BAN ON ANIMAL SLAUGHTER – PROTECTION OF NATURE
Posted on March 28th, 2020
Navin Gooneratne Honorary Chairman Light of Asia Foundation
His Excellency Gotabaya Rajapaksa President of Sri Lanka
BAN ON ANIMAL SLAUGHTER – PROTECTION OF NATURE
The Peoples Republic of China announced the ban on the slaughter of Wild Animals which is a lucrative Billion Dollar Industry, after experiencing the disastrous effects of the Corona Virus that started in China now spreading across the globe in uncontrolled proportions.
Over 2600 years ago, the path shown by The Enlightened Buddha clearly defined the need to protect all living beings as a fundamental principle of the five precepts to be observed to overcome suffering.
Furthermore, the act of Mindfulness thorough the practice of Meditation as a means to enrich life, is presently sweeeping across the world, which also originated from the guidelines given by The Buddha.
The untold damage caused to nature by the relentless greed for materialistic advancement at any cost, by almost all the countries in the world, has resulted in the adverse reaction we face today with no remedies in sight . This gives us a window of opportunity to restructure our global development strategies if we are to survive from the predicament we face today.
The enforced isolation is an ideal time for reflection and to arrive at a solution where we can all live in harmony with nature, without destroying it for selfish enrichment and enjoy its unsurpassed bounty.
To achieve this for the benefit of all humankind, we must resolve firmly to denounce greed as the driving force of our actions and instead embrace Loving Kindness, Compassion, Equanimity and Sympathetic Joy – Metta, Karuna, Muditha and Upeksha – again proposed by The Buddha, as the essential four wheels for a journey of lasting happiness.
Sri Lanka, the resplendent isle selected as the repository of the Dhamma that would benefit all humanity, must now take the lead in spreading the all encompassing words of The Buddha to the helpless global community to overcome the rising tide of disaster before us.
The Light of Asia Foundation requests the President and the Government of Sri Lanka to initiate the ban on animal slaughter and purify our hallowed land as a first step towards its commitment towards the ushering of a New World Order.
Navin Gooneratne Honorary Chairman Light of Asia Foundation
March 28th, 2020 at 5:12 pm
BUDDHISTS TO BE PROACTIVE
Buddhists of Sri Lanka should be more proactive in animal welfare work and campaign for law reform in this area because as far as our country is concerned, Buddhism is the only religion that recognizes the right to life of all living beings rather than only humans. In addition, Buddhism extols compassion to all forms of life. ‘Kill and eat’ is not a Buddhist tenet. Compassion is the cornerstone of Buddhism and it is definitely not being compassionate for a Buddhist to overlook killing, cruelty and abuse of animals that happen in their surroundings. Some talk loud about human rights as the path of purifying the tarnished image of our country. They should reflect upon the statement of Mahatma Gandhi that ‘The greatness and morality of a nation must be judged by the way it treats its animals ‘.
Killing and cruelty towards animals happen without proper restrictions in Sri Lanka, owing to outdated laws and weak enforcement of these laws. There is also, political interference on behalf of animal killers and butchers running illegal operations. The Police are there fore prevented from performing their duty of protecting the helpless animals.
Animal welfare laws need to be enacted for the protection of animals, and heavy penalties and punishment including long sentences of imprisonment and confiscation of vehicles used in illegal transport of animals should be imposed on these killers and abusers. There are many Animal welfare Societies in the country. These societies can be registered and empowered to collaborate and liaise with Police in the enforcement of animal protection laws. These societies should link with the numerous animal welfare societies around the world, including many in India, especially in order to identify alternative ways of countering this menace.
Government should not encourage the public to engage in vocations involving the abuse and killing of animals. These vocations constitute wrong livelihoods. Owing to adverse colonial and other influences, some Buddhists may have adopted the unbuddhistic practice of consuming animal flesh, and thereby promoting the killing of animals. It is time that there people are helped to regain their Buddhist values. Helping can come in different forms, legal action to ban killing is one.
Some extreme human actions that relate to the violation of the Five Precepts in Buddhism are illegal in our country. Killing, Stealing, Sexual misconduct, lying and verbal abuse, use of injurious drugs to name some basic ones. Compassion towards all living beings is what Buddhism wants its adherents to observe. Killing of animals is not acceptable in a country where Buddhist principles are valued. There needs to be legal provision to save animals from being slaughtered. It is both meaningful and useful in the Buddhist context. According to Buddhist teachings on rebirth, you can be born as one of those animals in your next birth. One of those animals may be your dead mother, father or a loved one. Animals feel pain and do not wish to be harmed.
People need to be educated and their awareness increased on the evils and unfavorable health implications of eating animal flesh, starting with the flesh of cows, pigs, goats and chicken which are killed mercilessly to serve the carnivorous tastes of some misguided Sinhala Buddhists. Education should start from home, from temples, from schools, ‘daham paasalas’, and special Animal welfare organizations, through special websites, special public functions, special sermons by our bhikkhus, special conferences, special publications, distribution of handbills, special flag days and so on.
