Look, I don't post these photos and videos just to shock you. Most people avoid looking at videos such as these because they are disturbing and people hate to be disturbed by sights of animal cruelty. They don't want to be disturbed, they don't want to know it exists, they don't want to actually take action to make a change in their life or the world.
One of my students, a very advanced soul in India said that his heart had grown inured from seeing animal and child cruelty in India. He said everyone grew up with it and became hardened from feeling the suffering of other sentient beings.
Look at the video. It is unspeakable. But it is happening in China. Dogs beaten, skinned alive and thrown alive, bloody and skinless in a pile, slowly and painfully dying. This is China, and Korea and Vietnam, all the countries of Buddhist pacifism. There is something terribly wrong with far eastern culture.
To a lesser degree this is what I deal with every day on the streets of Los Angeles, homeless cats starving, dying of disease and accidents and being eaten by coyotes, or killed by people that don't like them coming onto their property. People don't even want to hear about this. Why? Deep in everyone's soul is a feeling of great love and compassion for all sentient beings, and these kinds of videos hurt that sense deeply, but we feel powerless to do anything. But you can. Change yourself or change the world. Or do both!
So, what do you do? There are two ways to react that are beneficial: withdraw from the world into yourself and find that it is illusion, or take up action to create circumstances where the harshness of consciousness and the world is tamed a little bit at a time. I think you can do both if you use the technique of finding and loving the I Am. This method requires you to confront all of our emotional reactions to internal and external events.
http://youtu.be/sLcgxIGTFRs
Realizing the Manifest Self--the Life Force permeating our humanity--and the Unmanifest source from which it arises.
I made it half way through...couldn't take anymore. Ended up on the floor heaving and sobbing...feeling the rage so deeply...wanting revenge...feeling ashamed at what we humans are capable of.
ReplyDeleteWith Love,
Joan
Edji,
ReplyDeleteI made a point to see this as I wanted to see how far I can go in tolerating this suffering. I tried few times but could never pass the 50th second.
My question is have you yourself seen the whole 6:24mins of this video? How did you do it? Share with us.
Janet B.
Both you and Joan are so very brave. I am proud of you both. Most, like Joan husband, and Randy, just run and don't watch even a second. They want to remain blind to the suffering. You both know that suffering is the way of the brave.
ReplyDeleteJanet, you watched more than I did. I could not bear it.
You see, I lived this kind of thing in Korea, going to restaurants where they beat dogs to death to get the adrenaline flowing to make them tastier, and the restaurants advertised "Live food served here." I never saw any animals on the streets except freely running dogs near temples, where they found sanctuary.
When I found out what was going on, I renounced the ordination given to me by the Chogya Buddhist order of being the First Amefican World Teacher of Chogya Zen--the equivalent in ways of a Zen Master ordination.
Then I started my animal blogs and working relentlessly to promote vegetarianism and animal rescue---which I continue.
But I also developed a disgust for the current Far East culture that allows such abominations in China, Korea, Vietnam and other countries.
I think what concerns me more than suffering is what I fail to suffer by avoiding it. I don't want to avoid it anymore no matter how painful. I'm tired of running and resisting. I want to taste the sweetness of total trust and surrender and in my personal experience this sweetness is right in the middle of suffering, facing it head on.
ReplyDelete@ Janet, even though I made it to the half way mark, I had to turn away again and again and again. The images were there off and on throughout the night, specifically the one of the first animal who had already been deskinned but was still alive...then collapsed. Not sure they will ever go away.
With Love,
Joan
Yes, quite painful to watch. And obviously those participating in this have no shame about being exposed doing it, else they would stop the video being made(or do it away from any camera).
ReplyDeleteGuilt free capitalism thriving in China, another country with a Buddhist tradition. Go figure.
Mark
Joan,
ReplyDeleteYou said "this sweetness is right in the middle of suffering". How very true. Its a painful way but a powerful one, full of wonder and tears.
Blessings,
Janet
But then I realized later that during the Second World War, there was a prominent Zen master who was an apologist for the Japanese government and went so far as to rationalize their warlike actions.
ReplyDeleteAgain, go figure.
Mark