A Heart's Burden
February 28, 2010 Question: I work in the field. Most often in bad areas where dogs are abandoned, hurting and abused. Today I found one who's pelvis had been broken and her little leg. There is no telling how long she'd been this way, how many people had passed her by. I had to put her to sleep which has hurt me so much all day.
Please help me to understand why people do this.....why they would let this poor little dog suffer like this, living on the street unable to walk. I carry each of these homeless and neglected animals with me and they stay in my head burdening my heart and mind with horrible sorrow. I cannot let them go.
Response: It is terrible how people can be cruel to animals or simply uncaring when they suffer. What you did for that poor dog was truly compassionate, wanting to alleviate the suffering of others, even though it caused your own suffering.
You asked how this can happen. Obviously there are people whose thinking is so disturbed that they need to hurt others. Then there are those who, unlike you, do not have the courage to become involved. Or perhaps who feel that they do not have the time. I imagine there are many different reasons, but they come down to people being in too much pain themselves to be able to take on the suffering of others. And so they inflict pain or block it out.
You do not block the animals suffering and thus you take on their suffering. But once you have helped, you need to let go or it will haunt you and, as you said, stay with you. May I suggest trying a small ceremony. Light a candle or incense and say something meaningful as a wish for the animals happiness. A Pure Land Buddhist, for example, could chant "Amituofo."
Then speak to the animal, saying it is time to move on to the next birth and that your wishes are for it to have a better next life. Than, knowing that you have helped the animal physically and spiritually, you may be better able to "let go."
Reader Comments (5)
I have read a book called the 'New Asian Emperors,'of which they have written much about how the success of today's overseas chinese is much related to taoism/Buddhism/confusion-ism. However, there is a section at the front chapter, which described confusion-ism as a very sexist education. Where he had put his focus more on men rather than equality to women. I do not know why, but I am quite disturbed by his findings about this. Can you please tell me if he is on the right line?
It seems that in addition to the reasons given by Ven Wuling, speciesism is involved because it would be unlikely that many people would pass by an injured and suffering human without offering some help. Speciesism is so deeply embedded in our culture, and all cultures, that we don't even notice it. A dog is just as sentient as a human being, but his or her suffering is not accorded the same importance, because of being a different species. Anyone who eats or wears animal products, which all involve exploitation and suffering, is engaging in speciesism, just as much as those who ignore injured animals or those who willfully injure them. There's no difference between killing an animal and paying someone else to do it for you.
It's great that there are compassionate people like you who are not speciesist. We need to work to abolish animal abuse altogether, not regulate it, and the best way to do this is to become vegan yourself, if you aren't already, and educate others about vegan living, which is easy and rewarding. Veganism is the best thing you can do for your health and for the planet, and most importantly, it's the morally right thing to do.
Confucius lived 2500 years ago. The world was very different from that of today. How can teachings be taken out of their historical context by saying they do not meet modern standards? Did the author consider what other cultures were saying at the time? What were other teachers were saying?
We also need to ask what the Chinese culture was like at the time. Men went out to work and women stayed at home to raise the children. Why? As in much of the world, it wasn't safe for women to go away from home to get an education, even if it was only as far as the village school. Even today, in parts of the world, it still isn’t safe.
So Confucius, and I imagine others of his time around the world, looked at who their students were and addressed them.
Thank you very much for your explanation. As I am recently in much pressure to complete my final year thesis, I cannot help but wonder what did Confucius say about the causes of poverty? I am working on poverty issues, and there are just so many theories, some even linked mass poverty to the weather! I have tried looking for better evidences to support several theories, but I would think it will be much helpful if you could shed me some light, somehow on the nature of mass poverty? Hope to hear from you soon. Thank you again. I do not doubt the teachings of Confucius, but their commentaries on him, isn't fair at all.
As a Buddhist, I know that the Buddha explained that everything is subject to the natural, universal law of cause and effect. The cause of poverty is not having practiced the giving of wealth--be it our time, our effort, or materially as in things or money.
Given the way our selfishness and wish for self-gratification are increasing, we're planting a lot more seeds for poverty in our future.