From Releasing Life to Following a Vegetarian Diet: A multitide of goodness

The two pillars of Buddhist teachings are compassion and equality. And to attain a compassionate and non-discriminating mind, one must refrain from killing, help all living beings, and maintain a vegetarian diet. A compassionate mind is a Buddha mind that augments blessings and cultivates virtuous conditions. (The image to the right, the work of Wify, may seem familiar after a while).

Releasing animal life from captivity is more than a symbolic activity. It evokes both a sense of equality and compassion in line with Buddhist teachings. After a hiatus of considerable length of time, Wify participated in a Release Life activity organized by Sister Yu Huei held yesterday at Ben T. Davis Beach as chronicled in the images that follow. Unlike the Releasing Life activity that may seem to have only local impacts, following a vegetarian diet has proven to bestow a multitude of goodness, both local and global, as eloquently summarized in a Chinese article that appears in the January 2009 issue (No. 118) of Chung Tai Shan Magazine (pg. 7, see image to the left). The following is my adaptation of the above article, focusing on the gist and message rather than a verbatim translation. It goes without saying that any shortfall or erroneous interpretation is all mine, and mine alone.

From the Buddhist world view, all sentient beings are our past relatives. Therefore, premised on the principles of causality/conditional origination and compassion, not consuming meat is being merciful. And the aim of being a vegetarian is to promote compassion. Once the mind of compassion is entrenched in each of us, society strife will diminish, and by extension, international conflict will reduce, thereby auguring well for the vision of world peace.

Anthropogenic contribution to global warming-induced climate change, with profound potential consequences on the sustainability of Planet Earth as we know it, has been increasingly recognized as needing redressal. One key measure is to reduce the carbon footprint of all human activities.

In this regard, it has been estimated that adopting a vegetarian diet helps to reduce the per capita carbon dioxide emission to the tune of 4.1 kg per day, or 1.5 tonne per annum. Animal feeds require both capital and energy to produce. For example, it has been estimated that to produce one pound of beef requires the consumption of 16 pounds of cereals, enough to feed 16 persons per day.

Therefore, the best way to reduce our carbon footprint is to be on the vegetarian diet, better even than owning a hybrid car. Becoming vegetarians to combat global warming and promoting energy conservation to reduce carbon footprint have emerged as a virtuous life style that one can assume to protect Earth.

Protecting Earth amounts to protecting all sentient beings, ensuring each and every one of us a rightful place in peaceful coexistence. In addition to religious precepts, the upsurge in the number of vegetarians world-wide is also driven by the medical evidence of health benefits associated with being vegetarian. Apart from lowering cholesterol and fat, hence curtailing the incidence of cardiac and pulmonary diseases, maintaining a vegetarian diet can potentially reduce cancer of the gastro-intestinal tract due to the high fiber content of a vegetarian diet. At the same time, adopting a vegetarian diet helps promote mental clarity, instill a balanced disposition, strengthen the body's immunity and recovery system, and improve the overall wellbeing.

Maintaining a vegetarian diet cleanses the digestive system, the home, and the mind. From the quality of health, of environmental protection, the benefits of following a vegetarian diet extends to the quality of a compassionate mind, a truly self-beneficial trait that benefits others as well.

Perching comes naturally to all birds, taking a breather from flight. All fixed, or floating for that matter, objects are game as shown in this mosaic, including the double arch of McDonald and navigation aid on the sea.

The bait shop located just after the Howard Frankland Bridge (I-275), spotting a rather unique sign post with ropes wrap-around with a buttressed bottom, and what resembles a juke box in the front (actually it's just a concrete monolith nicely painted to be a King of the Rock lookalike).

The participants chanting the Great Compassion Mantra and the Heart Sutra in turn at Ben T. Davis Beach. There are more images of the two on-lookers perching at the water's edge.

Wify (in the picture) and Sister Yu Huei preparing to empty the pails of prawns and juvenile fish into the Bay, signalling the completion of the Release Life activitiy.

