Animals in relation to my own philosophy are quite complex.
I have heard from all ends of the spectrum that if you do harm in this life you
will reborn as an animal. But I also believe if you waste this life on trivial
material things solely living to be a cog in the machine you don’t really
differ from an ant in a colony or a fish in a school of fish but also if you
think about it if you like to murder there is another millennia set up for you
to live as a tiger or shark lineage.
I have come across animals that have a very beautiful soul,
more beautiful than my own, and I have come across some that have another ten
thousand lives till they can escape reincarnation so to speak.
I believe that there is some souls that may need a few lives
as a bug or animal to get acquainted with this planet because they are from
several galaxies over and to be suddenly born a human would be a literal shock
to the system or for example a being that lives for eons as a rock or tree
finally being chosen to incarnate as a human being
You can see why countless beings are on the other side
waiting hundreds if not thousands of years to be incarnated into a human body
is a gift from the divine, so many people wasting a life away void of
compassion and void of sincerity.
Nature is unforgiving, I think to be born as an animal you
would inherently have a choice like you do to be human, but an animal life is
more feral and you don’t have the choice to become enlightened like as a human
being, animals would like to be, but the truth and dhamma cannot find them in
the form of a guru or teacher or lessons, many would like to escape their feral
existence and quite some many don’t get why they are human after so many lives
lived feral.
When you are human you have to make sure you treat every
living being as beautifully as possible, so that you may not be reborn in a
lower governance, for example the spider or ant you are about to squish would want to live as much as you do.
I don’t think it comes down to a matter of if you eat animals
or not you will go to hell, I just think that if you live the middle ground and
cut out ¼ of your meat for tofu for example you will be better off, but so many
countless beings eat meat and things can happen if you go to the extreme and
not eat meat like hair falling out and you literally going nuts. I find most
veggies to be extremists and trying to win as many over to their cult as
possible.
LoL on a basic level who would want to shoot an animal in
the head or slice its throat so you can have a bbq anyway –nobody really would
be that callous but it is our culture, our way of life, and after so many millennia
we are striving for the most enlightened life possible and this includes
forming your own opinion of this being that if you are totally uncomfortable
with your burger why eat it ? so much tofu there but the meat department of
your grocery store won’t suddenly vanish, it will most likely multiply.
I love all animals and the quagmire of choosing to eat some
and have some as pets just gets to me, there is no real answers, but to say you
are going to hell for that steak seems a bit extreme !
I like to feed deer bread when they come around, they are so
cute, and so cautious, my partner feeds hummingbirds sugar water, and We both
feed a feral cat some kibbles, on top of that we have a squirrel to give a nut
buffet too which we had to build a special feeder for, because the deer kept
eating all of the poor things seeds and fruit. Seeing songbirds and
hummingbirds, being surrounded by animal life and nature has taught me quite
some about nature and the earth and to have a respect for the animal that gave
its life for you to have a meal and live another day seems the wisest course,
thank the animal, thank it for its life, its protein and its sacrifice. But
take care of the ones you can care for and make their lives a little easier –
even the smallest handful of seeds to a crow helps, and creates merit.
PLUR
-Shaun A. Delage
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