[Buddha-l] Re: on eating meat

[Richard Nance]

Michael Steele wrote:

>A few quotes from the Dalai Lama.  They make his position abundantly clear.
[snip]
"They [animals] are so simple, so stupid, ignorant, and defenseless, that men
really have no right to hunt and kill them for food."

Andrew Skilton responded:

> My reading of Buddhist literature is that it assumes a continuity of
> consciousness between species and is well illustrated by stories that allow
> agency and a number of 'human' characteristics to critters. (...and also seems
> to conflict with the characterisation offered by the DL above?)

Andrew is quite right about this (and I hope he'll allow me to use
this opportunity to thank him for his work; I've greatly benefited
from it). But the point made by the Dalai Lama is one that echoes a
ways of thinking about animals that has a long tradition in Buddhist
thought. Consider for example, the following excerpt from one of
Kamala"siila's Bhaavanaakrama-s (late 8th c.). Kamala'siila is here
detailing a technique of meditative cultivation in which the
practitioner is asked to concentrate on the suffering of beings in
various world realms:

"Now the compassion [of the bodhisattva] grows through an increasing
concern for
beings who suffer; and thus he should meditate upon these beings... we
ourselves can see how animals suffer many pains, maiming and
slaughtering each other in mutual rage; how some are bound and beaten,
their noses split for rings, their bodies castrated, tormented on all
sides; how they weary, their reluctant bodies exhausted in bearing
their hard and heavy loads..."
(Stephan Beyer, trans.)

More than a thousand years later, dPal sprul O rgyan 'jigs med chos
kyi dbang po's *Kun bzang bla ma'i zhal lung* echoes this and renders
it more vivid.

"The wild animals that share our human world, in particular, live in
constant fear. They cannot eat a single mouthful of food without being
on their guard. They have many mortal enemies, for all animals prey on
each other and there are always hunters, beasts of prey and other
threats to life. Hawks kill small birds, small birds kill insects, and
so on, continually amassing evil actions in an endless round of
killing and being killed.

Hunters are expert in all methods of torturing and killing these
animals. They threaten their lives with all sorts of vicious
devices--nets, snares, traps and guns. Some animals are killed for
their horns, fur, skins and other products of their body. Oysters are
killed for their pearls; elephants for their tusks and bones; tigers,
leopards, otters and foxes for their fur; musk-oxen for their musk;
wild asses and yaks for their flesh and blood. It is a terrible
affliction that the very body with which they are born is the reason
for their being killed.

As for those animals domesticated by man, they are so stupid that when
their executioner approaches, knife in hand, they can only stare
wide-eyed, not even thinking of escape. They are milked, loaded down,
castrated, pierced through the nose and yoked to the plough. Not one
of them escapes this continual round of slavery. Horses and yaks
continue to be loaded and ridden even when their backs are nothing but
one big sore. When they can go no further, they are whipped and pelted
with stones. The fact that they could be in distress or ill never
seems to cross their owners' minds.

Cattle and sheep are exploited until they die. Once they are too old,
they are sold off or killed by the owners themselves. Whatever the
case, they are destined for the butcher and a natural death is unknown
to them.

Animals, then, experience inconceivable torments. Whenever you see
animals tortured in this way, put yourself in their place and imagine
in detail all they have to undergo. Meditate with fierce compassion
upon all those reborn as animals. In particular, if you have animals
of your own, treat them with kindness and love. Since all animals,
right down to the smallest insect, have feelings of pleasure and pain,
and since they have all been our fathers and mothers, develop love and
compassion towards them..."
(trans. Padmakara Translation Group)


Best wishes,

R. Nance