And the participants of the compassion-induced activity posing for a group picture, filled with bliss on a blessed morning.

Various stages of flight caught on film, their capture more of a matter of luck than anything else.

Another fortuitous shot, the camera trained at the right place and at the right time featuring a swooping bird just after a strike, the bounty firmly clamped by its beak.

One of the two on-lookers, the dark-colored bird, perched with wings spread, supposedly to dry its plummage. It maintained this seemingly meditative posture throughout the whole time we were there, only cranking its rubberized neck in different directions, hardly moving an inch even while the feeding frenzy (see second image below) was going on in its vicinity, truely being mindful and oblivious to the environment as exemplified by the perfect stillness evoked in the middle image of the bottom panel with nary a ripple even on the water surface that features a perfect reflection.

A mosaic of less than perfect reflection, both while in flight and while standing motionless, that features the remaining on-looker (bottom panel).

The before and after scenes of a feast: the frenzy stirred up by the widely strewn bread crumbs (top), and the contentment (bottom).

A lone bird missing out on the human-assisted feeding, cutting a forlorn figure in the endless quest for sustenance.

A Day of Compassionate Shower

Looking strenuously through the swishing movement of the front screen wipers and beyond that, a translucent sheet of pouring rain, I gingerly drove to Clearwater yesterday morning. The warning signs were already present early in the morning: overcast sky darkened by ominous rain clouds. My passengers: my wife and her retinue of Buddhist friends. And the mission: release life activity followed by a vegetarian lunch at a Largo Thai food restaurant to be graced by Bhante Dhammawansha.

Upon reaching Bhante’s residence and joined by Tom of the Middle Way Buddhist Association, we found ourselves confined in due to the seemingly incessant rain. The decision was then made, while I was browsing through the collection of Buddhist books on the bookselves (Bhante’s residence also doubles as the meeting venue of the Dhamma Wheel Meditation Society) to have Bhante deliver a Dharma talk to us while waiting for the rain to subside. [In what follows I would be paraphrasing what Bhante actually said as gleaned from my notes and my recollection, including those in quotation marks, which have been inserted to break the monotony and secondarily, to add emphasis. I have also taken the liberty to sprinkle my own thoughts here and there, to stretch the imagination a bit if you will.]

We congregated in the front room, facing a gleaming white stately status of the Buddha, with Bhante seated to one side. “When you wake up early in the morning to do something good, be it engaging in releasing fish, helping others, reading a spiritual book, or doing any wholesome activity, it’s always a very auspicious, very lucky day,” Bhante started the session. Forget about what the horoscope says as Buddhism has no place for superstitious beliefs. And we can change the prophesies of the horoscope by changing our mind, Bhante continued.

In view of the wholesome deed we had set out to do, one that resonates with compassion, Bhante elected to speak on compassion. It so happened that compassion was also what I had been reflecting on after I finished Jodi Picoult’s Nineteen Minutes as blogged here. I don’t think this is coincident, not even for a minute, but rather symptomatic of what the world sorely lacks, and that reiterating and reminding ourselves of this universal value would surely go a long way toward alleviating the world’s suffering, one step at a time, and one sentient life at a time.

What is compassion? In a nutshell, compassion is the ability to see the world’s suffering in its many manifestations: poverty, sickness, anger, difficult situations, etc., and to feel the warmth, the hurt that emanates from these observations, and to melt in the sea of suffering, and to act on these feelings, driven by the overarching desire to help the needy. At the fundamental level, Dharma, the teachings of the Buddha, connotes compassion to all. Bhante further quoted His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama: My religion is compassion. And King Asoka, one of the two great people of the world from India out of the seven listed by HG Wells of the History of the World fame, the other one being the Buddha, was credited with building the first hospital for animals.

How to be compassionate? We can cultivate compassion if we know the answers to the flip-side question: Why can’t we be kind?

Firstly, we are blind to suffering. We see, but we don’t notice. We hear, but we don’t listen. We read, but we don’t ruminate. We choose to personify the “out of sight, out of mind” mentality, nor do we have any qualms in embracing the NIMBY (Not In My BackYard) one.

