A Witness to Suffering

redirecting posts

2006-10-19T12:43:00.000-07:00

The suffering and plight of animals continue as we face major changes in climate and the environment. The link between animals and the environment is very strong and so this blog will no longer exist. Instead I will continue to post entries regarding animal issues onto the Green Amida weblog. Please go to:
http://amidatrust.typepad.com/greenamida/
for news, petitions, and events regarding our planet and everything on it.

Interreligious celebration of Animals

2006-09-14T03:37:00.000-07:00

Dear Susthama,
Just to let you know how the Interfaith Celebration of
Animals went on Sunday. Madrakara & myself felt that
it was a very good event & feel very positive about
future participation in their Interreligious
Fellowship for Animals and The Universal Kinship Fund
(of the Dr Hadwen Trust for Humane Research) - which
were launched during the service.

The event was sponsored by the World Congress of
Faiths, The Unitarian Interfaith Panel & Quaker
Concern for Animals and had representatives from the
Dr Hadwen Trust for Humane Research (Wendy Higgins),
Quaker Concern for Animals (Marian Hussenbux) and the
RSPCA (Jackie Ballard, Director General).
It was a very warm & rich event - gentle harp music,
service led by Rev. Feargus O’Connor & Readings from
Brahmo Samaj, Buddhist (Andrew Burns), Christian,
Hindu, Jain, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh & Unitarian
Universalist. The Hymns were very touching:

We Celebrate the Web of Life (Alicia S. Carpenter)

"We celebrate the web of life;
Its magnitude we sing;
For we can see divinity
In every living thing.

A fragment of the perfect whole
In cactus and in quail,
As much in tiny barnacle
As in the great blue whale.

Of ancient dreams we are the sum;
Our bones link stone to star
And bind our future worlds to come
With worlds that were and are.

Respect the water, land and air
Which gave all creatures birth;
Protect the lives of all that share
The glory of the Earth."

After the service we had an opportunity to talk to
Marian, Feargus & other interesting people – as well
as eating delicious Indian vegetarian food.
Thank you for your support & advice. Hope all is
well.
love Joan
Namo Amida Bu

Elissa Rattigan

2006-04-12T13:22:00.000-07:00

Jagdeesh Singh

2006-04-12T13:08:00.000-07:00

Nitin Mehta

2006-04-12T13:07:00.000-07:00

Marian Hussenbux

2006-04-12T13:06:00.000-07:00

Dharmavidya

2006-04-12T13:05:00.000-07:00

2006-04-12T11:58:00.000-07:00

2006-04-12T11:57:00.000-07:00

Multifaith demo in Oxford

2006-04-02T04:24:00.000-07:00

We were a small yet powerful sight in Oxford City Centre. A diverse group, Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, and Spiritualists met together to show the public that we, religious people, care about the plight of animals. We started on Cornmarket Streets, decked in robes and red sashes, the first six people carried, simple yet elegant animal coffins while everyone followed behind, moving slowly and silently. People came up to get a leaflet to find out what we were doing, the police took photos to show that peaceful protests are possible and speeches were made from Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs and Spiritualists. We were even given a blessing from Native Indian elder in the USA.

Talk by Dharmavidya
Multifaith Service

Thoughts and sayings from Quakers

2006-03-12T12:46:00.000-08:00

John Woolman, the Quaker anti-slavery campaigner, wrote, in the eighteenth century:

"To say that we love God and at the same time exercise cruelty toward the least creature is a contradiction in itself."

A modern day Quaker, Audrey Urry, wrote in Quaker Faith & Practice in 1994:

All species and the Earth itself have interdependent roles within Creation. Humankind is not the species to whom all others are subservient, but one among many. All parts, all issues, are inextricably intertwined. Indeed, the web of creation could be described as of three-ply thread: wherever we touch it we affect justice and peace and the health of all everywhere. So all our testimonies, all our Quaker
work, all our Quaker lives are part of one process, of striving towards a flourishing, just and peaceful Creation - the Kingdom of God.

Wonderful

2006-03-06T09:13:00.000-08:00

"Wonderful are the animated beings and their distinctions, their forms and their colours. Wonderful are the creatures that go about naked. Wonderful are the winds, and the waters, and the fires that play wonders. Wonderful is the earth, and the sources of production." Asa - ki - Vaar, Guru Nanak, Guru Granth Sahib

2006-02-28T14:57:00.000-08:00

Why Protest at all?

2006-02-26T15:08:00.000-08:00

This procession is a symbolic act. We are religious people whose consciences are troubled that society should authorize the suffering, privation and deaths of large numbers of animals in scientific and utilitarian tests. We lament this cruelty, see it as unnecessary, and feel it as a loss of human dignity that people should engage in it or condone it. There is suffering enough in this world without deliberately adding to it, even when this is done in the hope of some remote and uncertain future good. Animals should have a right to respect and protection and civilization should not be demeaned in this way.

