Prof. M. Sivasuriya: Could humanity dispel its animality?

[suchandra 1]

Could humanity dispel its animality?

I wish to make my observations/comments on Bertram Perera’s letter on the above topic that appeared in ‘The Island’ recently (19 December 2008). The Buddha was against all forms of killing – not only against wanton killing, like hunting for sport as stated by Mr. Perera in his letter.He was an ‘embodiment’ of ‘Ahimsa’ (Compassion) and ‘Mettha’ (loving kindness) and therefore it is difficult to accept that the Buddha would have advocated that human beings consume/eat meat when he said, ‘Eat what you need’.

There is abundant evidence that the Buddha in the latter part of his life denounced the practice of meat- eating. The Lankavatra Sutra and the Dhammapada are highly critical of the heartless practice of killing animals for food. The Lankavatra Sutra eloquently denounces non-vegetarianism in no uncertain terms.

To the query by Mr. Perera as to ‘what is the farmer to do with the spent animal that has outlived its usefulness’, my answer is Mother ‘Nature’ will know how to deal with this problem by bringing about a ‘manageable’ population size of the spent animal (as quoted by Mr. Perera), through deaths occurring from such natural causes as, ageing, disease injury/trauma in a manner similar to what happens to the human population all over the world!

Any thought, word or deed that directly or indirectly results in the destruction of life is surely contrary to the spirit of Buddhism where much emphasis is placed on purity, non-violence, compassion and respect for life.

I totally agree with Mr. Perera on the following statement/remarks in his letter viz, "It is inexplicable why Buddhist society does not worry about the hog, the goat, the turkey, the duck and the chicken to the extent it worries about the cow. They too are living and feel pain. Is it because the cow provides milk to the human baby?"

Another popular misconception which prevails in the minds of many Hindus is that only cow’s flesh (beef) is taboo or forbidden to them. This is because they consider the cow to be a ‘sacred’ animal. This is a travesty of the truth: it may be so in ‘popular’ Hinduism but not so according to the tenets of true or properly understood Hinduism. To the creator the lives of all animals are ‘on par’!

Prof. M. Sivasuriya,

Colombo 08.