Secondly, this detachment (I guess this is one occasion where detachment is less than welcome) translates into our inability to understand that one day we will be like them too (old, helpless and hopeless).

Therefore, we can be compassionate when we can identify with the suffering around us, and we can realize that we are not immune to suffering. Just like we need medical treatment for the sick, we need mental uplifting to relieve suffering, and compassion is that spiritual antidote that can work wonders for a troubled mind.

Why do we need to cultivate compassion? Because compassion does not come naturally while cruelty can be dispensed almost effortlessly. And one way to manifest compassion is Right Speech (one of the Eight Noble Paths). And no speech is part and parcel of Right speech too. When the Buddha was engaged in a discourse with his followers, he listened most of the time, always smiled, and seldom talked. We should do the same, especially when we are angry: Don’t talk and don’t react.

Bhante then related two stories to illustrate the point: first, the frog story:

The Buddha used honey words, not in the sense of sweet-talking, but words that are not hurtful, and his delivery can best be characterized as “the beauty of sound” that not only captivated the crowd of followers, but also animals, drawn in by the melodious renditions. One of these animals was a frog, which positioned itself to “listen” on one occasion. Then a man who had spent some time searching for a lost cow in the forest walked in. Feeling exhausted, he propped himself against the long stick used to herd cows, one end staked into the ground, without realizing that the stick had rested on top of the frog, which was engrossed in listening to the Buddha’s delivery. It was said that the dead frog was born into the deity realm in its next life.

The second, the parrot story:

It was said that one of the Buddha’s past lives was as a parrot. One day, two baby parrots, nestled in a nest perched up on a tree, fell off the tree in a wind storm. One fell into the community of ascetics, who practiced Right Speech, and the parrot picked up the same when it grew up. The other parrot fell among a group of thieves. Day in and day out it was bombarded with foul words that were meant to kill, to rob, and the like. So that became this parrot’s vocabulary, swearing and bad-mouthing.

The second story also brings forth the message that Buddhists teach by way of examples. That’s why Buddhists practice Buddhism, and they are Buddhist practitioners.

By way of another analogy, Bhante equated our mind to the blue sky, infinite in all directions. Sometimes there are dark clouds, which may dampen our spirits somewhat. But these clouds will come to pass. So just let them pass, and let go as they do.

We then stepped out under a blue sky, and proceeded to the Clearwater Beach for the release life activity. While there, the rain resumed, but in a drizzle. So armed with umbrellas, and led by Bhante, we accomplished the compassionate act of releasing life, under the watchful eyes of a pelican which had settled on the water surface nearby, but it was kept at bay by the group’s admonitions and shooing hand gestures, and the water canon shot from a hose by the owner of the tackle shop, who has grown accustomed to our regular release life activities.



The last business of the day was the vegetarian lunch at the Thai House in the Largo Mall. It turned out that the day of our visit also coincided with the birthday of the proprietor of the eatery, a Thai and a devout Buddhist. And to honor the presence of Bhante, he gracefully offered the lunch treat as on the house. So the day turned out to be one of compassionate shower all round.

Releasing or Harming Life?

I have blogged many times here about our release life activities, the latest one being here. I have also tried to read up on this intrinsically meritorious activity, one which has instilling compassion in all of us at its core. At the same time, the potential for abuse exists as blogged here, which admonishes us to temper the conduct of the activity with wisdom. Therefore, the pros and cons of release life activity as a benevolent act sanctioned by the Buddhist community have been debated at length.

Recently, the same disagreement, to put it mildly, surfaced in Malaysia in conjunction with the Global Guan Yin Dharma Ceremony (July 30 - Aug 1, 2007) . Among the activities planned to commemorate the occasion was the organized release life activity.

I am not privy to what actually transpired on the ground, but have this news article in Nanyang Siang Pau (Aug 8, 2007) to give me a sense of the undercurrents of conflicting standpoints.