This is not just the concern of one religious group but of many faith communities. The killing of animals is offensive to many faiths in varying degrees and ways and now that we live in a multi-faith society, such sensitivities should not be ignored. In keeping with the religious spirit of peace and harmony, we are exercising our right to be heard and seen in this peaceful and lawful demonstration of concern, registering our deep pity for the creatures that suffer restriction, trauma and death. We ask that all co-operate that we may hold our procession in a spirit of calm and civility.

We hope that all people who have a sense of the spiritual meaning of life, whether they follow a formal religion or not, will support this compassionate cause. The world and other life are not here simply for humans to exploit. They have their own lives that are precious to them just as ours are to us.

Science may hope to save lives - to do so it should not begin by destroying them, for it can never restore the lives it itself has destroyed. We hope that our gesture will contribute to the creation of a world where there is less suffering and greater sensitivity. We hope that all creatures may share this earth together in peace.

A new trend???

2006-02-20T14:18:00.000-08:00

In 1807, the Reverend William Cowherd, founder of the Bible Christian Church in Salford, famously advanced the principle of abstinence from the consumption of flesh. Two followers of Rev Cowherd, set sail for the United States with 39 other members of the Bible Christian Church in 1817 and it was from this that the American vegetarian movement grew.

In 1822, Richard Martin MP piloted the first anti-cruelty bill through parliament giving cattle, horses and sheep a degree of protection in the UK. This was the first parliamentary legislation for animal welfare in the world in modern times.

In 1824, as the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals - the RSPCA was founded. It has worked tirelessly to promote kindness and prevent cruelty to animals.

In September 1847, the UK Vegetarian Society was founded and since then has been a basic source of reference, motivation and encouragement for local and national vegetarian societies and individuals worldwide, who still regard Britain as the leading pioneer of the vegetarian movement.

In 1863, one man took action against the inhumanity towards animals in the USA. His name was Henry Bergh and by 1866 it was against the law to beat one's animal.
The first protection of Animals Act was passed in 1911 in the UK.

The Order of The cross was founded in 1904. Since then it has promoted a pacifist and vegetarian way of life. It is an informal Christian Fellowship, dedicated to the Compassionate Life and the realization of the Christ within.

By 1916 Conscientious Objectors, including thousands of vegetarians in Europe, were imprisoned or executed for refusing to fight each other. Within a few years of the 1917 revolution vegetarianism was declared illegal in Soviet Russia, dozens of vegetarian societies and restaurants were closed.

In 1982, the Vegetarian Society set up its own cookery school to teach skills and educate people in vegetarianism.

In 1988 and 1989 the Ministry of Agriculture alleged that 7 cases of BSE had occurred in 1986, but in 1993 the 7 had grown to 60 cases, then suggestions were made that cases first appeared a year before – in the spring of 1985.
In 1995, during the Young Indian Vegetarians' annual picnic the Muslim Vegetarian/Vegan Society was formed in UK.

The Christian Vegetarian Association of the U.K. was launched September 2004. http://www.cvauk.org/

The Animal Welfare Bill is expected to be enacted in summer 2006. MP's welcomed the new welfare offence, which would for the first time protect thousands of animals from enduring ongoing neglect by legally obliging owners to properly care for their pets.

According to the Vegetarian Society, the number of vegetarians in the UK has doubled in the past 10 years and both research and industry sales figures indicate that a third of the population eat meat only occasionally.

Despite the promising vegetarian trend in UK and other parts in the world, and the legislative changes that have been made to improve the lives of animals since the 19th century in the UK, many animals have suffered and continue to suffer and die at human hands.

"Distressingly, Government statistics
(http://www.official-documents.co.uk/document/cm67/6713/6713.pdf)
published on Thursday 8 December 2005 reveal the twelfth consecutive rise in the annual toll of animals sacrificed in British laboratories. According to the figures, in 2004 2,778,692 animals were subjected to experiments that are officially regarded as potentially 'causing pain, suffering, distress or lasting harm'. This is an increase of 57,093 animals, or 2.1%, compared to 2003. The Government's comment accompanying the release of these figures states: 'It is impossible to predict the number of animals likely to be used in future years'." ~Uncaged Campaigns 09.12.05

Quotations

2006-02-10T15:39:00.000-08:00

Vivisection

Vivesection literally means cutting while still alive. Now it refers to any harmful experiments done on animals.

With The Animal Spirit's permission, I have included some quotes on vivesection. For more excellent quotations please visit: http://www.theanimalspirit.com/quote.html

"Results from animal tests are not transferable between species, and therefore cannot guarantee product safety for humans...In reality these tests do not provide protection for consumers from unsafe products, but rather they are used to protect corporations from legal liability."
~Herbert Gundersheimer, M.D.

