Tomorrow is Unduvap Full Moon Poya Day:

Buddhist viewpoint on animal rights

By Lionel Wijesiri

A Buddha statue in Polonnaruwa

“All beings tremble before violence. All fear death. All love life. See yourself in others. Then whom can you hurt? What harm can you do?”

- Dhammapada

Buddhism wholeheartedly supports the view that all living creatures must be respected. The first precept itself has a direct bearing on the treatment of animals. It prescribes non-violence, not just towards human beings, but to all prana or living beings.

There are a number of other instances where the Buddhist values of non-violence and compassion are clearly expressed. The Sutta Nipata states: “Let him neither kill, nor cause to be killed any living being, or let him approve of others killing, after having refrained from hurting all creatures, both those that are strong and those that tremble in the world.”

In the Eight-fold path, abstaining from violence is a major requirement. Right Action (Samma Vayama) includes abstaining from the taking of life. It adds: “He dwells with his rod laid down, his knife laid down, scrupulous, kind, compassionate for the welfare of all living beings.”

Right Livelihood (Samma Ajiva) prescribes the practitioners not to engage in trades or occupations which, either directly or indirectly, result in harm for other living beings. The Karaniyametta Sutta says: “Whatever living beings there may be - feeble or strong (or the seekers and the attained), long, stout, or of medium size, short, small, large, those seen or those unseen, those dwelling far or near, those who are born as well as those yet to be born - may all beings have happy minds.”

The Nandivisala Jataka illustrates how kindness should be shown to animals domesticated for human service.

Modern science reveals that in some respects, animals are superior to humans. Dogs have a keener sense of hearing; insects have a keener sense of smell; hawks are speedier; eagles can see a greater distance.

Dolphins have the ability to communicate through echo sounding. Hyenas use smell-based networking, and the marmoset monkeys are so cultivated that they have figured out ways to have a polite conversation.

These qualities are things that humans still struggle to follow. Undoubtedly, men are wiser; but men have so much to learn from the ants and bees. Much of the animal is still in us. However, we also have much more: We have the potential for spiritual development.

Buddhists are encouraged to love all living beings and not to restrict their love to human beings. They should practise loving kindness towards every living being. The Buddha’s advice is that it is not right for us to take away the life of any living being since every living being has a right to exist.

Asoka

Concern for animals is attested back to the beginnings of Buddhist history. The first Buddhist monarch of India, Asoka (268-223 BC) includes in his Edicts an expression to put an end to the killing of animals. He also includes animals with humans as the beneficiaries of his programs for obtaining medicinal plants, planting trees and digging wells.

Emperor Asoka also taught his people to have compassion for animals and to refrain from harming them. In one of his famous pillar edits, he declares, “I have enforced the law against killing certain animals. The greatest progress of righteousness among men comes from the exhortation in favour of non-injury to life and abstention from killing living beings.” The fact that Buddhists consider that all animals are sentient, and that just like us, they are capable of suffering is of great importance concerning animal rights issues.

Realms

In Buddhism, there are six realms in the cycle of rebirth into which sentient beings may be born: Devas (gods), Asuras (titans or demons), Pretas (hungry ghosts), Narakas (hell beings), Tiryakas (animals) and Manushyas (humans). For this very reason, Buddhism looks upon life in the universe as a totality which has, by itself, a right to exist unhindered, with no threats of destruction from outside to serve the needs of any single person or group, whether they be under the direction of any human or divine authority. It is considered that the harmonious continuance of the universe does not permit or allow such crude and clumsy handling of Mother Nature.

The painting depicts a monkey offering the Buddha some honey

In the Dhammapada, this idea is expressed as follows.

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.

Buddhism also offers definite and positive instructions with regard to the manner in which humans should develop universal loving kindness towards all living things that exist in the universe, whether in close proximity or at a distance, seen or unseen, large or small, fierce or timid. Even foetal bodies of unborn babies or those in the stage of eggs are encompassed within this range of universal loving kindness or Metta in Buddhism. It specifies this attitude, thus declaring ‘May all beings be well and happy!’ Sabbe satta bhavantu sukhitatta.

Kinship

There is, in Buddhism, more sense of kinship with the animal world, a more intimate feeling of community with all that lives, than is found in Western religious thought. It is rooted in the total Buddhist concept of life. It is an essential part of the all-embracing Buddhist philosophy which neglects no aspect of experience, but extends the concept of personal evolution to all forms of sentient life. The kitten on the lap and the uninvited cobra on the bed are all part of a world, which which may not be the best of all possible worlds.

However, the universe was not brought into existence solely for man, his convenience and enjoyment. The place a human being occupies in it is one he has created for himself, and he has to share it with other beings, all of them motivated by their own laws of being and the will to live. That is the reason why in the Buddhist texts, animals are always treated with great sympathy and understanding.

Buddhism shows that both animals and human beings are the products of ignorance conjoined with craving, and that the differences between them are the consequences of past karma. In this sense, though not in any other, “all life is one.” It is one in its origin, ignorance craving, and in its subjection to the universal law of causality.

However, every being’s karma is separate and individual. So long as a man refuses to let himself be submerged in wrongdoings, so long as he resists the pressures that are constantly brought to bear on him to make immoral decisions, he is the master of his own destiny. Whatever the karma of others around him may be, he need have no share in it. His karma is his own, distinct and individual. In this sense, all life is not only one, but each life, from the lowest to the highest in the scale, is a unique current of causal determinants. The special position of the human being rests on the fact that he alone can consciously direct his own personal current of karma to a higher or lower destiny. All beings are their own creators; man is also his own judge and executioner. He is also his own saviour.