Consider it a proposal for an alternative (the virtual) kind of engaging in release life activities. In the spirit of sharing, here’s my attempt at an English translation:

Do set up a release life website!

Many years ago, per chance I wrote an article commenting on the deviation of the practice of release life from its true meaning. A reader responded in support, saying that if anyone stops catching small animals for release life after reading my article, that itself would constitute a meritorious act of saving life.

The reader also attached an explanation on the significance of releasing life by Venerable Dhammananda, quoting him, “liberating all sentient beings from suffering is the best form of releasing life.”

Many years since, many small animals still suffer because of the practice of releasing life.

Releasing animals from immediate harm is saving life, but not one that is pre-meditated. However, the practice of releasing life in order to accrue good merits has gone astray, bringing much detriment over the long term to the lives of many small animals such as turtles, birds, and fish. For many years, many people have voiced negatively on the practice, as have many venerable monks and practitioners in the Buddhist community explained based on Buddhist scriptures the fine points and protocol required of the proper conduct of the practice. But twisted forms of releasing life rituals continue unabated.

The recent Global GuanYin Dharma Ceremony too has been criticized by the public including Buddhists as damaging the atmosphere of peace and serenity for organizing an activity that released more than ten thousands small animals. Perhaps some of these fish and birds have indeed been spared the fate of immediate slaughter, or regained freedom from captivity; however, many were likely innocent lives but were caught specifically to cater for the need of the ritual.

Even though the organizers have stated categorically that these animals were purchased on the spot from the markets, perhaps in an attempt to deflect the accusation of abetting those in the business of supplying animals for release life activities. But is this a practical method? How many times would it serve the purpose? How does one ensure that the “surprised” purchase is not anticipated by those with vested interests?

Whenever there is the practice of releasing life, then there will be businesses specializing in supplying the needed “commodity”. Today, when one walks past any pet shop, it’s not difficult to observe pitiful small animals that would hardly qualify as pets in cages.

The practice of release life has resulted in many small animals and birds being forced into captivity, even untimely demise. So many reports have chronicled the specter of releasing life being turned into an unwholesome endeavor that going into details here would seem superfluous.

As a result, some release life activities have degenerated into the abyss of hypocrisy, their purposes running counter to the notion that life is sacrosanct. Such meaningless pursuits have brought suffering, even death, upon the small animals. At the same time, the perpetrators have committed grave wrongs, instead of achieving the noble purpose of releasing life.

Today, we can access websites that worship Confucius or ancestors. There are also virtual shrines and temples, even those that cater to striking small likeness of people that have done you wrong [a prevalent practice in some Asian culture, digital likeness that is], though I’m not sure whether there is one for releasing life. If there isn’t, I would like to appeal to any web design whiz kid to make one, so that those who intend to engage in releasing life as doing a good deed can do so to their hearts’ content, on the Net, thus benefiting themselves, others, and the small animals.


Does that mean giving up participating in releasing life on the ground? I demur. There are checks and balances that one can follow as blogged here. But it does mean no publicity, for it’s naïve to think that in this highly commercialized world of ours, there is a dearth of enterprising souls who would spin any innocuous activity into a profit making concern where often the end (the sale) justifies the means (catching small animals that in all likelihood would not become pets).

Also, conduct the activity in small groups, over spatially/geographically divergent areas. Be random in selecting the sites (to ensure that the released animals have the highest chance of getting back to life in the wild, and not becomg part of the food chain, not so soon anyway), and in selecting the place of purchase (to ensure that the proprietors do not temporarily stock up more catches to meet the needs).

Here I would like to end with an excerpt from Reiki Blogger, which I chanced upon while googling “Compassion and Wisdom”:

“So, the basic practice of kindness becomes a unity of wisdom and compassion. Because without one the other suffers. Without the warmth of compassion our wisdom and clarity becomes impartial and cold. And without the clear seeing wisdom our kindness becomes mis-guided and perhaps only serves to perpetuate the problem.”