All life is a part of the whole oneness of life, is the
basic tenet of the sublime teaching, disclosed by the
Thathagatha. There exists a tremendous spiritual issue
in this. The Master acted and spoke for all life from
mighty cellestials to the lowest insect. The great
stanza of the sublime teaching on compassion delivered
by the Master, includes all sentient life, even those
awaiting births. The essence of the teaching is
universality. The Master categorically denounced
violence in every form, and taught the practice of
non-violence. It is the brotherhood of all humanity with
all nature, at every level.
The Master made the prohibition against animal sacrifice
and flesh eating more prohibitive, by denying all
killing. The first precept of every lay follower, a
novice of the order, and a monk, is the precept of
abstaining from taking the life of anything that
breathes. Just keeping the precept is not enough for a
true follower. He should take active part in showing
compassion towards animals, promoting their standard of
living, security and growth. Most of the herbivorous
animals possess clean, delicate bodies, and gentle in
them nature, while carnivorous ones give out offensive
smell, unclean, and ferocious in their nature. All
herbivorous animals are really useful, and friendly with
man. A true follower of compassion towards all sentient
life, never cause pain to other creatures, or encourage
others injuring them. He is aware that the animal world
does not exist to satisfy the cravings of mankind, but,
has a growth of their own towards higher stages of
development. Their growth to higher levels depend on the
development of the brains, through their association
with humans, as domestic animals.
The beasts in the wild, come to birth gradually among
domestic animals. The domestic animals serve man, become
familiar with the manners, habits, speech of humans, and
acquire the ability of following them, and establish
bonds with them. They come to birth gradually in human
dwellings, as their children. These transactions take
place all over the world, between both realms. Though
animals lack speech, and their thinking process
different; in their pains, fears, affections,
frustrations, terrors, devotions, gratitudes and other
emotions, they are similar to humans, in a less complex
way. Animals are telepathic and pick up human thoughts
quite easily. Animals like dolphins are more intelligent
than humans, in certain ways. If we had those particular
sense vibrations, that some animals and insects possess,
our range of knowledge would be broadened. They sense
the magnetic affinity of our earth better than man, and
escape natural disasters. Animals determine their abodes
by following the magnetic affinity. Man chase them out
of their historical abodes, and most species such as
elephants, will become an extinct species, during this
generation.
Edward Rhemus was driving through Vancouver, Doxie, his
dashshound became excited, and leaped out unhurt, and
ran towards a farm they have passed. He got down and
chased after her. An old lady came out and Doxie sprang
upto her with passionate licks with joy. Then she rushed
off to the barn, and without any doubt, climbed to the
top of the ladder fixed to the barn, as she had done it
everyday of her life. With excitement she sniffed all
over, till Edward brought her down. When all became
little calmed, the old lady said about her foxterrior
Queenie, had given birth to a litter of puppies, up in
the loft, the safest place she selected for them. Robert
trained Queenie to climb the ladder. About six years
back, when Robert was at school, her husband met with an
accident, and she locked the kitchen in a hurry, and
rushed into the hospital. They were away from home for a
couple of days, forgotten all about Queenie, who was
eating in the kitchen. The moment she opened the kitchen
door, Queenie was frantic to return to her puppies. In
her excitement she slipped the ladder and fell onto a
hook, and died on the spot. The puppies had died later.
Doxie happened to be Queenie’s rebirth.
So many previous births of the Bodhisatva refers to
innumerable instances of practical compassion towards
animals. The Bodhisatva took birth as a sacred elephant
on 13 occasions, as deer for 11 times, as birds, monkeys
and other animals on so many occasions, shows the
possibility of rebirth of a human in a sub-human animal
form. In each birth his thinking capacity superceeded
that of others, and led them to safty from danger. There
are instances where animals simply heard the voice of
the Thathagatha teaching the sublime law, were born into
heavenly spheres. The followers of the sublime teaching
should not destroy, cause, nor allow to be destroyed,
any living thing. Some people refer to Jeevaka Sutta (55
of M.N.) as a permission to kill and eat meat. Here, the
Master made no exception on the killing, and not on the
eating of meat. Five of the ten verses of the great
stanza of compassion’, which knows no injury, and always
compassionate. It says “as a mother at the risk of her
life protect her own son, so everyone cultivate a
boundless love to all creatures, not even forgetting
those awaiting birth.” “Do not kill a living being. You
should not kill, on condone killing by others. Having
abandoned the use of violence, you should not use force
against either a strong, or the feeble”
(Sahassaragga-16). “Let the householder not kill, nor
cause to be killed any living being, nor him approve of
others killing” (Dhammika Sutta-14 Chulavagga of Sutta
Nipata), declared the Thathagatha.
The Thathagatha was the first reformer in history to
oppose animal sacrifice in temples, and killing of
animals for food. During the time of the Master, bulls,
goats, rams, horses etc. were slaughtered in places of
worship.
The Master stopped such slaughter, and spoke against all
cruelties to animals. As a result, the learned religious
sectors in India accepted the Thathagatha as the
manifestation of God Vishnu on earth. They gradually
deviated from animal sacrifices in their places of
worship. The most erudite Brahmins become vegetarians,
“Salutation to the Buddha, who despised the Vedas, as he
felt in his tender heart, for the animals in sacrificial
rites” - (Padma Purana).
The right livelyhood, the fifth step of the
Noble-Eightfold-Path disclosed by the Master, imparting
the four Noble Truths, advise the follower to refrain
from trading in arms, in living beings, in flesh, in
intoxicating drinks and in poison. Professions of a
soldier, hunter, fisherman, meat-seller, butcher,
manufacturers, distributers, agents and sales reps,
sellers of insecticides etc. are involved. The Master
once advised those troubled by cleansing their household
of vermin, to emigrate to a more desirable location.
Charles Darwin observed that in a single year more than
ten tons of dry earth per acre, passed through the
digestive system of earthworms as natural fertilizer,
producing an inch of top soil every five years. On
inspection of jingle soil with decaying leaves, another
expert found more than one thousand five hundred
specimens of life. In one grain of soil treated with
farm yard manure, more than twenty million bacteria, and
myriads of other microscopic organisms, were detected.
The Master advised monks never to drink water, without
filtering. The use of chemical fertilizer kill all
these, and leave the soil hard.
Farming is very attractive today, as a money spinner.
This trade has been proscribed to the followers of the
sublime teaching, on good reasons. When we aborts and
interferes with the birth process of animals in the
mass, when the karma of those animals are interfered,
the very things we wish to control in another, will be
the very thing that will destroy us. Who slaughter
animals including fish in the mass for trade, will have
their Karmic debts to pay. In the unfertilized egg, the
principle we call ‘being’ is artificially aborted, and
prevented from taking root in it. The egg, whether
fertilized or not, is a living substance, still as a
living substance, inherent life is sustained in it. All
living things have primary perception. A body can be
structurally complete, and its organic life process
functioning, without the presence of the Dweller to
animate it. By destroying the unfertilized egg, one
destroys life. A chain of sinful events, is associated
with it.
Animals feel that they are not cared for, that they are
not taken for walks for which they yearn, that they are
slighted, that they are rejected, and unloved. There are
circumstantial evidences regarding their rebirth, as
well as their rememberence of past life. Animals are a
people like unto us, needing our friendship, interest
and compassionate assistance, in their difficult and
tragic life situations.
පසෙලාස්වක
අව
අටවක
අමාවක
පුර අටවක