Compassion Consortium at the Parliament!

I am delighted that Compassion Consortium, a Vegan Interfaith group, hosted six sessions at the Parliament of the World's Religions this August!

Wanting to share this group with you, if you don't know about it yet. They hold monthly services online:

https://shoutout.wix.com/so/42OaxpUj2

May all beings be well.

 

Ecocide and Love

More than a decade ago, I saw that what we are doing to our planet and its biosphere is essentially suicide, because in killing off life at the rates we are doing that, we will eventually destroy our own options for survival.

This new article,

How the Environmental Movement Can Find Its Way Again by Charles Eisenstein

frames it this way:

 "... ecocide—the killing of ecosystems, the killing of life."

The article includes these statements:

"Ultimately, the “solution” to the ecological crisis is not technical. It comes from reclaiming basic values and changing our relationship to nature."

"It is a rhetorical error to frame environmentalism in any other way than to make it about love of nature, love of life."

"...the changes that we will need to make to restore earth’s aliveness from its current depletion will require a degree of courage and sacrifice that comes only from love."

"...there is a way to regenerate a world vibrant with life. The way is to enact a reverence for life in all its forms.

This felt sense of reverence, this love, is the motivation that spontaneously arises with understanding of my own term, "Biovinity," meaning that every living being is as sacred, or divine, as any being we may ascribe this idea to and therefore love and cherish.

I hope you will read the full article here.

May all beings be well and happy.

Compassion Consortium

So happy to have found the Compassion Consortium today! I became a member right away.

The Compassion Consortium is a non-sectarian and interfaith religious center. We offer spiritual guidance, support, and fellowship to Vegans, vegetarians, animal rights activists, animal lovers, and all humans who care about and advocate for animals and the planet. We recognize that many people do not see their deeply rooted compassion for all creatures reflected in houses of worship; some have even left faith traditions after seeing these innocent, loving beings excluded from the level of mercy they deserve; in many cases, they're even denied the possession of a soul.

The Compassion Consortium is here to supplement this "missing piece" for persons who are part of another religious or spiritual community, and those who are not. We welcome participants of all faiths or none.

https://www.compassionconsortium.org/

 

 May all beings be well and happy

Humorous and Holy

"Animals bring humor into our lives, a radical, celebrative awareness of dialectic and paradox. Animals, I am convinced, love to make us human animals laugh. They are often well aware, in my opinion, of what makes us laugh. Animals are truly holy in their way, for all full humor is reflection of the divine good humor. Animals have very often a richer sense of humor than some persons." Matthew Fox

May all beings be well and happy.

 

Hebrew Bible

Ask the animals,
and they will teach you.
Ask the birds of the air,
and they will tell you.
Ask the fish of the sea,
and they will declare to you.

Job 12:7-8

May all beings be well and happy.

 

Was Rumi Vegan?

 

"I have existence and I value it so much.
So have all the beings on earth and they too, try to preserve it.
Then, how can I kill even the tiniest creature
Just to satiate my palate?"

"To me, even milk is forbidden."

"Look at all animals as you look at humans."

"If we consume an animal, its blood and gore will make us act like a slaughterer."

 

If we are to trust these translations of the great Sufi Poet Mystic, Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi, the first of the above verses appears clearly to denote that he was vegetarian.

With the next quote, Rumi explains that neither does he consume milk, which we can take to include any dairy products, leaving us to conclude that - at least at the time he wrote this - he was vegan.

While there are differences among animals and humans, with his third quote, we can take his meaning that we must have respect for, and avoid harming, animals, just as we would our fellow humans.

With the final quote, we are reminded of many who have explained that wars and other violence will persist so long as humans allow, within their moral and ethical views, some kind of right to kill others; if we do not find killing animals unethical, then why humans? Each requires total disregard of the others' sovereign right to live out their own full lives, as all beings strive to do.

Google offers some helpful answers where we inquire about Sufism and Vegetarianism and Veganism:

"Sufism has a deep-rooted belief that vegetarianism is an essential step towards spiritual growth. Sufi saints like Rahim Bawa Mohiyuddin and Hazrat Rabia Basri showed love and compassion to animals and taught that mercy towards them is essential to Islamic mysticism."