"Doctors who speak out in favour of vivisection do not deserve any recognition in society, all the more so since their brutality is apparent not only during such experiments, but also in their practical medical lives. They are mostly men who stop at nothing in order to satisfy their ruthless and unfeeling lust for honours and gain."
~Dr. Hugo Knecht

"Ask the experimenters why they experiment on animals, and the answer is: 'Because the animals are like us.' Ask the experimenters why it is morally OK to experiment on animals, and the answer is: 'Because the animals are not like us.' Animal experimentation rests on a logical contradiction."
~Professor Charles R.Magel

"The reason why I am against animal research is because it doesn't work, it has no scientific value and every good scientist knows that."
~Dr. Robert Mendelsohn, M.D.

"Vivisection is a social evil because if it advances human knowledge, it does so at the expense of human character."
~George Bernard Shaw

Where is our compassion?

2006-02-04T11:42:00.000-08:00

In 'What does Buddhism say about Animals' by Dr. Tony Page. The Buddha felt such great sympathy with all living creatures that he could never sanction torturing or killing animals, whatever the circumstances.

Do they have a right to live for their own sake?

finding a middle way

2006-01-24T01:48:00.000-08:00

Recently there was a demo in Oxford, in which several hundreds of people turned up, only to be barracaded from where they wanted to go. This annoyed several campaigners and so subsequently tried to remove the barricades. The police there tried to maintain order, unfortunately their attempts failed and things got out of hand.
Many people got arrested and suffered injuries.

In light of this, the Oxford City police have told me that it is not possible for them to facilitate our peaceful event. To Lament and grieve over the deaths and suffering of animals we will need to liaise with the City Safety Advisory
Group who can offer advice and guidance about the event and ensure that relevant partners (fire, ambulance, bus companies, highways etc) are all aware of the event.

The proposed plan is now passed on to a team that deals with the sensitive issues
around the construction of the building by Oxford University, and they will contact me regarding this event.

The route planned has been turned down. If we try to walk in procession, we will meet opposition. A line of police officers in combat gear I expect. Do we want to work against the police? Do we want to get lumped into the animal activists 'us' and 'them'? Should we think about holding this demonstration elsewhere? Broad St. has been recommended and also a static demo, a peaceful vigil rather than funeral procession. Light candles and pray, chant, do something peaceful, something meaningful and something to bring us closer to humanity.

This event is in the process of being reviewed and will no doubt change it's shape and form to find the middle way in which to proceed.

Compassion for animals

2006-01-11T03:26:00.000-08:00

Bearing witness to suffering

The Buddha taught that Dukkha - 'bad space, suffering' is the first noble truth. Then he taught that Vedana - 'something comes up' is the second noble truth. The third noble truth is Nirodha - 'earth bank' and the fourth is Margha - 'spiritual path'.

When faced with suffering, something rises in us, an energy, and we can react either negatively or positively. Bearing witness to the suffering of animals through scientific and commercial experimentation will have an impact on us, it may be grief, shock, despair, disgust or something else. Whatever it is, it is a reaction to the suffering. Can we find a way to react in a way that will lead to less suffering rather than induce more suffering?

Wherever in Britain you live, we invite you to come to Oxford on 1 April 2006 to bear witness to the suffering of countless animals all over the world.

The reason we have chosen to hold this event in Oxford is because of the construction of the animal research laboratory at Oxford University. If the building is completed, numerous animals will suffer through cruel experimentation.

Buddhists are against cruelty and harm to all sentient beings. Animals suffer and feel in much the same way as we do and to treat them as research tools is cruel and spiritually deeply offensive. All animals, including humans, are valuable for its own sake and should be respected and cared for.

People of all faiths are invited to join us on the day. We will assemble at 1pm on Cornmarket St for some chanting and silent prayer, and then walk in procession to the building site of the animal laboratory and then back to the centre carrying animal size coffins. We will then carry out a final ceremony.

Please join us to help bring a spiritual perspective to animal liberation.

This event is supported by Amida Trust and others - what about you?

People for the ethical treatment of animals

2006-01-04T13:26:00.000-08:00

Do animals have a right to live for their own reasons?

Should we take a stand against the inhumane actions of people toward animals?

Do animals suffer?

For more information about PETA, people for the ethical treatment of animals please visit http://www.peta.org/

Demo in Oxford

2005-12-31T04:30:00.000-08:00

On 1 april 2006, a group of us will gather and lament the deaths, sufferings, and torture of animals. We invite you to join us in Oxford (the exact time and place will be announced shortly). The proposed plan of action will be very similar to the peaceful demo in Cambridge that was held a few years ago during which a mock funeral procession took place. A small group of Buddhists in robes carried small animal size coffins along streets in Cambridge.

The group that is organizing this gathering is a Pureland Buddhist group, and would like other groups to join us. We have contacted John Curtin from Meditate to Liberate and have his support and will be contacting other religious groups to help support us.

There have been many protests held in Oxford by animal rights activists against plans to build a new biomedical research laboratory in which they will perform experiments on animals. For more information please visit: http://www.speakcampaigns.org.uk/primateresearch.php/

We hope that our efforts in Oxford help their campaign to stop the construction of an animal laboratory and thus prevent conditions in which cruelty and torture toward animals occur.

If you would like to get involved please contact susthama@amidatrust.com.