Reaching out to the children with the message is considered as being of fundamental importance. They should be told that it is wrong to eat the flesh of their surrogate mothers who provide them with nutrition by way of wholesome milk and dairy products that are made out of it, when their biological mothers no longer are able to feed them.
March 29th, 2020 at 5:19 am
All the problems two legged creatures facing today is due to population explosion. These new breeds need a
lot of resources and they generate a lot of pollution too. What the world today need is a Buddhist approach which
teaches the two legged creatures to live a life without harming the nature, other creatures and fellow human
beings. Religions, apart from Buddhism, don’t teach the two legged creatures to refrain from sins. Only thing they
promote is those fictitious gods themselves. So people think they are doing the right thing while resorting to all
sort of crimes, misdeeds. A first step to sustainable future for the two legged creatures, the planet and all the
living things is to stop having too many children. Prime example is fastest breeding religion aka religion of
violence having large families to take over countries which they used to turn old Buddhist Iran, Afganisthan,
Pakisthan, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Indonesia (former Silk Route) within a few hundred years of their arrival in those countries to muslim countries. (Google to see those countries’ old Buddhist heritage). Covid19 won’t be the last. There will be another deadlier one surely waiting in the wings since human beings don’t care about anything
but themselves and money.
Buddhism’s Five Precepts:
1 Refrain from killing
2 Refrain from stealing
3 Refrain from sexual misconduct
4 Refrain from lying
5 Refrain from drugs and alcohol abuse.
All the crimes (sins) any two legged creature can do anywhere under the sun:
1 killing
2 stealing
3 sexual misconduct
4 lying
5 drugs, alcohol abuse.
Buddhism’s Five Precepts are used as the penal code in every country under the sun to punish two legged
creatures who break those Five Precepts! Any honest man is going to agree! Five Precepts is a guide for all the
two legged creatures how to live their lives without harming the environment they live in and be mindful how
to live in a society without being a nuisance and make your next life even better one. Most people frown on The
Buddha’s teachings since they have to make a bit of sacrifice to be a responsible person in the society.
Most of the two leggeds are selfish, greedy, ungrateful, crafty people we most agree. Add to this there are a lot
of greedy, unsympathetic political leaders who don’t give a toss about other countries, environment, people etc.
etc. Then is there any wonder, two leggeds are being punished for their crimes. We all know (honest people
only), two legged creatures shouldn’t be eating meat since our distant relative chimp isn’t a meat eater. What’s more if you look at your teeth and it tells you what sort of diet we should be eating (it’s different from cat/dog/lion/tiger etc. etc., is it not?). But people are hell bent on killing animals for food.
The earth’s size is a grain of sand in the vast vast vast vast universe (The Buddha preached this, also NASA has
corroborated this with their missions). Within the last few decades world’s population has quadrupled from
sparsely place to a bursting at the seams. These new mouths need a lot of resources and they generate a lot of
pollution too. What’s more farmers take new techniques (tricks) to maximise their profits to feed this burgeoning
population. One such practice is to add antibiotics to the animal feed so the livestock go without any diseases to
the two legged creatures stomach saving a lot of money for the farmers. Downside of this is, after eating these
antibiotic-laced meat two legged creatures become antibiotic resistant. Then scientists have to find a fix to
fix the two legged creatures! What’s more livestock generate a lot of greenhouse gases and pollute the planet
and jungles have to be cleared to rear them. Livestocks too have diseases and they pass these to two legged
creatures (their revenge). It’s a lose, lose situation for the planet. Do the two legged give toss? No chance in hell.
So the two legged reaps what they sow. If the two legged creatures come out of this hole somehow, there will be
another one even more dangerous waiting in the wings. People used to worship trees, mountains, rivers, gods in
the olden days in the absence of science. Charles Darwin showed the world how the two legged creatures came
to be being in his Theory of Evolution. Then his book, The Tree of Life, explained how all these other millions of
creatures came to be being. The Buddha explained, to be a two legged creature one has to spend millions of
years in the animal kingdom (similar to Darwin’s Theory of Evolution). Buddhism disappeared from India since
it didn’t fit the society with caste system, animal sacrifice etc and they quickly reverted back to religions of conveniences which don’t regard sins as sins. Then invading muslims destroyed whatever left of it. That’s not all former Buddhist countries iran, afganisthan, pakisthan, bangladesh, malaysia and indonesia succumbed to
musslims within a few hundred years of their arrivals. Soon they outnumbered the natives and turned
all of those countries to muslim countries.
What The Buddha preached to be true has been proved again and again by scientists and NASA. While the
mankind taking one step forward by sciences, they take two steps backward due to their selfishness, greed, dishonesty etc. etc. It’s same at individuals as well as countries. Is there any wonder then two legged creatures facing a really bleak future? Are they going to pause for a minute and think of changing their ways? No chance in hell. Covid19 giving them a stark warning! Be prepared for even more dangerous things!
The Buddha preached in his teachings: Health is the greatest wealth. How appropriate at a time when so called
‘almighty two legged creatures’ are hiding from an invisible killer!