This short article includes the Rabia Basri story:

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india/sufism-and-vegetarianism/story-FijFyaklsHbUijGEWXcx9J.html

And this one http://www.superluminal.com/cookbook/essay_vegetarianism.html begins:

"Although the majority of Muslims are meat eaters, there is also widespread remembrance of Muhammad's warning, 'Do not allow your stomachs to become graveyards!' For this reason, meat is used in moderation in many traditional recipes. Many Sufi tariqats prohibit meat-eating during retreats. The Qadiri shaikh Abdul Karim Jili, commenting on Ibn Arabi's advice to avoid animal fat during retreats, stated that 'animal fat strengthens animality, and its principles will dominate the spiritual principles.'"

 

 

Then, there was Sant Kabir.

The above article continues:

"The 15th Century poet Kabir, whose Sufism represented a fusion of principles from both the Islamic and Hindu traditions, unequivocally condemned meat eating, characterizing it as the ultimate failure of compassion...he stated that even the companionship of meat-eaters was harmful to the soul."

 

Here's a nice video podcast:

Meet a Vegan Rumi, the Sufi Poet Mystic -- Today on Spiritual Awakening Radio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwVYO2i2czQ
 

The details under this video say, in part:

When I saw these veg verses of Rumi I thought, at last! this is going to make for a great new podcast! It's awesome being able to claim Rumi, the King of the Sufi poets, for the vegan cause! (Rumi: "To me, even milk is forbidden.") I also reflect a little about the vegetarianism of early Christianity, and about how a religious or spiritual movement like the disciples of Rumi in Sufism, Jesus, Guru Nanak, Buddha, etc... can start out following a vegan or veg diet and yet a few generations later knowledge of that gets lost and the religious sects operating in their names might be adhering to a completely different diet.

Master Kirpal Singh speaking about Rumi and the other most advanced Murshids (spiritual masters) of Sufi mysticism once said: “Those who take up the practices concerning the lower centers in the body, do take meat — the Mohammedans and people of other religions also. But those who are anxious to rise above body-consciousness and go into the Beyond have of necessity to eschew all that. This is the Path I have put before you. Liberation or salvation is something which starts only when you rise above body-consciousness. For that reason, vegetarianism is the first essential.” (The Night is a Jungle, published by Ruhani Satsang)

 

In conclusion:

I think that - because we know that Jains, Buddhists, Hindus, Sufis and Sikhs all shared dialogues throughout the centuries - surely ideas about vegetarianism would have been important topics of discourse. I think there is little question that these groups influenced each other and resulted in many adherents of each of these faiths agreeing about the importance of not eating animals.

 

May all beings be well and happy.

 

Veganism, Intersectionality and Children

For those who reduce exploitation of animals by not eating them, yet may continue to use products such as leather, "plant based" is a term that works well enough for what is a diet, more than an ethical consideration.

As for true Veganism, I've been increasingly interested in conversations about intersectionality, how Veganism extends into human social justice issues, along with broader environmental concerns. I think "Veganism" is expanding, perhaps into something that might have a new name one day.

I have been Green Party for many years. I'd like to see all these ideas come under one big umbrella that is about limiting human exploitation of resources, humans, animals and plants, and also minerals. Of course, taken to these extremes, humans may be seen as a kind of virus destroying the planet, a view I don't entirely disagree with. It's one reason I did not have kids.

I have discussed the topic of having children with some vegans, with mixed results; it feels clear to me: if someone adopts a vegan lifestyle, then (assuming single parenting) has even one child who grows up non-vegan, that effectively "cancels out" most (if not all) of the efforts of the parent. Mathematically, if two vegan parents have only one non-vegan child, then okay.

It's important that this topic be discussed seriously: that Veganism needs to explicitly include the idea that if you can't guarantee your child/ren will grow up vegan, then it's not Vegan to have children.

What do you think?

May all beings be well and happy

 

Something I've Noticed About Birds

Thought for the day:


A bird should not be captured. If she is, she will not fly. And when she can, she will fly away.
 

A woman points out: "That's a conundrum!"

I respond: It's something I've noticed about birds. 

She replies: "Sometimes they will stay a while though. One never knows what a bird will do."

And I say:

I raised a dove. One time, she flew out my open door. When I called her name, she turned around and landed on my head. The next time she flew, she bolted. For days, I wandered the neighborhood crying out "Punchy!! Punchy!!" I positioned her cage, door open, on my roof. The neighbors must have thought I had gone mad. They would have been correct. I was mad with grief for another year. And yet, I truly wanted her to be happy and free.

 

Sometimes I still find myself looking closely at doves for the little yellow band I had fashioned for her leg. Doves don't live long enough for that, yet still sometimes I look.

