Originally posted by Spnw07:
Before I go on, I would like to state that this post is not
a direct or indirect attack or criticism of any religion and I have
no intention to do so.
I'm just trying to adopt the right mindset towards what I will get
to hear or read about wherever I go, Buddhist or not. I also want
to react and behave in the right way should I happen to be a live
witness of such events.
Officially, Hari Raya Haji has ended with prayers and sacrificial
slaughtering of sheep and distribution of fresh meat to needy
people.
We all know that every sheep, on the day of Hari Raya Haji, are
slaughtered in a halal manner, with prayers and a very quick slash
of the animal's windpipe. This is as decreed by their God and
accepted as a profound act of Allah's mercy and grace for those who
are loyal and obedient to him.
However, now that I'm a Buddhist, it is not easy for me to
understand and accept as readily as I would like to - even though I
know that prayers are said prior to or during the slaughtering,
that such customs can be considered to be without negative karma
effects for all those involved, directly or indirectly.
In the Shurangama sutra (leng4 yan2 jing1), there is a verse that
says:
[b]"Suppose a person eats a sheep. The
sheep dies and becomes a person; the person dies and becomes a
sheep, the same applies in all rebirths among the ten categories.
Through death after death and birth after birth, they eat each
other. The evil karma one is born with continues to the bounds of
the future. The basis for all that is stealing and greed.
"You owe me a life; I must repay my debt to you. Due to such
causes and conditions we pass through hundreds of thousands of eons
in sustained cycle of birth and death."
So it is correct or appropriate to consider in the context of
Buddhist teachings that, the above verse applies to those who
slaughters animals as part of their customs or religious practices,
even if they had sincerely chanted prayers prior to and during the
slaughtering?
Again I must emphasise here that I'm not trying to establish what
is right or wrong about the religious or customary practices of
others. I just want to know how to look upon such matters in right
way as a Buddhist.
It is taught in scriptures that we as Buddha's disciples, should
not only avoid killing or harming of any life, we should also try
to save lives.
My question is: If you happen to be able to attend and witness the
live slaughtering as a Buddhist, what can you or how should you
react from within?
First and foremost, you definitely cannot and must not stop them,
either physically or verbally. That I'm pretty clear of.
But the Buddha has said that saving a life that is in imminent or
immediate danger, takes priority over any kind of prayer or any
event that you might have to attend to at the moment.
So personally for me, I think it would be rather uneasy for me to
witness the live slaughter, both as a person and a Buddhist. And to
ease my uneasiness and helplessness, I would most probably recite
the Buddha's name in my heart and dedicate any merit to all those
about to be slaughtered.
How or what would you think, feel or do if you happen to be invited
to witness such events as a Buddhist?
[/b]
Basically, I would come up with some excuses and turn down the
invitation nicely. No hard feelings. 
Sometimes we must be firm in our stance as Buddhists. We know that
killings will be carried out, and maybe we will be also offered the
meat from the sheep that we've just witnessed being killed; then as
Buddhists who understand the precepts of no killing ( regardless of
whether we r holding the precets or not), we shouldn't be present
at such situation as much as we can. And frankly speaking as common
people we can, as we r not Ministers, politicans, journalists,
celebrities, sponsors etc. who may not be able to reject due to
their career commitments.
I remember Ven Master Chi Zhou mentioned that we should not
purposely go against Buddhadharma for the sake of appeasing others,
or to keep relations with people we like, or to be popular. To
quote the Master: " Bie2 ba3 fuo2 fa3 dang1 ren2 qing2".
It is not easy of cos for people like us, who have to work and
interact with people fr all walks of life. But it just shows that
we r still not up to mark yet, which is not an excuse. Thus we must
practise harder n slowly we will be able to handle our lives in
society properly and happily.
