Compassion for bulls in Bhutan

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http://kuenselonline.com/article.php?sid=1263A saviour

Posted on Wednesday, January 30 @ 15:09:47 CST BST

There is no question that Lam Kunzang Dorjee nurses the most virtuous

hobby—”compassion,” an unparalleled virtue in Buddhism.

 

Lam Kunzang Dorjee

In two years, Lam Kunzang Dorjee, 32, who heads the oldest Bhutanese monastery

Jangsa Gompa in Kalimpong, India, has saved more than 100 bulls and other

similarly ill-fated animals from being killed in slaughter houses.

He told Kuensel that his compassion was kindled when, in late 2000, five bulls

which had escaped from a slaughter house in Kalimpong, forced their way into his

monastery and refused to leave even when pelted and stoned.

 

When the five bulls returned to the monastery for the third time the same day,

the Lam gave water and fresh grass but they refused to eat. That moment was a

turning point: he started to save them.

 

He bought them for Nu 45,000, built a shed and appointed a man to look after

them.

 

He confronted a similar situation in Mongar last year. Of the 33 bulls being

taken for slaughter to Trashigang and Mongar, one walked towards a bystander and

refused to leave, as if seeking refuge. Lam Kunzang Dorjee who was then

accompanying His Holiness the Je Khenpo in the east was once again deeply

touched by the plight of the bull.

 

Together with His Holiness, who financed the purchase of the bull, Lama Kunzang

negotiated with the butcher, paid and took over the bulls. Two days later, he

saved another group of 25 bulls.

 

Since then people in Kurtoe and Mongar have come forward offering bulls and

other cattle which would otherwise be slaughtered. Some like souls came forward

to donate pastureland, saving him the trouble of finding a place to keep the

bulls. Now his more than 100 bulls roam freely in two vast pastureland in

Lhuntshe.

 

Other sympathisers have donated money to help him as his act of compassion was

proving to be too expensive. With the money, he has appointed people to look

after the bulls in the pastureland and cover operational expenses. While His

Holiness the Je Khenpo contributed to the salaries of the caretaker of the saved

animals, Lam Kunzang has spent over Nu 140,000 purchasing bulls from the

butchers in the last two years.

 

“The people are aware of the Buddhist practice known as ‘tshethar’ (saving and

preserving lives) but they did not know how to go about it,” he said.

 

Lam Kunzang explained that in Mahayana Buddhism, every single living creature at

one time was one’s parent. “The soul of all sentient beings are inter-woven

through numerous births and rebirths in the samsaric world,” he said. “All

animals were our parents in our previous lives and we owe them gratitude and

respect through compassion and sympathy.”

 

The Buddha has taught that more than carving statues, building monasteries and

reading scriptures, saving the life of sentient beings carries the greatest

virtue.

 

Lam Kunzang, who is also in the process of establishing a sanctuary in Thimphu

for animals that are going to be slaughtered in and around the capital, also

hopes that meat consumption will slowly decrease as more Bhutanese become aware

of tshethar.

 

By Bishal Rai