My grief was partly worry. I had raised her. She had bonded with me. She would eat food from the dog's bowl while he ate. She would ride around on the back of the tortoise. She slept on the top edge of books while I read. I gave her fresh water. What would she do now, suddenly out in the big world? My grief was loss, but more, it was worry. I most wanted her to be happy and well. That was my lesson in true love.

May all beings be well.

 

Protect Water, Protect Our World

 

#GoVegan!

May all beings be well and happy

Powerful People

Betty White was an ardent supporter of animals. Here's an article about some of her work, and how you can continue to support some of the causes she supported:

https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/02/us/betty-white-animal-charities-iyw/index.html

 

 

 

And, Caroline Myss cites this example of the kind of mystical awakening that feels deeply disturbing, and which leads to changes in behavior:

"...let’s say that one day while staring out the window in a type of quiet reflective mood, you are suddenly immersed in a state of full and active awareness that all animals are “conscious beings”. They are not, as most human beings perceive them, just mindless creatures running around without the capacity to “feel”, to “bond”, to “fear”, to sense changes in the Earth environment. They have an active consciousness. They feel gratitude for human kindness and horror at human cruelty. They are terrified to be hunted down and mourn the loss of their young.

"...The pain of it nearly crushes the life and breath out of you. Days – no, weeks – are required for you to recover. Your world looks the same, but nothing is the same. You feel as if every tree is looking at you where once it was you looking at the tree. Are you going mad? You cannot help but wonder this. Then you think that you will go mad unless you find a way to respond, to contain a truth so unimaginable but so real. You know it’s real, more real than the “living sacred conscious ground” upon which you walk."

 

May all beings be well and happy.

 

Milarepa's Songs

The yogi Milarepa left his wisdom in the form of songs, two of which specifically address the topic of killing and eating animals.

Subjugating ‘outer’ appearances, will not conquer them.
Conquer your own mind, at this very moment!
Your killing this deer will not satiate you,
Killing the five poisons within, all wishes are fulfilled!
Subjugating ‘outer’ enemies, they increase even more.
Conquering one’s ‘inner’ mindstream, there are no ‘enemies’.

—Excerpt from ‘Milarepa’s Song to Animals and the Hunter’ tr. Adele Tomlin (2020)

Read more here: 

https://dakinitranslations.com/2021/10/20/hunters-moon-special-milarepas-song-to-the-hunter-and-the-ear-whispered-chira-kagyu-lineage-and-song-on-the-suffering-of-animals-for-the-evil-custom-of-meat-eating/

May all beings be well

 

Buddhism and Not Eating Animals

 

 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje. Photo by James Gritz

A compelling article focusing on ancient and recent commentaries about why consuming animals is antithetical to Buddhist teachings:

https://dakinitranslations.com/2021/12/29/drikung-kagyu-vegetarianism-if-you-eat-meat-you-are-not-my-disciple-and-it-disparages-great-beings-jigten-sumgon-the-white-food-vegetarian-tradition/

 

 May all beings be well and happy

 

Yes, Insects Too

Insects feel emotions, as well as pain.

Several years ago, I concluded that all sentient beings have the same basic emotions. Science may be catching up to that obvious insight.


https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20211126-why-insects-are-more-sensitive-than-they-seem

May all beings be well and happy.

 

Out Of The Mouths of Babes

 I wish people would listen to voices like this wise, caring little girl's.

 

 

May all beings be well and happy.

 

All Life Is Sacred

 

 

 

May all beings be well and happy.

 

 

Why The Chicken Crossed The Road

 

May all beings be well and happy.

Dogs Take On Our Broken Hearts

 

It's no small thing.
A woman's husband dies
after a long marriage.
She is left afraid to date
in a world of scammers
during a pandemic.

A man's wife leaves
after a long marriage.
Some women like him,
but he's still in love
with her.

There are dogs.
Lots of them.
More coming
each day.

They need homes
like we do.
We can give them
a roof
a bed
some toys
water
food.

And they take on our hearts.

We cry, and they feel it,
so they come up on our lap
or push their jaw down
onto our thigh
on the couch.

They awaken to our cries
in the deep night
but pretend they don't hear.
They don't want to keep us
from returning
to sleep.

Every morning
they smile at us:
It's a new day!

It's not that they've forgotten
that our heart is broken.
They want us to forget.

They say, let's have some fun!
Let's eat something good!

Love me.

And, no matter how well
or how poorly
we manage to overcome
our broken hearts
moment to moment
to love them,
they remain beside us
all the while,
through every tear
and sigh.

Dogs take on our broken hearts.

