Shantedeva said "All true happiness derive from making others happy,
all suffering derive from making oneself happy."

There arc infinite numbers of topics we may choose to study during our lives. But in this world, which is increasingly a world of inanimate machines and mechanistic processes, it is absolutely still the most important subject to learn about the values of life itself, the gift which is most precious of all, which is never to be taken for granted.

From the Buddhist perspective, we have a deep appreciation for the people today, who are working with great motivation and interests for the cause of life protection, particularly in the field of wildlife conservation and management.

According to Buddhist doctrine, we should protect not only wildlife, but also the whole range of sentient beings for three reasons:

1. All sentient beings have feeling.
2. We believe that all sentient beings has been our mother in one of our infinite previous lives.
3. A spontaneous feeling of compassion arise in us on observing all suffering living beings.

 

The first describes an essential quality in that all beings have similar feeling of happiness and suffering. As we need happiness and peace, so do animals. The difference between human beings and animals is intelligence and speech. Animals fear human beings because we kill them and eat their flesh, use their hide and other body parts, instead of giving them life protection. We humans have the responsibility to help and protect them since we are capable of doing so. Human beings are the most intelligent animal and therefore like the head of a household, it is our responsibility to look after the rest of the family members. If we are harmed and tormented by others, we try to escape that suffering, and if someone comes to help us, we will indeed be happy and grateful to that person. In the same way, animals, at least when domesticated, clearly become attached to, and even love their keepers.

Once upon a time a hunter and a black dog chased a deer. The frightened deer ran to sage Milarepa (the most famous Tibetan hermit, who attained enlightenment in 11th century) for help, Milarepa's heart was filled with a spontaneous feeling of compassion for the poor deer, the deer rested in front of him without fear. Milarepa then sang a holy song to the pursuing hunter, which goes like this: "There is plenty of time to shoot an arrow at a poor helpless deer, but not enough time to live forever. As you follow a deer to kill it, so does the Lord of Death (Yamaraksha) follows you."

The second reason to protect and help animals is based on the belief that all sentient beings have been our mothers in some part of our previous lives. We Buddhists believe that the billions of lives in this world are ever-changing, and we too have been born sometimes as animals. This means that animals have been our parents in previous lives. In the Abhidharmakosha, it is said that when Aryakatayana was going from door to door asking for food, he came upon a house in which a woman was eating fish curry and was beating a dog near her. Her small child was on her lap. Then Aryakatayana saw through his power of intuitive knowledge, the relationship between all four of them in their previous lives. He came to know that the fish was the rebirth of the woman's father, the dog had once been her mother, and Tibetan Kyang (wlld ass) tn western Tibet the child had been her greatest enemy in her previous life. Aryakatayana thought to himself: she is ignorantly beating her mother and eating her father's flesh. Observing this relationship, Arya shed a tear and said:

Eating the flesh of her father,
Beating her mother's back,
And nursing her enemy on her lap,
Should I laugh or cry at the play of this world?

Thus, animals could have been our mothers and fathers, and with this belief in mind, Buddhists abstain from killing animals. Buddha said, "Don't harm others, but accumulate merit for yourself by helping them."

The third reason to protect lives- the compassion that arises merely by observing suffering sentient beings is based on the principle that a human being possesses all the four immeasurable virtues of love, compassion, joy and equanimity. This help us to think for the welfare of others, like Shantideva who composed prayers for the animals so that they could live without fear of being killed and eaten by others. Even a butcher's mind can be converted into a compassionate mind and the hunter's mind led away from hunting Compassion is the root of all Dharma and virtues. Buddhists consider killing unreasonable, because it is a blind action, which can never lead a person towards the state of ultimate salvation i.e. enlightenment.

According to Buddhist philosophy, phenomenon exist according to the law of interdependent origination pratitva or codependent origination: the meeting or coincidence of causes and conditions for creating a thing or a situation. In general, there are 12 links of interdependent origination dealing with the cycle of rebirth, and this doctrine in its highest sense demonstrates the selflessness of all phenomena. That is, there are no independently existing causes, identities or egos. The first illustration of these 12 links is that of a blind old woman. If we commit bad deeds such as killing, cheating, lying and so on, we become blind of our bad actions and directly go to the suffering of Samsara.

Shantideva said that if one wish to live a long life without diseases and other sufferings, one should proteet and spare animal lives. In particular Lord Buddha gave teachings in his "Sutra on Complete Deliverance of the Soul," in which he stressed the importance of life and the benefit of life protection.

Lord Buddha first generated Bodhi Mind for the sake of all ~ntient beings when he was a king called Rabsel in the country of Woedhen, Nepal. In another life, he was born as prince named Semchenpo to king, Shingta, Buddha sacrificed his own body for a hungry tigress. So it was in those days that great people came to the world to protect wildlife and even sacrifice their body to hungry wild animals, whereas these days, people kill animals for their own benefit. As a result, many wild animals of the world are fast disappearing from the face of this earth forever.

Following is another story about the virtue and benefit of protecting lives of other living beings. During the time of Lord Buddha, there was a boy called Gangadhara, who was the son of a rich minister. As he grew up, he repeatedly told his parents that he wanted to become a Buddhist monk, but his parents strongly disagreed and didn't allow him to become one. He was very unhappy and felt that it is useless to survive in the world without becoming a monk.

So he finally attempted to commit suicide. He tried to commit suicide four times. First, he consumed poison, but he recovered. Secondly, he jumped into a river, but he floated. Thirdly, he jumped over a precipice, but he again survived. Lastly, he went to the King Prasanjit's place, where the queen and princes where bathing and playing. The ornaments and dress of the queen were hung upon a tree. He intentionally stole the precious jewellery of the queen, because he wanted himself to be killed by the king. The king came to know about the theft, and was enraged. He tried to shoot Gangadhara, but the arrows would not go straight. The king was amazed and he stopped shooting and asked the boy who he was, whether he was human or god, or evil spirit. The boy told the king that he was neither god or evil spirit, but the son of the minister Rajagirah. He recounted why he had tried several times to free himself from life.

The king ordered his parents to allow him to become a monk. When the king went to see Lord Buddha he asked the latter, why the boy didn't die even by suicides. Lord Buddha with his enlightened mind saw the reason behind this. He said that Gangadhara in his previous life, was a minister of King Tshangjin in Varanasi and had given constant life protection. Whenever, the king ordered him to kill animals or commit persons to death or life imprisonment, he instead let them free secretly. In this way he saved thousands of animal and hundreds of people's lives during his time. He also sponsored many people who wished to become monks. Thus, the good deeds of Gangadhara's previous life had ripened in this life.

Advantages such as having a longer life span, having less sickness, enjoying great peace come by giving life protection. In the Buddhist world, there is a practice of setting free the domestic animals of a person, who is about to die because giving life protection helps to continue life itself. Therefore, we believe that those who live to a great ripe age have given life protection in their previous lives. We must offer the same freedom to animals and other forms of life in order to reach freedom ourselves.

*Khenpo Phuntsok Tashi is a fully ordained monk and has a MA in Buddhist Philosophy. He is currently a Research Officer at the National Library of Bhutan. This article was written for WWF Bhutan Program's public education strategy.

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Last updated: 14-Aug-96