Metta, Karuna and Peace for all living beings this Christmas and beyond

There is no better way to honour the founder of a religion than to not shed blood in celebration. December is a time of year for joy, excitement, jubilation, exchange of gifts and pleasantries. It is sadly also a time that thousands and thousands of animals are axed and laid before a Christmas table. Whereas millions of people enjoy the festive season that very festive season becomes a season of horror – virtually a holocaust – for animals who are fed to be slaughtered in their millions. Buddhism is perhaps the only religion of the four global religions that venerates life in its fullest sense and no milestone of the Buddha is celebrated by denying and depriving the life of any sentient being. This noble example should be extolled and highlighted in our present society where humane standards are in rapid decline.

Sadly in nations where Abrahamic religions constitute the majority religion their people do not have an opportunity to study the essence of why Buddhism preaches the noble concept of ahimsa – the moral that stands behind the simply logic that all sentient beings have lives, and as much as you love your precious life so do the other living beings and they do not wish to die. Therefore it morally obliges us as right thinking humans not to kill innocent harmless animals and cut short their natural lives.

The next train of thought leads to the karma of killing. We may recall that the Bodhisathwa (the Buddha to be) in a former life according to a Jataka tale, was born as a Deer-King and offered his own life for that of a pregnant doe. In another life the Bodhisathwa had sacrificed his own life to feed a starving tiger and her two cubs trapped in the snow. His moral reasoning was that it was nobler to save 3 lives instead of preserving one i.e. his own.

All living things fear being beaten with clubs.
All living things fear being put to death.
Putting oneself in the place of the other,
Let no one kill nor cause another to kill.

Dhammapada verse no. 129

If humans experience fear, pain, distress these same sentiments are experienced by animals too. True reverence for life is shown in the Buddha’s teachings and the philosophy behind the noble thoughts of the Buddha requires to be shared among other religions as well. No religion that calls for destruction of lives of other sentient beings can be said to have an exemplary code of ethics. Buddhism urges peaceful co-existence between man and animal. This is one of the noblest ethics of a true civilization. Nobody is born in this world to be offered as food to sustain the life of another. Life is the most precious asset of every living being and a true religion will recognise and uphold that fundamental premise.

It is poignant to recall the historic address of one of Sri Lanka’s most respected Buddhist leaders of yesteryear the late L.H. Mettananda on the occasion of the presentation of the Report of the Buddhist Commission to the Maha Sangha and the Buddhist public at Ananda College on the 4th of February, 1956 where he called upon the State to undertake the implementation of a Dasa Panatha and he gave the highest priority in his list of ten demands to a call ‘To recognize the principle of Ahimsa in all activities’.

The Maha Sangha and Buddhist Organisations in particular during a time of election must push for the inclusion of ‘ Ahimsa’ as a State Policy and call on all contenders for the post of President to public declare their acceptance of this ideal and commitment to work towards the creation of a Compassionate Society in Sri Lanka that is truly inclusive of all living beings. We must commit ourselves to revive the animal friendly cultural heritage that our country sustained for nearly 2000 years and was part of its proud boast to the rest of the world as a ‘ Dhammadipa’ until the unfortunate entry of the Portuguese to our land in 1505.

The policy of Ahimsa across State apparatus is nothing that any non-Buddhist religion can cry foul over for it essentially means to protect and foster life. This must also be incorporated into state policies for promoting vocations among the unemployed and others seeking an alternate livelihood in a self employed capacity. As a predominantly Buddhist country the Govt. of Sri Lanka must encourage right livelihood among the people as Bhutan so nobly does to the great admiration of the world. Right ethics must form part of conditions attached to the grant of loans to the public, and the destruction of life in any form should not be supported or sustained by state economic policies.

Every year 20million Turkeys end up slaughtered for the British Christmas table. If anyone were to see what goes on inside slaughterhouses they would all become vegetarians. The recent death of a young cricketer in Australia who was raised in a cattle slaughter farm and the unusual manner of his death i.e. loss of blood to the brain similar to the manner in which cattle are deprived of blood to the brain upon cutting of the throat has given rise to speculation of the possible effects of karma boomeranging on him. You reap what you sow is an eternal principle of life and no amount of prayers to god(s) can protect one from the karmic effects of evil conduct.

The Muslims too celebrate their main festivals with slaughter of innocent animals and every celebration across the Muslim world leads to millions of animals facing their deaths.Today there is a huge amount of agony spread all over the Islamic world due to interminable violence the large scale massacre of young children in Peshawar in Pakistan, the latest such incident.

In such context it is wise to recall the enduring words of the celebrated Russian writer and humanist, Leo Tolstoy, who said:

• ‘As long as there are slaughterhouses, there will be battlefields’
• “Thou shalt not kill” does not apply to murder of one’s own kind only, but to all living beings; and this Commandment was inscribed in the human breast long before it was proclaimed from Sinai.

Let us therefore enter 2015 with a resolve to usher in a world of compassion for both humans and animals and all other living beings minus animal sacrifice, cruelty and slaughter of any living being.

Shenali D. Waduge

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