Greta Thunberg's New Film

Greta's brief and excellent film conveys important information about how we can help our planet. Her message corresponds with those of scientists like Dr. Jane Goodall and Sir David Attenborough. I hope you will give it a viewing.

 

"The new Greta Thunberg film is finally spelling it out to all environmentalists who follow her: if you really care about the Earth, go vegan. On May 22nd, 2021, Biodiversity Day, the organization Mercy for Animals launched a new film called For Nature. In it, the renowned Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg explains how animal exploitation has caused our current health and environmental crises."

The article about the film:

https://janeunchained.com/2021/05/23/greta-thunbergs-film-tells-us-to-go-vegan/

The 5:17min film, directly: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WvehTbuvIo&t=8s

May all beings be well and happy.

 

Jain Guidance for Eating

When considering the ethics of food choices, I think our Jain friends have the best approach to this topic. 

Let me try to summarize.

Holding ahimsa (Sanskrit: non-injury, non-harm, non-violence) as the highest ideal, they propose - recognizing that life must consume other life to survive - that we humans (who have lots of choices) think of potential food items something like a pyramid, where the bottom includes life forms with the fewest sensory organs, and at the top, those - like us - with the most.

They suggest that to reduce the harm, pain, and suffering we may do by eating, that we eat our way up from the bottom, then stop where we are able to be healthy with our chosen diet.

With the many options available to most of us today, and factoring in the great suffering caused by the big Dairy and Egg factory methods, this parses out as Vegan.

This does not even factor in well-considered and increasingly widely held opinion that commercial animal production is one of the biggest Climate Change contributors. Scientists like Sr David Attenborough and Dr. Jane Goodall are two who speak clearly to this point.

 

May all beings be well. 

 

Wise words from Buddha Jayanti Celebrations, May 26 2021

Friends, these messages are part of the Parliament of the World's Religions' Vesak Celebrations video "Healing the World: Prayers and Reflections for All Sentient Beings," May 26, 2021

https://parliamentofreligions.org/video/healing-world-prayers-and-reflections-all-sentient-beings

"As we think about the world's sentient creatures, too many of whom - particularly animals - have no say whatsoever in the way in which they are treated, it's important that we all commit towards adopting more compassionate, plant-based diets. ... It's also time for us to say that if the mistreatment of any sentient creature is wrong, then it's also wrong for us to profit in any way from that mistreatment, and to add the major corporations that are responsible for untold suffering of animals around the planet to the list of companies from which we must divest our holdings. Only in this way, by connecting personal integrity with the alignment of our finances with our most cherished values, will we take a step towards the kind of enlightenment that this special day represents. Thank you." -- Rev. Fletcher Harper

 

"The first precept of the Buddha's moral code is the training rule to abstain from destroying life, from the destruction of all sentient life, whether humans or animals. This precept has far reaching implications. The Buddha says that we should refrain from destroying life ourselves; we should encourage others to refrain from killing; we should speak in praise of abstaining from killing, and rejoice when we hear that others abstain from destroying life. The reason the Buddha gives so much weight to this precept is because the most basic urge of every sentient being is to love and to thrive. All beings fear death, all fear violence. So, taking oneself as the standard, we should not kill or encourage others to kill." -- Ven. Bikkhu Bodhi from "Healing the World: Prayers and Reflections for All Sentient Beings," May 26, 2021

 

"Let us follow the precepts and unite together. Let us love and protect all plants and animals. Think about it. Humans are animals too. Everything on this world is a natural part of the universe. Humans are given the right to live, and yet humans hurt, torture and kill animals for food and clothing. Seeing this, we call on everyone to give rise to a loving heart. Let animals come and go naturally with the law of karma. We also need to safeguard our mind. With the laws of nature, our thoughts go through endless cycles of arising, abiding, changing and disappearing. These take place inside our mind. So we have to focus on giving rise to kindness. Together with people of the same aspiration, we give to serve the greater good. Now is the time to suggest a plant-based diet to everyone. Plant-based diets can help. We have to put our hearts into it and talk to people we meet. By serving as a role model, we can also spread the power of love to really care for and protect all living beings." -- Ven. Bhikshuni Shih De Yuan from "Healing the World: Prayers and Reflections for All Sentient Beings," May 26, 2021

May all beings be well.

Joaquin Phoenix, Indigo and Liberty

 

Perhaps you will spend 14 minutes with this beautiful, tender film, INDIGO (which includes no violent imagery): 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ9iQLfeGBk

  

All beings deserve to live out their own sovereign lives, free of subjugation, exploitation or abuse. Humans lose their humanity by subjugating others.

May all beings be well.