. "All living creatures should be treated well."

Environmentalists have criticized animal release as disruptive to habitats. They say, while well-intentioned, the practice can introduce invasive species.

The ritual here also draws opportunists, such as the beggar who shows up to work the crowd while tapping a metal cup. Migrant workers prey on the Buddhists' conscience by hawking turtles — they carry them by their tails — at exorbitant prices.

Finally, just 20 yards downstream, two-dozen men lie in wait with nets for what they see as a free meal.

One named Li dips his 15-foot pole into the water and scoops up fish moments after the Buddhists have dropped them into the river. Sometimes, he catches two or three in one pass and then dumps them into the shrubs along the riverbank. So far this morning, he has hauled in more than 20.

I ask if he thinks scooping up all these fish is fair.

"What's fair? What isn't fair?" Li responds in a dismissive tone that suggests the question is naive. "There are people releasing fish and people catching them. Nothing is fair in today's society. The more skilled swindlers just cheat the weaker ones."

Wang Jisi, a retired accountant and Buddhist who is helping release the fish, disagrees. She chases Li down and scolds him. She says he may catch fish today, but karmic payback is coming.

"If they catch fish and it makes them happy, then I guess I'm happy for them," she says. "But when something bad happens to their families and they wonder why? It's because he did something bad."

In these fishermen, Wang says, she sees a greed that pervades society here and elsewhere around the world.

"I don't think I hate them," she says. "I pity them. They aren't enlightened. They don't understand. They don't understand karma!"

Nor are they likely to anytime soon. Li shrugs off his scolding and returns to the railing, where he reaches over with his net and tries to add to his catch.



Buddhists pour fish into the river in Shanghai. Environmentalists say the ritual, while well-intentioned, can introduce invasive species. Many of the fish are quickly swooped up in nets by fishermen who position themselves nearby.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2015/01/02/373286111/along-shanghais-river-buddhist-tradition-meets-greedy-fishermen?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=world