Animals in Buddhism: Buddha-Nature, Karma and Releasing Life.

“The eating of meat extinguishes the seed of great compassion."
The Buddha

In Buddhism, belief in God is not seen as necessary in order to obtain liberation or Nirvana. Followers of the  Abrahamic Faiths, who see all rights as stemming from the decrees of God, may thus argue that Buddhism has little to say about animals; but this could not be further from the truth.

Buddha-Nature
Buddhists believe that all beings possess Buddha-Nature, which is the potential to become enlightened and lead a true Buddhist lifestyle.

This idea and the belief in reincarnation combine to create a powerful principle, whereby Buddhists state that all animals have once been our mothers, fathers, brothers and friends.

This principle has been utilised by many societies to promote Veganism, as this video shows:

Karma

Buddhists must exercise compassion towards animals so that the Karma in their acts will benefit them in the future. To harm animals, is to harm the self, as the bad karma inherent in such acts will hinder the prospect of enlightenment.

Thus, Buddhists abstain from any act that will hurt animals; subsequently many Buddhists advocate vegetarianism. However, not all Buddhists are vegetarian and there is a disagreement over whether Buddha prescribed vegetarianism for his followers.

Some Buddhists argue that meat is allowed, as long as the animal was not intentionally killed for providing food; however, others state that vegetarianism is the only option available in Buddhism, and cite quotes such as the one above to support their stance, along with many others:

However, the notion of Karma can also be used against animals. If a human leads a bad life, there is a chance that they will be reborn as an animal. This is important, as in Buddhism; an animal cannot improve the status of their souls but must wait for all of the bad Karma to end, before they can become human and continue searching for Nirvana.

Releasing Life

Releasing Life refers to the Buddhist practice of saving the lives of endangered animals, usually by releasing them back into the wild.

This is not only a demonstration of Buddhist piety but also expresses the special relationship that exists between humans and animals in Buddhism. The following is a video on Releasing Life:

Additionally, there also many Buddhist prayers for the liberation of animals from all harm: (Please note, the following video contains upsetting images.)

Conclusion

It is clear that Buddhism has a unique place for non-human animals; they possess souls but also have an in-built Buddha Nature to realise the Ultimate Goal of Nirvana. Harming other beings is thus incredibly foolish; it is tantamount to harming your own parents and even your own self! For this reason, Buddhists are always at the forefront for championing animal rights.

However, just like Hinduism, Buddhism places the human being on the higher pedestal; liberation can only be obtained when the soul is clothed in the human body; no matter how hard any animal tries. And I think this is probably the same conclusion that all other religions reach.

Animals in Hinduism: Animal gods, Sacred Cows and Reincarnation.

"Avoiding harm to all creatures... this is true knowledge. All else is ignorance."

Bhagavad Gita

Hinduism contains a wide diversity of traditions, making it difficult to speak of a single religion common to all Hindus; nevertheless, there are many unique conceptions of animals in Hinduism, ranging from animal gods  to Sacred Cows and to the system of Reincarnation.

Animal gods

Many Hindu gods are represented as animals. Foremost among these include perhaps the two most famous gods of the entire Hindu pantheon; Ganesh, with an elephant's head and Hanuman as a monkey.

The following two videos show how Hindus worship Ganesh and Hanuman through devotional sayings known as Mantras. The third video is a cartoon for children describing how Ganesh came into existence:

Hindus thus have a great regard for animals. Many of the gods’ divine “make-up” resembles animal shapes; yet, there is no specific reason as to why Ganesh has the head of an elephant for example, it could just as easily have been a human head. In fact, as the cartoon shows, the head previously belonged to a demon!

Sacred Cows

No discussion about Hinduism and animals can afford to ignore the role of the cow. Cows are considered to be sacred; their blessings are invoked and it is illegal to kill a cow in India.

For this reason, many Hindus are vegetarian and cows are referred to as “mothers of the earth.” 

The cow is so significant, that recently, a Hindu Nationalist Group revealed that they were developing cow urine as a new soft drink.

But cows can also be left to their own devices, as the next video shows:

Reincarnation
Hindus believe that souls can be re-born as humans, animals and plants, depending on how past lives were lived.  All species; therefore, have souls, but in order to achieve liberation, animals must reincarnate into human beings, for liberation is only possible for humans.

For more on this, click here.

Conclusion
It seems to me that the connection between animals and Hinduism is, in some cases, a very strong one; animals are not just seen as purposeless aspects of creation, but possess souls just as humans do.

However, this connection is controlled by humans. There is no specific, animal-intrinsic reason as to why some gods are portrayed as animals, and in order to be liberated, animals must cease to be animals and becoming something else; a human being.

Animals and Religion: In The Beginning.

On August 7th 2010, my cat of 13 years, “Black Cat” passed away due to old age and illness. After burying her in our back garden, memories of our time together came flooding back.

We had been together since I was 6 years old, (which is why I couldn’t think of any other name for her except Black Cat - And to my surprise, the name stuck!) She was a stray cat, but after getting used to us, she soon became a very precious member of the family.

13 long years. And now she was gone. Where would she go now?

Being a Muslim, I believe in a life after death, a Day of Judgement, Heaven and Hell, but I had never thought about whether the same journey existed for animals.

Perhaps those of us who are interested in religion are guilty of anthropocentrism and speciesism; in that we regard religion as something which is solely concerned with the human being and the human being alone.

To counter this, my aim is to explore what the World Religions say about the creatures with whom we share our Earth, specifically focusing on:

• Hinduism

• Buddhism
• Christianity

• Islam

I then hope to delve into the issue of religious vegetarianism, in Christianity and Islam, where the ideas of animal sacrifice and meat-eating are far more prevalent than in Hinduism and Buddhism.

Finally, all that is left is for me to introduce the other members of my Cat Family: Sheba (Black Cat’s Daughter) and Muezza (Black Cat’s Grandson; Sheba’s Son.) Yes, you may have noticed; we like to keep things in the family!

Black Cat

Sheba

Muezza